Chapter Two
Some slight rules

Sakura eyed her best friend as he walked into the kitchen. He was not one of those pretty boys, you know, the ones with the perfect hair, perfect doll face, perfect smile, etc. No, he was one of those rugged-looked, shaggy-haired, crooked-smirk kind of guy. He had't shaved in a few days. The shadow on his face highlighted his strong jaw bone. His eyebrows were dark, just like his hair, and thick, causing his eyes to standout even more.

Oh, those dark ebony eyes. You can lose yourself in them. Let's not forget that mouth. Rarely did he ever smile, but when he did, Sakura was always there to witness it, since she was the one that would cause him to smile; otherwise, there was always a smirk formed by that perfect mouth. Last, but definitely not least, was his unruly hair that always stood up from all sides. Chances of it ever being neatly combed back was slim, possibly because he had a habit of running his hand through his hair, like he was doing now.

His white v-neck t-shirt rose a few inches due to him combing his fingers through his hair and Sakura caught a quick sneak-peak of his well-toned abdominal. Sighs, no wonder every girl wanted him. Aside from her, of course. He was her best friend, has always been since they were little kids. Sakura couldn't picture the two of them together in any sort of romantic relationship. That would just be weird, wouldn't it?

"Are you done ogling me?" Sasuke grumbled, annoyance was still present in his voice. He wasn't over the incident that occurred in the living room. He sat in the seat across from her and took a big bite out of the sandwich Sakura had quickly put together.

"I wasn't ogling you, I was staring off to space, you just happened to stand in the space that I was starring off into, gosh," Sakura replied and stuck her tongue out.

"Whatever," Sasuke said, choosing to not encourage her childish behavior. It was his turn to stare now that she was preoccupied with her food.

Her hair was up in a messy bun, lose strands had fallen on each side of her face, probably due to him hanging her out a window. He grinned lightly, remembering the scene. She had soft pale skin, which suited her just fine. He disliked girls with fake tans. And her eyes. Those green, emerald eyes that helped him read her like a book. She could smile and laugh all she wanted, but when he looked into those eyes, he knew exactly how she really was feeling. It was a guilty pleasure of his—to be the only one to know what she was thinking and feeling. Then there were those ears of her. He especially loved teasing her about her ears being too small for her face, it sure riled her up.

What drove him crazy, though, were her lips. They were rosy pink and luscious looking. Sometimes, when she would go on a ramble about nothing he cared to hear, he would just stare at her bottom lip and imagine how it would feel like to bite it. Such an unfriendly thought.

Sasuke snapped back to reality when he saw her put potato chips in her turkey sandwich. She happily squeezed ketchup and then mustard over the chips. He was immensely disturbed as she took a big bite out of it. She had a chocolate bar beside her plate, waiting to be opened.

"Jesus, Sakura, what the fuck are you eating?"

"I'm on my period, jerk-face, you think I want to eat all this crap? No! But it's what I'm craving, so stop staring at me as if I'm a two-headed freak," Sakura replied back, with her famous temper.

Ah, well that explained all her nagging and mood swings today, Sasuke thought.

"Okay, that's it," Sasuke said, pushing his half-eaten sandwich to the side.

"What's it?" Sakura inquired after taking another bite.

"That—" Sasuke pointed at her sandwich. "And all of this," he waved his hand around.

"Huh? Can you make more sense, please?"

"I don't want to know that you're on your period, Sakura, and if you're gonna eat food like that, then eat it elsewhere, I don't want to lose my appetite."

"It's our kitchen, not just yours, but OURS, so I can eat whatever I want!"

Sasuke sighed, regretting his choice of words. He needed to learn how to explain things better. "Yes—I was getting to that. It is our kitchen, and this is our apartment, and we will be living with each other, so I suggest rules be made right here and now, or else, I doubt we will make it one month living with each other."

"Ohh," Sakura said as she put her sandwich down. "Hmm…yeah, I guess that makes sense…sort of…"

"Yes, so lets write a few rules down, and sign it in agreement," Sasuke said, his business-man personality coming out. He grabbed the notepad that was at the edge of the dining table. "Okay, I'll start, rule number one: no period talk of any kind in this apartment or while I'm around, understood?"

Sakura huffed, folding her arms across her chest as she leaned back on her chair. "Oh please, we are grownups."

"Rule number two-this is relating to rule number one-there are not to be any feminine products of any kind laying around the apartment, nor in my sight, they are to be in the bathroom cabinet, or in your room, understood?

