Chapter 27: What The Heart Wants
Sakura glared at Naruto. "If I was dating someone, I would tell you," she said, knocking Naruto across the head.
"Oww! I guess so, wait a second," he said, looking more closely at Idate. "You look familiar," Naruto said as he circled around him.
"I hope you didn't forget me too, Naruto," Idate smiled, looking at the blonde boy.
Naruto froze; his eyes widened as he grabbed his head. "How do you know my name?!"
"We went to school together, do you not remember?" Idate laughed. "I see you haven't changed much."
Naruto continued to back up, not listening. "How were you able to read my mind?!"
"Ummm…" Idate gave a concerned look to Sakura. "Is he okay?"
"He…h-he is an ALIEN!" Naruto shrieked at the top of his lungs and bolted out of the convenience store and down the paved road.
"No, that is just normal Naruto," Sakura assured him, rolling her eyes.
Gaara looked more closely at the guy. "Idate, is that you?"
Idate grinned, finally being recognized. "Yeah Gaara, how have you been?"
The two clicked fists and were soon talking about the old times. Idate looked around the store. "Where are Kiba, Shino and Shikamaru?"
"Kiba had to take Akamaru to the vet."
"Aww, poor Akamaru. Glad to hear the little guy is doing well."
"Shino is most likely at the bug store that is down the street."
"I see he is still obsessed with bugs."
"And Shikamaru is probably with his girlfriend Ino."
"Shikamaru got a girl...but how? He is so lazy."
"Yeah I know but-"
Itachi cleared his throat and smiled at Sakura. "Are you going to introduce us to your friend?"
Sakura gave them a surprised look. "Oh! I forgot you guys were there."
"Forgot, how could you forget me?" Tobi whined, leaning against a wall.
"Uh, Idate, these are some of my friends, I guess, from school; Itachi, Deidara, Sasuke, Sasori and Tobi," Sakura introduced them, pointing to the correct person.
"Nice to meet you all," Idate smiled.
"Likewise," Itachi muttered giving a half grin.
"Hn." Sasuke's usual response in situations.
Idate looked towards the front of the store. "Sorry I got to get back to work." He shifted his weight a little. "It was nice seeing you again Sakura…you look very different."
"Is that bad?"
"No! It's a good kind of different," Idate smiled at her before leaving.
As soon as he was out of sight, the questions that had been plaguing the minds of everyone spilled out. "So what's with you and that guy?"
Sakura frowned. "What do you mean?"
"You seem to be getting very chummy if you ask me," Deidara said, crossing his arms pouting.
"We were just catching up, he is an old friend!"
"Why were you talking to him? You said you were in love with one of us!"
"Still don't understand why," Sakura whispered underneath her breath.
"I do not want you talking to him again," Sasuke said firmly.
Sakura froze and she turned slowly in his direction to make sure she heard clearly. "Excuse me?"
"Hn."
Sakura had just about enough, clenching her fists. "You guys are getting on my nerves; I am not some object to be won. I can talk to whoever I want to. You keep demanding to know, I do not know myself, okay?" She ran her hand through her hair. "I just need some time alone to think."
"You guys pissed her off," Naruto whispered to Gaara. The two watched as Sakura silently copied the notes Kakashi had put on the board.
"It wasn't my fault," Gaara snapped. He hushed when Kakashi walked by his desk and lowered his voice. "Quiet before you get us in trouble."
"Well, what are you going to do? You're in the dog house now," Kiba snickered to himself.
"She said she wanted some space, I guess we have been crowding her a little."
"A little?"
Gaara huffed. "Okkkay, maybe we were demanding."
"And this is Sakura we are taking about. She is just now experiencing first loves, crushes, boys, kisses, romance," Naruto sighed, looking out the window.
"You were watching Love around Every Corner weren't you," Kiba questioned his friend.
"It is only the best show on TV!"
"Naruto, you haven't written a single thing on your paper, unless you plan on taking this class again, please spare me and get to work," Kakashi commanded.
"Of course! Anybody got a pencil?"
The whole class groaned.
"Heeyyy Sakura," Itachi waved before she walked right by him. "Where are you going?"
