A/N: I'd always imagined this chapter to be all fluffs and tufts. I've seen this chapter over and over again in my head and not once did it cross mind to make it like this. Ugh. I have no idea how it became the way it did. Like no idea whatsoever! Talk about the story writing its own. -.-"

It's that special part of the term again! Midterms! Yaaaaay!

...

Ugh

Please wish me good luck everyone!

I'd like to give my gratitude to those who're still with me on this story. :D (Lord knows this has been going on for quite some time now) Thanks for keeping up with me everyone! Relative to how many chapters we're at now, we're kind of (?) close to the drama. Hopefully you stick with me til then. Much love! Olie!

Oh and let me hear you guys out, yeah? Feedback on my writing is always much appreciated.

*DISCLAIMER APPLIES*

BEFORE THE WORST

I.O.U

Naruto, whose chin was rested on the table in a most depressing manner, moped as she continued to wait for her crepe which she had asked her dear old Aunt to make for her. Tsunade totally got off on making her suffer in the most unpleasant way – withholding food from her.

"She's got it out for me. Ever since I called out on one of her wrinkles, she's been progressively punishing me." Naruto whined as she watched Kiba, Sakura, Ino, and Sai eat their delectable desserts.

"Nah! I bet she's just making yours extra special since she's your godmother." Sakura tried to make the flaxen-haired teen feel better. But sadly, it was fruitless when the pinkette looked towards the small window to the Hokage kitchen area. Apparently, Tsunade found gossiping with the remaining staff and her bottle of sake more appealing than serving poor little Naruto. Sakura could only sweatdrop and awkwardly grin at the younger girl at the knowledge of Tsunade's method of revenge.

Naruto caught the expression and sighed. "She's drinking sake, isn't she." She actually didn't have to ask. The blonde knew Tsunade was drinking sake and overall slacking off. God damn. If only Tsunade didn't make the best crepes, Naruto would have settled for getting one of the restaurants employees to make the crepe for her. Hell, she would have done it herself! But nope. The universe just had to give Tsunade the uncanny ability to make crepes worthy for the gods to eat.

The girl looked up and eyed Kiba while he ate his strawberry brownie and custard crepe. Oh god... That looked so good. Naruto began to have wet daydreams about the scrumptious treat. The brunet boy sensed a wave of malicious intent to his person (to his food) and locked on at the sight of the tiny trickle of drool at the corner of Naruto's mouth. Naruto looked like she was ready to pounce.

"Oh no way! Wait for your own, blondie!" Kiba nothing but embraced his food and kept it at a safer distance away from Naruto. Something at the boy's feet whimpered which caused him to look down. Akamaru suddenly placed his fluffy head on Kiba's lap, clearly begging for food. Kiba's unease melted at the sight and he was more than glad to offer his white furred companion a bit of custard.

"You'd give your dog crepe but not me?!" Naruto moaned out in clear desperation.

"Akamaru is family, stupid!" He reasoned while rubbing the top of Akamaru's soft head. Ino and Sakura cutely giggled at the antics of their friends.

"Aw, babe. If you wanted some, you could have just asked me." Sai was quick to reach his crepe over the table and let Naruto have a go at the sweet. "Don't be shy, Naruto. Come have some of mine." The offer was nice enough and yet Naruto found herself cringing at the idea of eating off of Sai's food. His food... where his mouth had been seconds prior... which meant they were indirectly kissing. An abrupt wave of goosebumps crept up her spine.

"Err.. S-Sai. Thanks but—"

It happened all too suddenly. One moment Sai had the crepe in his hand and, in the next moment, the crepe was swiped away by one annoyed-looking Uchiha who almost appeared out of nowhere. "Whoops. My hand slipped." With impressive accuracy, Sasuke threw the treat toward the nearest bin from where he stood. "Oh, it slipped again. I'm such a klutz today. My bad, Baikan." There was no trace of remorse in his voice whatsoever.

Sai smiled that unnerving smile of his while Sasuke made his way to sit next to Naruto. "Of course. Even the great Uchiha Sasuke slips up sometimes. You're not perfect after all. But nonetheless, you owe me one, Sasuke."

Sasuke glared. "Sure. Stop hitting on my idiot first, freak."

Naruto was about to dissuade the rapidly growing tension but thankfully the arrival of her food did the job for her.

"Here you go, brat." Tsunade handed out to her goddaughter before glaring at the two ruffled adolescent boys in her establishment. "I don't care if you two start a fight here but know that if you do, I'll have Naruto clean the restrooms for a month."

"EHHH! What?!" Naruto gaped at her godmother before aiming a deadly glare to Sai and Sasuke respectively. No way was she cleaning those gross toilets because of those two imbeciles. Easily enough, the two boys responded to the threat and calmed down.

