Sakura sat on the steps of the art building waiting for Sasuke and Naruto to pick her up. She told them her class got out at 4 pm and it was now 4 pm, but they were nowhere to be seen. She sighed and pulled out her cell, yes, it was 4pm, and no, she didn't have any "We're running late" texts. She put her phone back in her pocket and pulled out a book from her bag, flipping to her dog ear she began to read.
A shadow fell over her, she looked up into the face of her art buddy.
"Hi, Sasori." She smiled at him.
"Why are you sitting here?" He asked her without greeting in his usual odd manner.
"I'm waiting for my ride, they're late."
"I can take you home." He offers.
"Oh, that's okay, I'm sure they'll be here soon."
"What are you reading?"
"The Art of War." She smiled sheepishly blushing.
"It suits you." He looks out over the parking lot.
Silence settles between them, he sits down beside her on the stairs.
"I'll wait with you." He says without looking at her.
"Oh okay, but why?" She doesn't want to be rude but she is a little curious as to why he would do such a thing.
"In case they don't come." He turns his amber eyes on her as though it ought to be obvious.
"That is thoughtful of you Sasori, thank you." She is a little touched, at most they were email buddies, and art buddy's but not really friends, maybe this was the start. She smiled and opened her book again.
Twenty minutes later Sasuke's black car pulls up in front of the stairs. Sasuke rolls the window down, "Hey Sakura."
Sakura glares at him, no, "I'm sorry for being late." no, "I meant to call but", nothing.
"What's wrong, get in the car?" Sasuke frowns at her.
"You're thirty minutes late," Sasori says before Sakura can stand.
"Who are you?" Sasuke gives the redhead a dirty look.
"Not late." Sasori cocks his head to the side as the red creeps up Sasuke's neck.
"What the hell, who the fuck is this guy Sakura?" Sasuke looks at Sakura who is staring open mouthed at Sasori.
"You already know him you said that his dad…" She began but Sasori stood up and interrupted her.
"I am Akasuna no Sasori, Uchiha, and I don't make people I care about wait for me." Sasori gave Sasuke an eye for an eye.
"Get in the car Sakura," Sasuke said without taking his eyes from Sasori.
Sakura turned to Sasori, "Thanks for waiting with me Sasori that was really kind of you. I'm sorry for um, Sasuke he's just uh." She trailed off, not sure how to describe Sasuke.
"A jerk." Sasori supplied the word she didn't want to say out loud.
She smiled and shrugged a little to Sasuke's annoyance.
"See you Monday Sasori." She smiled at him then got into Sasuke's car and they drove off.
Sasori stood on the steps and watched the car drive away. Fishing his own keys from his pocket he made his way to his own car and drove home.
"So, what, you're dating the son of an International criminal now? Uncle Madara is going to love that." Sasuke said sarcastically as they stopped at a red light.
"We aren't dating, we are just art buddies and we email one another art ideas sometimes, no biggie okay?" She pulled her bag onto her lap as the light turned green, her apartment was right around the corner.
Sakura could have walked home but the last time she had done that Sasuke didn't get the text message and freaked out when she wasn't there waiting for him and had called his dad, the chief of police, of Konoha. That's why she brought a book with her when she knew he would be picking her up. Fortunately, it was only ever on a Friday, not every Friday but when him or Naruto, or both came to visit her for the weekend from Konoha.
She had only moved one city over so the drive wasn't long. The distance provided her with enough of a change to feel like she was independent though, and that's what she needed right now.
"Wasn't Naruto coming with you?" She asked him as they pulled up to her apartment.
"Yea but he decided to stay behind this weekend, that's why I was late, he told me when I got to his mom's house. They were arguing about it and well, you know how Kushina is." Sasuke grinned.
"Did she throw anything at him?" Sakura grinned back at her childhood friend.
"Only a pair of socks, if you ask me, he got off easy this time." Sasuke chuckled.
"What happened?"
"Kushina caught Hinata and Naruto in bed together." He said succulently catching her eye.
They both burst out laughing.
"I wish I could have seen her face!" Sakura snorted.
"Twenty two shades of red," Sasuke smirked.
"Poor Naruto! Is Hinata mortified?" She asked.
"Oh yeah." Sasuke smiled.
It was just like old times, like before she had moved.