She silently walked past their regular lunch table to sit with Ino and Hinata.
"I guess she is still mad."
"How are we going to fix it then? I do not like not being able to talk to my Sakura and seeing that beautiful smile," Deidara said.
Sasuke glared. "She is not yours."
"Why do you care anyway? Do you even like Sakura? You treat her like dirt," Gaara said, eying the raven haired boy.
Itachi sighed and picked over his lunch. "That's Sasuke's charm, he is extra mean to the people he likes."
"You mean like in kindergarten when boys pull on the hair of the girl they find cute?"
"Exactly."
Naruto snickered to himself. "So Sasuke has the mentality of a little child!"
"What's your excuse, baka?"
"What did you call me? Let me at him!" Naruto shouted as Shikamaru held the blonde by his hoodie. "Can you stop being so loud for one second?"
"It's not possible, it's in his blood," Shino muttered.
Naruto stood up puffing out his chest. "That's right; we Uzumaki men are a proud group of people!"
"Your uncle works as a garbage man."
"Well then, I am the pride of the Uzumaki clan!"
"Yesterday, you were in the janitor's closet kissing a broom you said was Hinata."
Neji flipped his hair. "I don't see what my cousin sees in you."
"She sees a hidden animal, rough around the edges, but soft to the core that is ready for a new adventure!"
Everyone scooted to the left away from Naruto.
"So what can we do exactly?" Deidara asked, changing the subject.
"She said she wants time alone, we will only annoy her by trying to get her to talk to us. Just give her time and when she is ready, she will come back."
"But that will be soooo long," Neji whined.
"Why are you complaining when you weren't one of the ones that were on the list?"
Neji perked up. "Oh that's right. Well then what am I doing here sitting with you losers?" He picked up his tray and walked towards the girls' table.
"And now he will be denied," Itachi predicted, watching the girls all turn to look at Neji. To their surprise Neji sat down at the table, right next to Sakura! He turned around to give them a grin as he put an arm around her shoulder. She quickly knocked it off.
"You have got to be kidding me," Gaara said shocked.
"I told you we're in the dog house," Kiba sighed, feeding Akamaru some of his lunch.
"But I didn't even do anything," Gaara said bitterly.
"Come on, all you guys have been a pain in the coconut," Naruto said.
Shikamaru looked at the blonde like he was crazy.
"In the coconut. I'm trying to get it to catch on."
"Good luck with that."
"All you have been doing is pressuring her to find out which one of you she loves. Naruto stood up on his chair. "Pick me even though I am a heartless, soulless chicken head who has no real emotions or knows how to love anything!" Naruto said in his best Sasuke impression.
Sasuke glared at him, obviously not impressed.
"And pick me Sakura, I'm one of your best friends and we did date briefly, and we would make a perfect couple and should get married and make sand babies!"
"I never said that," Gaara huffed.
"Or pick me, I think I look so hot with my long blonde hair which is not as good as Naruto's and I'm just a big weirdo!"
Deidara snorted, rolling his eyes.
"Pick me even though I'm really bizarre as well and hardly ever talk and just stare at people with my creepy half open eyes!"
Sasori gave Naruto a look.
"And pick me even though clearly I'm a huge pervert who is only interested in you because of how you look!"
Itachi sighed. "Well I guess that sums it up, she is probably thinking those exact things too. "You know I kind of doubted you Naruto, you can be pretty smart when you want to be."
Naruto grinned. "See I told you guys, I use the old noggin when I need to. I bet I got an A+ on that paper we had to write. My thesis explains perfectly that since there are black holes that suck everything in, there must be white holes somewhere in the universe that spit stuff out. Who is the science genius?!"
"Naruto, the paper was supposed to be on supernovas," Gaara informed him bursting his bubble.
"W-what?!"
Everyone was silent as the bell ringed and they quickly left the table.
"Hey wait for me!"
"Sooooo," Tobi said, sitting at their table in history. "Everyone is so quiet today."
"It's been a long day," Sasori said, resting his chin on his palm.
They watched as Sakura quietly worked on to the class assignment.
