Author's Note: Reading positive reviews made me so happy! Thank you everyone for reading the first chapter and even follow/favourite the fanfic. I promise to continue working harder to improve this story. Please enjoy chapter 2 as well!
Chapter 2: Sincerity
Sakura's POV
It's been a week since I started helping Sasuke with reviews for the midterms. It was Monday and the midterms were starting in exactly a week from then. I was walking to class after parking my car when I heard girls screaming in their annoying high pitch voices.
And somehow, I knew what was going on.
I turned around with a groan and saw what I expected. It was Sasuke and he was surrounded by a bunch of girls. Actually, saying it was a bunch of girls was an understatement.
I rolled my eyes and was about to mind my own business when my name was suddenly called out.
"Sakura."
I recognized it was Sasuke's voice and cursed under my breath. The last thing I wanted to happen was Sasuke talking to me in front of his fan girls. It would be very troublesome.
Okay, I felt like Shikamaru for using the word 'troublesome' but having anything to do with Sasuke's fanatic fan girls was indeed a pain in the ass.
I slowly turned around as I continued cursing and tried to put on a smile as Sasuke walked towards me.
"Good morning." Sasuke greeted casually, as if the girls behind him were invisible.
"Morning." I replied and dreadfully took a peek at Sasuke's fan girls. I swore I could feel their evil aura without even looking at them in the eyes.
They were all giving me deadly glares and I had uncountable pairs of narrowed eyes piercing through me.
"You just made me the number one most hated girl in school. Thanks, Sasuke. I appreciate it a lot." I whispered as softly as I could.
"Ignore them. Do me a favour and let me walk to the classroom with you. I'm too tired to deal with them."
When I started walking alongside Sasuke, I noticed how tired he looked. His eye bags were obvious and he was paler than usual. I didn't meet him at all during the weekends because his schedule was packed until night time.
"You don't look so good." I would be lying if I said I wasn't concerned at all. It would be troublesome if he suddenly fainted, after all.
"Oh Sakura, could you stop using the word 'troublesome'? You're sounding a whole lot like that lazy ass, Shikamaru." I thought as I looked around at the numerous girls glaring at me.
I rolled my eyes at them and didn't quite care about being hated anymore. I didn't like them either, anyway.
I entered the classroom and the first pair of eyes I made contact with was Ino's. She had a mischievous look on her face when she saw me and I knew she would force me to tell her what was going on between Sasuke and I.
But there was indeed nothing going on between me and the Uchiha superstar.
All that happened was the two of us reviewing for the midterms together in his apartment.
Alright, that sounded suspicious. A guy and girl alone in an apartment sounded scandalous and if Ino knew about that, it would be the end of me. She would definitely jump to the wrong conclusion.
I walked to my seat, which was beside Ino. Sasuke sat right behind me and his seatmate was Shikamaru. I took another glance of Sasuke and saw that he was massaging his temples with his hands.
I was getting more concerned and was going to ask him about it when Ino poked me on the shoulder and was giggling in a way that made me felt uncomfortable.
"What?" I glared at her and sighed. I knew what she was thinking of but I tried to pretend I didn't.
"We must talk during lunch." She whispered as softly as she could, not wanting to let Sasuke caught what she was saying.
All I did was rolling my eyes at the pig and tried to ignore her giggling and smirks.
After finishing our meals during lunch time, Ino was dragging me towards our usual spot in one of the gardens of our school. Tenten and Hinata followed us and I could see they had an idea on what was going on.
When Ino was certain we were the only ones there, she started interrogating me.
Yes, I called it an interrogation.
"Is there something new going on between you and Sasuke?"
"No." I answered with a poker face. I sat down on the grass and my other three friends did the same.
"You're lying! You guys walked to class together this morning." Ino was getting insistent but I was rather grateful she remembered to lower her voice. None of us wanted to let those fan girls to hear our conversation. They would cause a huge fuss and all four of us hated it when they did that.
"We just happened to meet each other in the hallway." I answered and didn't felt any guilt since it was the truth.
"Did your private tutorials turned into something more 'private'?" Ino asked with a perverted smirk which deserved a punch on her face.
"No." My tone was stern and I narrowed my eyes in frustration at Ino. "For the last time, there is nothing going on between us."
"Alright, we'll believe you for now I guess." Tenten said and I glared at her for using the words 'for now'.
"But you might want to be careful when you go to Sasuke's apartment, Sakura." Ino's playful expressions were gone and were replaced by more serious ones. "I overheard some girls talking about you in the bathroom this morning. They said someone saw you entering Sasuke's place."
"What?" I hissed. I had always been extra careful whenever I was near Sasuke's apartment. I was confident nobody saw me. I sighed loudly as I scolded myself for not being careful enough.
"Just be careful, Sakura." Hinata said and I could sense concern from her tone.