"I love how your blushing while you are saying all of this, Sasuke, as if you've never took biology class in high school, and as if you've never seen the birthing video in health class, hahah!" Sakura couldn't help but laugh at how serious he looked. "And I'm most certainly positive you were always happy to hear the "oh my god, I got my period" responses from your girlfriends, proving that they weren't pregnant..." she trailed off with a chuckle, still amused by his disgruntled expression

Clearly annoyed, Sasuke replied, "Shut it, Sakura, I'm being serious, or this whole roommate thing is finished."

"Yeah, Yeah, whatever, now it's my turn for rule number three," she snatched the notepad away before he could decline. "Rule number three: the toilet seat is always to be left down once you get out of the bathroom, understood?" Sakura said with the same condescending tone as he had used. "Number four: your exercise weights aren't allowed to be laying around the apartment, they are either to be kept in your room at all times, or neatly placed in one corner of the living room, particularly the far end, near the window."

"That's not necessary to add, Sakura."

"Oh, I assure you, it is. Just in case in the near future, if I find one laying around and I throw it in the garbage, you can't blame me since you broke rule number four," Sakura grinned.

Sasuke snatched back the notepad and glared, "Can't you take this seriously?"

She laughed again, "But I was serious, now, go ahead, what's rule number five? I can't walk around in underwear?"

Sasuke choked on his saliva. That was definitely a big NO. "Rule number five, no one is to be walking around dressed in anything less than a t-shirt and pants."

"That's so lame, Sasuke, I only sleep in a t-shirt, so if I happen to wake up in the middle of the night to get a drink, then I would be breaking the rule."

If it were possible, Sasuke's jaw would've dropped to the tiled-floor. Great! Now, not only did he have to worry about her walking around the apartment in a towel, he has to worry about her in just a t-shirt, in the middle of the night.

"The rule stands, Sakura. We are to act like adults, and respect each other's boundaries. I don't want to see you half naked around the apartment, and I'm sure you feel the same about me." On the contrary, his dark-hormonal side really did want to see her walking around half-dressed, completely naked would be even better.

"Whatever, whatever, I'll try my best to be dressed from head to toe every time you are around," Sakura said in a mocking tone. What was he thinking? Like she would actually parade around him like that. Hello, he was her best friend. She had no interest in seducing him in any way!

"What about friends?" she asked, already getting over the other lame rules he made.

"What about them?" Sasuke asked, confused.

"Well, am I allowed to have any friends over, seeing that we are sharing the apartment? I don't want to invite anyone over without you being okay with it, stupid," Sakura replied while making a grab for the notepad, but Sasuke kept it away from her reach.

"Yes, that's a good idea. Rule number six: we must tell each other in advance if anyone is visiting." He quickly jotted that down and then thought of another problem. Sure, inviting friends over was probably going to be just fine, but what about more intimate friends—say like that girl he met at work who was definitely hitting on him.

It seemed Sakura was having the same concern, so it was her that added the next rule, "Rule number seven, you are not allowed to bring any girlfriends to the apartment, and I won't bring any of my boyfriends."

Sasuke gave her a quizzical look. Wait, she had a boyfriend? Well, that was news to him!

Sakura was on a roll at reading his thoughts, and to prove it, she said, "What? Is it so shocking that I have a boyfriend?"

Sasuke fixed his composure and wrote down the rule. "Hn, it's just that you've never mentioned it before," he mumbled while writing. He cleared his throat and bluntly said, "You usually tell me everything, so yes, it's a bit of a shock."

"Oh," Sakura felt slightly bad for not being honest with that side of her life, but in all truth, she knew she would feel awkward having any "boyfriend" discussion with him. "Well…you sort of do have a way of scaring away any potential boyfriends."

Sasuke was ready to defend himself, but she continued on, "Don't give me that "who? me?" look, Sasuke," she said with a chuckle. "You've been scaring away the boys since high school, and don't you think I have forgotten that time when the guy I had a crush on, during junior year, was going to ask me out, and you purposely sat next to me at lunch as if to ward him off. You wouldn't let him even get a word in, much less a "hi Sakura.""

Sasuke grinned sheepishly at that memory. "He was a jerk, Sakura, you could've done a lot better than him, and you definitely deserved a lot better—"

"Well, that's your point of view! I actually liked him. Sasuke, I completely understand that you want to protect me and be my bigger brother, but I'm twenty-one now, so I don't need your help with boys anymore."

"Hn," was all that he managed to say. She just made it quite clear what he was to her—a big brother. It was sort of a wake up call, really. He was so used to being around her, so it was normal to invent some sort of fantasy life with her in his mind. And fantasy was all that it was going to be.