Itachi opened his mouth to say something but quickly closed it, biting his lip. He looked at Tobi and gestured his head in Sakura's direction. Tobi caught on and slid a little closer to her.
"Sakura, how has your day been?"
"It's been fine," she answered, not looking up from her paper. Tobi looked up at Itachi again, he gestured with his hands for him to continue.
"You do not look very happy today, something bothering you?"
"I'm peachy," she replied, moving a stray piece of hair out of her face.
Tobi reached his hands around Sakura's middle, making sure to move slowly so she would not see his movement.
"Tobi if you even dare to try and tickle me, you and Itachi will be sporting matching black eyes," she warned him, not even looking up from her paper.
Tobi quickly retracted his arms and moved back to his seat. "Tobi will be a good boy!"
Sakura smiled at Idate as she entered the convenient store and headed to the frozen section immediately upon entering. She picked up a bag of cookies and carton of ice-cream before heading to the register.
"I see you're here to satisfy your sweet tooth again," Idate joked, ringing her up.
"One can never have too much ice-cream."
Idate bagged her items and carried out the transaction before looking around the small store. "Since no one else is in here, we can talk for a bit. How have you been?"
The store was practically empty since it was the middle of the afternoon, Sakura walked over as soon as school ended.
Sakura sighed. "I've been good."
Idate leaned across the counter. "Not with that kind of sigh, something troubling you?"
"A little, but I do not want to bore you with the details."
"Would it happen to be about those guys that were in here the other day?"
Sakura looked up at him surprised. "How did you know?"
"Well they were pretty hostile towards me and maybe you did not see, but I saw the way that they looked at you. That's why I did not dare say what I was thinking."
"What was that?"
Idate blushed as he smoothed out his shirt. "I…thought that you were really pretty, wait, I mean you are pretty like now, in present tense."
Sakura nervously laughed. "Oh, uh, thank you."
"See now, I just made it all awkward," Idate said, his shoulders hunching down.
Sakura waved her hands back and forth. "No you did not; I just wasn't expecting you to say that."
"Well I was not expecting you to look like this either," Idate motioned to her, Sakura was wearing a jumper skirt paired with a lacy top, her hair in loose curls swooped to one side of her head. "I recognized the pink hair of course but I wasn't expecting the rest of this. I thought you would be a tomboy forever."
"I still am, well a little of both actually. My style isn't that girly," she said staring down at her sneakers.
"It fits you just perfectly," Idate stated looking at her, blushing again. "So uh, yeah, I kind of overheard you talking to them something about loving one of them."
"Oh, you heard that," Sakura said flatly, shifting her bag between her hands.
"Yeah, after hearing that, I was a bit hesitant of, uh, seeing if you wanted to go out with me sometime," Idate said quietly, looking over Sakura's head.
Sakura looked at him surprised. "You want to go out with me?"
"It's nothing; clearly you are interested in someone else."
"I guess you can say that."
"So you're not," Idate said confused.
"It's a long complicated story."
Idate glanced up at the clock. "I get off work at 8, maybe you want to meet here and we can walk to the ice-cream shop…as friends."
Sakura nodded her head. "I would like that."
Idate grinned. "I'll see you then."
"Wait a second, let me get this straight: they kidnapped you and tied you to a chair in order to question you? Isn't that a bit extreme?" Idate questioned, spooning at his bowl of ice-cream.
"That's what I said, they are really crazy!" Sakura shrieked, stuffing more ice-cream in her mouth.
Idate studied Sakura's face for a second. "I can definitely tell that you like them though."
Sakura coughed as her ice-cream almost went down the wrong tube. "Whoa, where are you getting that from?"
"You get so animated just talking about them. You might be giving them the cold shoulder now, but you love their antics. Looks like I really don't have a chance with you."
"Idate-" Sakura stared.
Idate laughed. "It's okay. The heart wants what the heart wants."
"But they drive me crazy and they're so weird." Sakura whined. "I'm still unsure of why I feel this way. Why does my heart flutter when I see Sasuke? I kind of hate him.
"You do not," Idate assured her. "Besides if you had no interest in them, you would not be sitting here with me talking about them."