I managed to smile at my friends and thanked them for being concern.
"You must tell us if there is anything new between the two of you though." Ino said and my smile disappeared soon afterwards.
Ino would never give me peace and quiet when it was about relationships. I guessed I just had to get used to it.
When I dropped the topic, I lay down on the grass and took my phone out. Sasuke's tired face suddenly crossed my mind and I just had to ask if he was alright.
He looked more exhausted than usual after all.
Sasuke's POV
My appetite wasn't good and I was too tired to play basketball with my friends. I dragged myself back to the classroom, which was empty when I entered. I slowly walked towards my seat and rested my head on the desk.
My weekend was horrible and I barely took any breaks while I was working. Monday was actually my day off and my manager suggested I should just rest at home. But most of the classes on Monday were those subjects I had most difficulties in. I knew I had to come to school on Monday if I wanted my reviews to become more effective.
Sakura was a huge help and I was really grateful. I was slightly guilty to have made her the number one enemy of my fan girls this morning. But I was seriously too tired to handle those girls and Sakura was the only one who could give me peace and quiet.
That was quite ironic though since I had always been arguing with Sakura. Peace and quiet were not words used to describe our relationship.
But Sakura was different from most girls and I enjoyed being around her. I even find it fun to argue with her.
"After all, the annoyed expression she has whenever we argued is amusing to me."
I snapped out of my thoughts when I received a notification from my phone. I took my phone out from my pocket and realized it was a WhatsApp massage from Sakura.
Sakura: You look really worn out today. Are you okay?
Sasuke: I'm fine, just lacking sleep.
Sakura: I saw you massaging your temples. Are you having a headache?
Sasuke: Just a small headache. It'll probably be gone soon.
Sakura: You better rest after school then.
Sasuke: I can't rest. Can you help me with my review today? I won't have time tomorrow.
Sakura: You want to study even when you are not feeling well? Unbelievable!
Sasuke: I don't have much of a choice. My manager drove me to school this morning so I didn't bring my car. I'll follow your car later on. Is that alright?
Sakura: Your fan girls hate me to the core already. I don't think I care anymore if they saw you entering my car.
Sasuke: Alright then.
The rest of the day passed by rather quickly. Despite the throbbing feeling I had on my head, I tried to concentrate when Asuma-sensei was giving the Mathematics lecture. I also took down some notes when he mentioned about the midterm next week.
I felt quite proud to be able to finally understand a topic I was confused on even though I wasn't feeling too well. I looked at the guy beside me and sighed.
Shikamaru had been asleep throughout the whole Mathematics class, which was something he had always been doing. However, he would always get the highest score in all Mathematics exams or quizzes. It had always been that way since primary school.
I sometimes wondered what Shikamaru's brain was made of and I would be lying if I said I never wished I had brains like his.
When homeroom had ended, Sakura stood up from her seat and turned around to face me. She had an unusual look on her and I raised an eyebrow questioningly.
"You're looking worse than just now." Sakura said as she carried her backpack on her shoulder.
I had to admit I was feeling worse but I only had the strength to sigh softly as I got up from my seat. After bidding goodbye to Shikamaru and Ino, I walked through the hallways with Sakura.
I noticed the negative aura given off by the girls around us and I knew it was directed towards Sakura. I began feeling more guilty but I noticed that Sakura looked completely unfazed by her surroundings.
"I'm sorry for making you go through all this." I said and I realized that my voice sounded weak and definitely exhausted.
"Don't worry about those girls. I don't like them, anyway. You should be more concerned about your health." Sakura looked at me crossly as she led me towards her car.
When we were already inside Sakura's car, she let go of a sigh that she had been holding onto for some time.
"Those fan girls of yours are seriously crazy." She muttered and turned to face me. "I'm more concerned about you though."
Sakura placed a hand on my forehead and checked my temperature. She looked upset and concern was seen in her eyes.
"You have a slight fever. We better drop by at the convenience store and get you some medicines." Sakura didn't give me time to answer and had started to drive away.
My body felt heavy and I couldn't bring myself to talk much either. Sakura seemed to have noticed my discomfort and looked over at me with a worried expression.
She asked me to wait in the car when she had reached the closest convenience store from our school.
I felt touched when I saw her running into the store. I sensed her concern and it made me feel warm inside. I closed my eyes to rest as I waited for Sakura to come back.
I told myself that I should try my best to recover so that I wouldn't be troubling Sakura.
"I should really do something for her for all she has been doing for me." I thought as I placed my arm over my eyes while waiting for Sakura to return.
Sakura's POV
Instead of just buying medicines, I also bought some ingredients for dinner. I assumed Sasuke wouldn't have much of an appetite so I'll just cook something simple for him. He needed to eat before having his medicine, after all.
I wasn't exactly a great cook but I could come up with something simple.