"It's nice having you here, come on, let's go inside." She smiled again.
Sakura's parents had been successful shop owners in Konoha. Sakura still owned the shop but she left the running of it to her best friend Ino whom she trusted. Several offers had come in after their deaths to buy it, but she didn't have the heart to sell it. Ino had dropped out of college after two bad semesters and offered to run it for her till she could make up her mind what she wanted to do with her life. It worked out for both of them.
Sasuke threw his overnight bag onto a chair in the living room and immediately went to the refrigerator.
"I don't have anything, we will need to go grocery shopping." She called from her bedroom as she unpacked her book bag.
Sasuke withdrew his head from her refrigerator with a guilty look on his face.
"Mom sent money with me, she told me not to eat you out of house and home." He handed her some money.
"Your mom is so thoughtful, I wonder why none of it rubbed off on you?' She fluffed his hair as she went into the kitchen for a glass of juice.
"It rubbed off on Itachi, not me, I got my dad's rugged good looks." He tried to smile but it came off as a conceited smirk.
Sakura tried not to but she pointed and laughed at him deflating his massive ego all in one move. "Haha, rugged good looks, hahahahaha."
"Hey! What's that supposed to mean?" He was pouting.
"You are too pretty to have rugged good looks Sasuke, don't get me wrong, you're good looking to be sure but in a sophisticated, smoldering sort of hot, not rugged." She bit her bottom lip to keep from laughing more.
He glared at her.
She giggled.
He huffed.
She burst out laughing again.
"So, grocery shopping?" He put his hands in his pockets.
"Sure." She was still smiling too widely for his tastes as they walked out the door.
Traffic was light on the way to the grocery store and the store itself wasn't too busy. They strolled down the frozen food aisle stopping at the pizza roll section. Sasuke grabbed three bags of combination pizza rolls and she rolled her eyes.
"What?" He asked her.
"I swear you live off those things. Come on, let's go to the fresh produce I want to get some vegetables for stir fry." She smiled as he grimaced.
"I'll get the meat and meet you there, chicken or beef?" He asked.
"Shrimp." She smiled at the face he made.
"Chicken it is." He walked off in the opposite direction.
Sakura smiled as she made her way to the celery, picking out a bundle and adding it to the basket. Moving on to the zucchini she frowned, there wasn't a very good selection.
"Hum." She picked one up and turned it around, it had little knicks and cuts all over it.
"Don't get that one." A familiar drawling voice said from beside her.
"Here." A bag of two perfect zucchini made it into her line of sight.
"But, aren't those yours?" She asked Sasori.
"Now they are yours." He walked away.
"Hey!" She called after him.
Sasori turned around and quirked an eyebrow at her.
"Thank you, Sasori." She smiled at him.
He nodded and walked away, disappearing behind a cereal display.
Sasuke chose that moment to add one bag of frozen shrimp and one bag of frozen chicken to their cart.
"What's wrong?" He asked and leaned past her to see what she was looking at.
"Oh, um, nothing, ready?" She asked him.
"Beer." He said.
"Champaign." She countered.
"Both, my mom's buying." He grinned.
"Deal!" She smiled.
Sakura went to unlock the door to her apartment while Sasuke pulled the groceries from his car. As she was running back down the stairs to help him she saw Sasori climbing up the same stairs.
"Hey!" She smiled at him, "You live here?"
He nodded.
"Which apartment is yours?" She asked him.
"The one above yours."
"Mine?" She said looking up.
"Yes, you live right here." He pointed to her apartment door she had come out at the top of the stairs.
"How did you know that?"
"I saw you move in." He said.
"How come you never said anything?" She cocked her head to the side considering him.
"You never asked where I lived or told me where you lived." He pointed out.
"Oh, yeah I guess you're right." She laughed.
"Uh, excuse me, these are heavy here." Sasuke glared at her.
"Oh! Sasuke! I'm so sorry." Sakura reached out to grab some of the bags from him.
"I'm not complaining." Sasori commented, he had twice as many bags as Sasuke.
Sakura giggled.
"Anyway, let's go inside Sakura." Sasuke moved past Sasori and Sakura up the stairs to her apartment.
Sakura smiled and apologized to Sasori and ran after Sasuke.
Sasori stood on the stairs and watched her until her door closed.