Sakura sat silently, playing with her spoon.
"Now, do you know who you like the most?"
"I'm still unsure on that one, but I think I've narrowed it down…they all make me nervous if I'm being honest."
"Hmmm, maybe you need to see a bit more from them before you make your decision."
"I always saw-"
"No, I mean really see them for who they are. I'm sure Sasuke is not an ice block for nothing. Something happened to make him this way. That's where I come in."
"Where you come in?"
"I can help you, but you will have to take over the rest. We need them to open up more to you. Find out what exactly they like about you so much."
"And how do we do that?" Sakura said.
"A little jealously will help."
Sakura shook her head. "No, there have been too many failed attempts at that," she told him, shaking her head.
"That's just because you haven't done it right."
"What do you have in mind?"
"I was thinking along the lines of teasing them a bit, get their blood boiling. People do crazy things when they are jealous."
Sakura looked at him. "You sure this won't be too awkward?"
"Sakura, come on! I'll admit I have a little crush on you but obviously you don't see me as more than a friend and that is cool with me."
"Are you sure?" Sakura asked again, not wanting to put him in a bad situation.
Idate smiled genuinely. "Yes, I'm positive."
"Wow…its weird being with an actual mature person for once."
Idate laughed. "Yeah, if you ever need a break from your crazy bunch just let me know."
Sakura saluted him. "So what do I do first, captain?"
"First, at school tomorrow, go back to talking to them, just as you normally do, but be just a little bit flirty."
"I'm not that good at being flirty," Sakura told him.
Idate raised an eyebrow. "Sakura trust me you will be fine, just be natural and don't force it."
"Okay," Sakura nodded her head. "I can do this!"
"I can't do this," Sakura muttered, banging her forehead against the locker. She had overanalyzed and now after not talking to them for a whole two days she was nervous, the butterflies just waiting to hop out of her stomach. A cool hand pressed against her forehead, stopping her actions.
"You do not want to bruise that pretty forehead, do ya?" Itachi said, smiling at her.
"Itachi," Sakura squeaked, her cheeks turning red underneath his gaze.
"I know I'm not supposed to talk to you, but I just wanted to say I was sorry for the way I acted," Itachi said. "I'll get lost now."
Itachi turned around but felt two arms wrap around his waist, hugging him from behind.
"Why are you hugging me?"
Sakura let go as Itachi turned to face her. Sakura panicked. "I have no clue…seeyouinclasslater," she shouted quickly, sprinting down the hallway away from him before he could say a word.
"Sakura…Sakura…Sakura," Gaara called her name a third time in a row. Sakura woke up from her daydream. "Kakashi said to pass up the homework from last night."
He held out his hand waiting to take hers. She pulled it out of her binder quickly and it slid to the floor. Sakura reached for the paper the same time Gaara did banging their heads together. They both whined and looked up quickly now face to face. Sakura stared into his lined pale green eyes, feeling herself start to sweat.
"Hey love birds, wake up," Naruto demanded, clapping his hands.
Sakura sighed in relief as she raised herself up and Gaara mentally cursed the blonde for interrupting, picking up the paper from the floor.
"Okay class, in your groups of three, I want you to decipher the poems I assigned to you," Kurenai said as she sat down at her desk.
"Poetry is just so youthful," Rock Lee sighed, looking at Sakura.
"Hn."
Sakura looked down at the poem in her textbook and silently read to herself.
When most I wink, then do mine eyes best see,
For all the day they view things unrespected;
But when I sleep, in dreams they look on thee,
And darkly bright are bright in dark directed.
Then thou, whose shadow shadows doth make bright,
How would thy shadow's form form happy show
To the clear day with thy much clearer light,
When to unseeing eyes thy shade shines so!
How would, I say, mine eyes be blessed made
By looking on thee in the living day,
When in dead night thy fair imperfect shade
Through heavy sleep on sightless eyes doth stay!
All days are nights to see till I see thee,
And nights bright days when dreams do show thee me.
Sasuke muttered about the poem being too sappy and annoying, shoving his textbook away from him.