"Yeah, so I am sorry I kept my relationships a secret from you," Sakura sincerely said with a small apologetic smile.

In order to lighten the mood, Sasuke gave her a flashy grin. "Relationships, Sakura?" he chuckled. "How many boys have you been hiding from me?" He tried to sound as amused as ever, but deep down, he was boiling.

"Ah, well….I'm on my sixth relationship, the first five haven't been so successful over the past four years," she replied with an uncaring shrug.

Sasuke's eyebrow arched in question. Six? She had six boyfriends, and somehow he never knew? Had they all broken her heart, or was it the other way around? If he ever found out that they hurt her, he would kill them. He cleared his throat once more, and tried to keep his false humor expression on. "Right…anyways, we got that cleared out of the way. No boyfriends, or girlfriends are allowed in the apartment. Is there anything else you want to add?"

Sakura put her index finger on her chin, pretending to consider any other idea. She was really relieved the conversation about her boyfriends ended so quickly. She was half expecting some sort of scolding speech from him. "Hmm….nope! I think that will do for now, if we think of anything else down the line, we can just add it."

"Hn." Sasuke scribbled his name at the end of the paper and passed it over for Sakura to do the same.

"Now, don't look so gloomy, Sasuke, it's not like you're signing your life away!" Sakura chuckled, highly amused by his dark look. She stood up with the two plates in hand. "I think we will do just fine together. We've been friends forever, and everything will still be the same. The only small difference is that we will literally see each other every day, not just once a week." With another happy laugh, she headed to the sink to rinse off the dishes. "This is going to be so much fun, Sasuke!" she called over her shoulder as he stood up.

Small difference? Ha, Sasuke inwardly laughed. This was a big difference for him. This is going to be so much fun Sasuke, he mocked her in his mind. Fun wasn't the right word to describe this whole new step in their lives. A challenge was more like it.

Now…about that boyfriend of hers…he was going to have to make sure the guy was somewhat decent, after all, it's what big brothers do, right?

After cleaning up the kitchen, Sakura returned back to the living room, where she saw Sasuke laying comfortably on the sofa, with a dark blue blanket on top. The lights were dimly lit. It was only 9pm, too early to sleep on a regular night, but after all the moving she had him do today; she didn't blame him for being tired. Though, that didn't stop her from bothering him.

"Who said you can sleep on the sofa? You should do the gentlemanly thing by letting me sleep there, while you sleep on the floor," she teased as she tugged on his blanket.

"I have never been nor will ever be a gentleman, Sakura, now quit it, I'm tired." He snatched back the blanket from her.

"Grrr…there's no way I will fit on that small sofa over there, Sasuke, and I hate sleeping bags, it makes me feel as if I'm suffocating," she whined, still tugging on the blanket.

"All I'm hearing is "I this, and I that," have you no care for all the lifting I did today for you?" He glared.

"But Sasuke—"

"I'm tired, dweeb, go get some blankets and sleep on them, the beds will come in tomorrow afternoon." He tugged the blanket one last time, causing her to topple over him. She made an "umph" sound as she landed on him.

"Or we can share?" Sakura smiled brightly at him as she pressed her chin onto his chest.

He lowered his gaze down at her. Sometimes he wondered if she was even half aware of the things she did around him. A big damn tease, that's what she was. And she didn't even know it!

He had half the mind to toss her onto the floor, see how she liked that! But that wouldn't stop her from pestering him, he knew from experience, and he was too tired to argue with her, not to mention that he wasn't going to sleep on the wooden floor all night. "Fine," he grumbled, as he shifted to make room for her. "Just this once." He leaned his back against the sofa, and positioned her so she was facing away from him, with her back against his chest. He pulled the blanket over both of them and placed his arm over her waist, a protective gesture so she wouldn't fall onto the floor during the night.

"Hey, Sasuke," Sakura said sleeply.

"Hn."

"I love you, you know that, right?"

Sasuke was glad she was turned away from him, so that she couldn't see his shocked expression. His body stiffened and his heart skipped a beat. But quickly, he regained his composure, and relaxed his body. Of course she loved him, she's always told him that ever since they were kids. She was his best friend, and he was hers.

"Hn. I know." Sasuke mumbled, pressing her closer to him.

"Hey, Sasuke," she started again.

"Sakura, go to sleep or I will push you off this sofa," he warned, sleep loomed over him. He was exhausted, and if it were up to her, she would stay up all night talking to him.

She chuckled and wished him a goodnight. With a little clap of her hands, the lights turned off and the room was pitch black.