And I was planning to kill Sasuke if he complained about my cooking. I was being very nice to even have thought of cooking dinner for him.
When I returned to the car, Sasuke placed his arm down from his eyes and looked at me putting the grocery bags on the back of the car.
"What's in the bags?" Sasuke asked in a fragile voice, which was something I had never heard of.
"Ingredients for dinner. I hope you don't mind if I use your kitchen." I answered Sasuke as I drove.
"Why are you being so nice to me?" Sasuke sounded sleepy and I looked over at him to see if he was dozing off. Apparently, he wasn't falling asleep and was staring at the roads.
"You're obviously sick! I can't just leave you be. I'm a nice person, you know." I emphasized at the word 'nice' so the person beside me could hear it loud and clear.
It earned me a weak smirk from Sasuke and he muttered something under his breath. It was soft but I heard what he said.
"Thanks, Sakura."
Sasuke sounded really sincere and I didn't notice I was beginning to blush. As I felt heat radiating from my cheeks, I scolded myself mentally and forced myself to just focus on driving.
"You owe me." I tried to sound cool but I felt stupid instead.
I was glad Sasuke wasn't looking at my way so I was sure he didn't notice the red shades on my face.
"I will pay you back when I'm free." Sasuke said that with a serious tone, which actually surprised me. I didn't really mean it when I said he owed me.
But I was curious about what he would do to pay me back so I just kept it that way.
"I'm looking forward to it then." I answered with a soft smile on my face.
Once we arrived at Sasuke's apartment, I asked Sasuke to rest at the couch as I prepared the meal for him. It was still 4 PM and it was too early to call it dinner. But Sasuke needed to eat something first before taking his medicine.
After I was done cooking the porridge and omelet, I brought it to the living room where Sasuke was. He sat up on his couch when he heard me approaching and looked impressed at the meal I made for him.
"You're better than I thought." He commented as he took the spoon and fork from my hand.
"I'm glad you're not picky. Go ahead and eat. Then take your medicine afterwards." I said and sat beside him on the couch.
He thanked me before he started eating. I felt proud when I saw Sasuke's face lighting up when he tasted the food I made.
"These actually taste nice. I never expect you knew how to cook."
"Well, I try to learn as many things as I could. I'm not that great of a cook but I'm considered acceptable, I guess."
"You're definitely better than me when it comes to cooking."
"I think the two of us can agree with that statement without any argument."
I was relieved when I heard Sasuke laughed. It could only mean he was at least feeling slightly better.
I stood up to get his medicine when I saw that he was almost done eating. I went back to wash the dishes as he drank his medicine.
I knew Sasuke wanted to study that day so I chose to buy medicines which wouldn't make him drowsy. He definitely wouldn't want to end up falling asleep in the middle of revision.
When I returned to the living room from the kitchen, I saw that Sasuke had already taken out his textbooks.
I smiled at the sight and shook my head.
"I'm amazed at how determined you are in studying despite being sick."
I sat down beside Sasuke and took out my books from my backpack.
"I don't have any choice."
"Let's not waste any time then."
The two of us were mostly doing exercises that day and Sasuke was performing well even though he was still feeling ill. When I saw that it was already 8 PM, I went back to the kitchen to prepare dinner for Sasuke and myself.
I made fried rice and soup for ourselves and was hoping it wouldn't taste too bad. Sasuke was feeling much better that night and his appetite improved as well. He wasn't as pale as he was and he was no longer feeling weak.
After we finished eating dinner, Sasuke offered to help me wash the dishes. Since it was already past 9 PM when we were done with the dishes, Sasuke suggested we should stop the revision for the time being.
"You must be tired. We'll continue on Wednesday." Sasuke said and started fixing his books.
"Alright then. You should take your medicine again before going to bed. Stop studying and just sleep, okay?" I knew it was possible that Sasuke would continue studying even after I had left. What he needed at that moment was rest and sleeping was the wisest thing he could do.
"I'll rest after I showered." Sasuke assured me confidently as he placed his books back into his backpack.
I smiled at him and carried my backpack on my shoulders. Sasuke walked me to the door and opened it for me.
When I was leaving, Sasuke thanked me once again. He sounded sincere like earlier and I involuntarily blushed at the tone of his voice.
"You're welcome. Get well soon." I returned his smile with my own and turned to walk towards my car.
As I got further away from Sasuke's apartment and there was silence in the air, I noticed the unusual thumping of my heart.
I tried to ignore the increased pace of my beating heart and the heat on my cheeks.
Not surprisingly, I failed to do so.
I had to admit I was feeling something new for Sasuke. I was sure I was feeling something different and it was something I had never felt before.
"It will definitely be the end of me if Ino found out after this."
That thought stayed in my mind longer than I had wanted it to as I drove towards my home.
Author's Note: I hope you liked chapter 2. Please leave a review and look forward for the next chapter! Thank you for reading!