"Would you like to share what your group things of the poem, Sasuke?"
Sakura glanced at him nervously since they did not spend much time discussing, Rock Lee taking all the time to list the things he loved about being youthful.
"The poem is trying to tell the reader that during the day, he looks at things he does not care about, but when asleep he's free to look at the things he wants. Seeing the image of the woman he loves in his dark, and seeing how brightly she looks, he wonders how bright she would look in the daylight. Every day is like nighttime to him until he can go to asleep at night, but when he sees her, it's as bright as day," Sasuke finished, looking like analyzing the poem was a walk in the park for him.
The girls in the class sighed deeply as they eyed him with hearts in their eyes. Sakura wasn't completely in doggy love but she too looked at him as well.
"Hn," was Sasuke's response as he leaned back in his chair and closed his eyes.
Somehow, that was her new favorite phrase now; she must seriously be going crazy.
"Is it just me or has Sakura been acting weird today?" Itachi asked.
"Yeah, I was wondering that too," Gaara said, looking around for her, but she was nowhere to be found.
"You don't think she is sick again, do you?"
"Nah, it's not that," Shikamaru said. "She has been a little off today."
"How so?"
"She was talking to the water fountain outside of class."
"Mayyyyybe it's a good listener, sometimes you guys can be so judgmental," Naruto snapped his fingers.
Gaara ignored him. "Did you hear what she was saying?"
"Wasn't close enough, she was probably just venting," Shikamaru muttered, rubbing his tired eyes. "She must not be mad anymore if she is talking to you again."
"You got a point there," Gaara nodded. "I'm sure it's nothing but we should keep an eye on her, just in case."
Sakura shifted nervously in her seat in history class, watching the clock like her life depended on it.
"Sakura, can you give me a kiss real quick?" Sasori asked her.
Sakura looked at him in horror, almost falling out of her seat. "W-what?"
Sasori looked at her confused. "I said, can you give me the attendance list? Asuma wants me to bring it to his desk. "
"Oh," Sakura said, calming herself down. She was so on edge today. She quickly slid the piece of paper in his direction.
"What did you think I said?"
Sakura looked at Sasori, then to Itachi, and then back and forth for a few seconds.
"I…need to go to the restroom!" She exclaimed, running away from their table.
"Sakura, you flattened your clay," Deidara said, bringing her attention to her mushed work on her desk.
Sai snickered. "Can't do anything right, ugly."
Sakura just ignored him, too tired to go at it with him at the moment.
"Do you want me to help you?" Deidara asked Sakura.
"I don't want to take time away from you."
Deidara grinned. "It will be fine."
Sakura made room for him on her bench. He sat very close as he rolled the clay into a perfect ball, molding the clay with his hand and talking as he gave her directions, but Sakura was not really listening. She watched as his blonde hair framed his face. Even though his hair was almost similar to Ino, he somehow looked manly. His eyebrows were knitted close to his eyes as he paid close attention to his task, the wrinkles in his forehead growing.
"Okay, that's a good basic shape, you can take it from here," Deidara said pushing the figure towards Sakura. Their fingers brushed causing Sakura to freak out and accidently hit him in the nose, which started bleeding soon after the contact.
"I'll go get some tissue," Sakura offered, going to the front of the classroom.
"Idate, today was just, ughh, it was horrible!"
"I told you to be natural," he told her through the phone.
Sakura called him up as soon as art class was over, rushing outside at the end of school. "I was just terrible."
"It's okay," Idate assured her. "I figured this would happen anyway."
Sakura glared into space. "You knew it would happen?"
"It was a possibility, but its fine."
Sakura opened her mouth to say something else when she felt a tap on her shoulder. Itachi stood behind her holding a small bag.
"Hold on," she told Idate as she pressed the phone against her shoulder. A few feet away from where they were standing stood Sasori, Gaara, Sasuke and Deidara stealing quick glances and being quiet.
"We thought that you might be sick, so we got this for you. Hopefully you will feel better. Accept it as our way of saying we are sorry for how we acted."
He handed the bag to her slowly. Before she could respond, Itachi took off and went to the group wanting for him. They walked off slowly towards the parking lot, all getting into Itachi's limo.
Sakura peeked inside the bag to see her favorite drink and a pack of citrus fruit chews. Her heart beat faster with at the small simple gift.
"Sakura," she heard a muffled voice say. She brought the phone back up to her ear. "Everything okay?"
"Yes," she sighed, smiling to herself. "I think it will be. What is the next plan of action?"
"We need to hang out together as a group."
"How is that going to help the plan?"
"You will see. Just follow my lead and you will be fine tomorrow."
Sakura quietly sat at the lunch table, looking at her phone screen, trying to follow the directions. "So are any of you busy tonight?"
"No, why?!" Neji said quickly.
Everyone at the table perked up waiting to see what she would say. "I-I thought maybe you would want to all go out and do something after school today." She started to feel nervous as the many pairs of eyes focused on her.
"Such as," Sasuke said, waiting for her to finish.
"I dunno, how about-"
"BOWLING!" Kiba and Naruto shouted. "We must do that, we have not gone bowling in forever."
Sakura nodded. "Yeah, bowling sounds great." She smiled brightly. "Do you guys wanna go at around 5?"
"I'm in," Gaara smiled, glad to see Sakura was back to normal. "But Sakura you suck at bowling, do you not remember last time?"
"Do not worry Sakura, I can easily teach you all of skills," Deidara boasted, throwing an imaginary ball across the table.
"Uhh, that will not be necessary. I just want to make it clear that there will be no bets. I'm not being anybody's servant." She made sure to give a hard look to Sasuke and Itachi.
"Okay good, it is settled." Itachi nodded.
"Oooh, Sakura girlfriend, you are working those jeans!" Naruto said with attitude, snapping his fingers as Sakura walked into the bowling alley.
"Yeah Sakura, why are you not a model? Your mom could totally give you the hookup, and then I can meet some models, and then I will get married to one of them, and we will have a double wedding, Akamaru and his little doggy friend, and live happily ever after."
"I really question why I am friends with you guys," Shikamaru shook his head at the two.
"What about Shino? He is the weird bug freak," Naruto pointed to him. "He wears sunglasses all the time even though he is not a secret agent."
"I told you my eyes are sensitive," Shino reminded him, pushing the glasses further up his nose.
"Who do you work for?!" Naruto shouted, shaking him back and forth before Shino pushed him off.
"Can you guys not argue for one second?" Sakura said, hands on her hips.
"He started it, Sakura mommy," Kiba pointed at Naruto.
"I did no such thing, Sakura mommy," Naruto whined. "I was just being real."
"Oooh, who is Sakura hubby?" Itachi asked, scaring Sakura as he popped up behind her.
"Well Itachi seems to be back to normal," Sakura thought to herself.
"Not you," Naruto said. "I think I want Kakashi to be my father, something about him just screams father figure."
"Enough with the crazy talk Naruto, I'm ready to bowl," Gaara said, adjusting his shoes. "Since there are so many of us, we will have to split between two machines."
"I hope I'm not too late," Idate said, walking up to the group.
Sasuke side eyed him. "What are you doing here?"
"Uh, I invited him," Sakura spoke, going along with what they planned out.
"I hope you're ready to get your pants knocked off, alien," Naruto chirped.
"Ahhh, classic Naruto," Idate smiled.
"Do not start without me," Neji panted, running up to them out of breath.
"Well there are twelve of us which is perfect, since there are only six people to a lane."
"How are we going to split?"
"Sakura, you can be on my team," Idate grinned, his hand was on the small of her back as he guided her to the second machine.
Itachi cleared his throat. "I think the fair way to settle this is rock, paper, scissors."
Idate grinned brightly. "That's cool."
"You're going down, alien!" Naruto boasted.
"So the final teams are Naruto, Sasori, Gaara, Itachi, Sasuke and Deidara. Over here Kiba, Shikamaru, Shino, Neji, Idate and me," Sakura clarified.
"It appears to be that way," Gaara muttered.
"Well then, let's get this party started."
Everyone on machine two bowled before it was Sakura's turn.
"You're up," Idate told her.
Sakura nervously stood. "I gotta warn you, I suck badly."
"Just give it your best shot; I can give you some pointers after I see your skills."
Sakura walked up and selected a ball of the rack. She inserted her fingers into the proper holes and threw the ball down the lane. The ball veered towards the left and went straight into the gutter. She glared at the pins as if that would make them fall down.
"Ooooh," Idate moaned. "You weren't kidding. You do suck."
"Thanks," Sakura said dryly, glaring at him.
Idate chuckled. "I'm just joking with you but I do see what your problem is."
"What?"
"Well you need enough force to get the ball down the lane to knock down the pins but you use too much force. You have to cut down on some of that strength."
"Yeah, Sakura is a hulk woman," Naruto shouted from the sidelines, flexing.
"Since it's my turn again, let me show you," Idate said, getting up. He positioned himself behind her giving her the ball to hold, he guided her by her waist showing her the proper way to throw the ball.
Sasori eyed the couple, feeling a little antsy looking at the hand planted on Sakura's hip. "That is not the most effective method," he interrupted them.
Idate winked at Sakura as he backed away from her. "Well if you got a better way, go ahead.
Sakura gulped as Sasori approached her slowly. His cool hands brushed hers as he helped her get a better grip on the ball. Sasori was right behind Sakura and their close proximity made her cheeks flush slightly.
"You want to make sure you're holding the ball correctly. You want to place your middle and ring finger in the top two holes and place your thumb into the bottom hole." Sakura did as commanded.
"Now, hold on the ball with your bowling hand underneath the ball and your other hand on the bottom side of the ball. Put your thumb at 10 o clock if you're right-handed and 2 o clock if you're left-handed."
When Sakura's position was good, Sasori stepped back from her. "Keep your back straight and tilted slightly forward, shoulders squared, and knees slightly bent. Keep your feet slightly apart and one foot in front of the other." Sakura did so.
"Visualize where you want the ball to go. When you got your target in sight, swing your arm back, step forward, and let the ball fly."
Sakura gazed at the pins at the end of the lane, trying to focus her mind on the pins instead of how close Sasori was to her a few moments ago. She took a deep breath, swung her arm back, stepped forward, and released the ball down the lane. It sped down the lane. For a second, Sakura thought she would miss and she held her breath in nervous anticipation. But to her shocked relief, the ball hit the pins and she was granted a strike.
She gasped. "I got a strike…" She turned towards Sasori, a smile on her face. "I got a strike!"
Sasori gave a small smile. "See? It's not so hard."
"Thanks for getting me that strike Sasori," Idate grinned, since they went out his turn.
"You got it?" Sasori asked her as he ignored Idate, looking into her eyes
Sakura shivered and nodded not able to say anything. He nodded himself and walked back to his side. Sakura sat back on the bench with Idate.
"Ahhhh, Sakura speechless, never seen that before," Idate laughed.
Sakura glared at him. "Whatever."
Naruto stared at Sasori his eyes wide. "I have never seen you talk so much before!"
"How did we all end up over here on this machine?" Deidara said, looking over at Sakura laugh at something Idate said.
"I think it was rigged," Naruto said, trying to listen in on the group.
Itachi was watching the group too along with Naruto. He turned away, annoyed and jealous at the same time. "Just hurry up and bowl, Naruto," he huffed, taking out his frustrations on the blonde.
"Okay!" Naruto quickly jumped into bowling mode, going up to the lane and picking up a bowling bowl. After concentrating, he swung his arm back and then swung it forward, sending the ball rolling down the lane. It went straight into the gutter.
"Oh come on!" Naruto loudly complained, stomping his feet.
"Hn," was all Sasuke said.
Naruto turned around to glare at his enemy. "Shut up, Sasuke, I still get another shot!" He waved his fist at him angrily before turning back around. Sasuke just rolled his eyes.
Naruto picked up another ball and concentrated harder. "Come on, Uzumaki, you can do this," he said to himself before he attempted his second try. This time, he landed a strike.
He gasped, smiling in glee. He whipped around to face Sasuke, his finger pointed at him. "Ha! Take that, chicken butt! How do you look those apples? Do they taste TASTY?!" Naruto's recent attempt had gotten him all fired up.
Deidara frowned at him. "Calm down, dude, it's not that serious."
"Don't tell me to calm down, I just got a strike!" He threw his hands in the air while the others gave him strange looks. "The great Naruto Uzumaki is a great bowling champion!"
"Hn."
Naruto glared at Sasuke. "What, you think you can do better?" He spat.
Sasuke stood up. "Most likely." He walked over to Naruto. "Move."
Looking as stoic as ever, Sasuke picked up a ball and bowled it down the lane. He got a perfect strike, making it look easy. Naruto's jaw fell down. Sasuke bowled again and got another strike. Naruto's jaw fell down even more.
"Hn," was all Sasuke responded with as he went back to his seat, leaving a stunned Naruto by the ball dispenser. Gaara came up to him, ready for his turn. He smirked at him.
"Looks like the 'great Naruto Uzumaki' isn't all that great."
Naruto scoffed. "This game is just rigged."
"How can the game be rigged? He played fair and square."
"It…it just is!" Naruto pouted. "Everything is rigged!"
Both teams played a few more games, Sasuke beating Naruto each time, before they decided to call it quits.
"I know a really nice diner if you guys want to grab a bite to eat," Idate suggested as they all exited the bowling alley.
"Sounds good with me," Sakura said feeling hungry.
The restaurant that Idate suggested wasn't too far from the bowling alley, a little place at the end of the street. As soon as they entered, Sakura was already panicking looking at the seating arrangement.
"The booths are pretty small, only four people to a booth. Sakura, who do you want to sit with?" Idate asked her, grinning like a mad man at the situation he had put her in.
Soon all eyes were on her, waiting for her decision.
Sakura shuffled her feet, feeling the pressure building. "Uhhh…I choose-"
OOOOOOO
Muahahahahaha! It feels good to be back and leave cliff hangers. I hope that you all enjoyed the chapter and that I did not make you wait that long. And no, there is nothing wrong with being a garbage man; it just fit into the story.
Just wanted to inform everyone that if you go back and read any of the previous chapters over the next couple weeks, you may notice some changes. I am going in to re-edit the story again; there are just so many grammatical errors and problems that I cannot ignore. Everything will stay the same; I am just trying to polish it up so everything runs smoothly because it is cringe worthy going back reading over my story.
Here is a little preview for the next chapter. Hopefully I will finish soon and have it posted. See you guys then!
Preview
Sakura sighed into the phone. "What is it exactly you want?"
He was silent on the other end. "I'm sick and I want you to take care of me."
"You must be joking."
"Does it sound like I'm joking?"
"I'm going to hang up now."
"Wait-"Sakura paused, his voice almost sounded like he was desperate.
"Don't you have people who are paid to take care of you?"
"Yeah, but some are not that good at their job."
"Then hire somebody who will."
"I'll pay you."
Sakura laughed. "You think I can be brought with money."
"I heard you taking about that new computer you needed, I'll pay you if you take care of me."
Sakura thought about the offer. "You aren't going to try anything."
"Hn."
"Speak real words, chicken."
"I told you to stop calling me that," Sasuke growled.
"I do not hear any promises."
"Fine, I promise," Sasuke said boredly. "So do you agree?"
"Hmmm, I'll consider it."
"You'll consider it? I need a definite ans-"
Sakura hung up the phone and laughed to herself.
Sasuke inwardly perked up seeing Sakura come in his room, though he did not show it. But that died quickly after he saw who followed her inside. He weakly glared at the boy as they both walked to his bed.
"What is he doing here?" Sasuke spat, looking at the intruder.
"We met when I was coming to your house and he offered to help me."
Sasuke glared at Sasori who stared back at him. Was he smirking? He never saw Sasori smirk before.
"Fine, whatever," Sasuke said, rolling over in his bed.
"So what's wrong with you? You would not tell me on the phone."
Sasuke gulped slightly, wondering why he was so nervous.
"I'm-"
"Spit it out already or I'm leaving."