Tsunade immediately took on a lax stance once the situation was put under control. "Good to know that you boys are quick learners. Now if you'll excuse me, I'll be heading to my office now. If you need anything, please hesitate to approach me." She sarcastically said and yet smiled warmly to the group before taking her leave.

"Thanks, Granny!" Naruto teased while Tsunade was making her way to the office.

"You're cleaning the restrooms for a week, kid!" She voiced out without looking back as she went inside her workplace and calmly closed the door. Naruto chuckled and then took the first bite off of her treat. Mmmmm. Her banana hazelnut crepe was heavenly. Slowly, she began to dig into her dessert.

"Okay, let's get back to business. What should our class do for the school fair?" Ino was quick to jump right back to the matter of discussion prior to Naruto griping about her food ... or once lack thereof.

"I still think we should do a horror house." Kiba pitched in his earlier suggestion.

"Kiba, we did the horror house last year." Sakura sighed. "I really want to do something other than scaring the shit out of people."

"But it was so fun though!" Kiba along with Akamaru whimpered as they quickly reminisced about last year's class event. They really did a number on their girl customers. The image of a large two-headed rabid dog was sure to haunt you for at least a couple of years.

"We can do a café!" Sakura, in a stroke of brilliance, enthusiastically suggested. The response she got from Ino was purely positive judging by the high pitch of the pale blonde's squeal. And of course Sakura, being the girly girl that she was, squealed along. The other occupants of the table winced at the sound.

Once the two girls had calmed down from their fit, Naruto provided her own input. "The idea's pretty cool and all but I wanted to do something cool. Something that would get people's attention." She said in between the bites off her crepe.

"Like?" Ino and Sakura simultaneously said with small hint of foreboding in their voices.

Naruto shivered and awkwardly giggled, momentarily forgetting her precious food. "Like... err. Like a costume booth or something? No one's done it before. And we're almost guaranteed to have double the number of female customers because... Sasuke in a costume. 'Nuff said." Unbeknownst to her, a certain someone had been fervently eyeing her crepe for quite a while now. Said person was quick to take advantage of her momentary disregard of the food. While she was trying to form more defenses for her proposed theme event, Sasuke leaned over to her and took a piece off of her crepe.

"..?! Sasuke!" She cried out as she mournfully watched Sasuke slowly chew the mouth-watering morsel he took.

"What? Afraid you'll contract me with... what was that sickness you were telling me back in middle school? Halitosis?" He teased then a slow smirk crept its way to his face. "Learn to share, you dolt."

She was about to bite her best friend's head off but she was taken aback when Sasuke took hold of the hand that was holding the treat and brought the treat toward him. He then... took another chomp off of her food.

That settled it. He must die. Sasuke must die now.

"We could actually merge the two ideas. It would seem fun to run a costume café." Sai, who unknowingly saved Sasuke from certain doom, added. The visual of Naruto in a maid costume came to the Baikan boy. ... There was no way he was letting anyone veto this idea.

On the one hand, the idea visibly piqued Kiba, Sakura, and Ino's interests. It was a brilliant idea. Sasuke and Naruto, on the other hand, both glared at the pale boy.

"Oi. You're not thinking about anything perverted, are you?" Naruto heatedly said. From her side, she could practically feel Sasuke's aura of doom.

"Of course not, babe!" Sai beamed at her. Heh. Oh, if Naruto only knew.

"You better not, pervert." The blonde pointed an accusing finger at the boy. She then returned the attention to the others. "I'm gonna ignore Sai's questionable motives for now because it actually is a good idea. A really really good idea actually." The sentiment about the proposal was mutual.

"Great! So we can propose this to the class tomorrow!" Sakura, having already finished her food moments ago, excitedly said as she began packing up her things. Ino and Kiba, in turn, started to gather their belongings. It would seem that their meeting was now adjourned.

"I'll prep the presentation tonight so we can present it in homeroom tomorrow. If you guys have any other suggestions, message me." Ino giddily said with a wink. Now that they had an idea of their class event, she was starting to become exceedingly thrilled about the fair.

Everyone answered in agreement before dispersing, leaving Sasuke, Naruto and Sai behind.

"Any reason you're still here. Baikan?" Sasuke scornfully questioned the other lad.

"It's not that big a deal but..." Sai leaned forward, reaching over to Naruto with a napkin in hand. Before Sasuke or Naruto could realize what was going on, Sai had wiped a speck of hazelnut sauce that was on Naruto's right whisker-marked cheek, letting his hand linger on the soft flesh of Naruto's skin a little longer than necessary.

"Baikan." Sasuke grunted out and stood up in clear warning.

Sai was swift to raise both hands in surrender, with his left hand still clasped onto the napkin . "I know, Uchiha. I know. Hands to myself." He was quick to turn about-face with arms still up. "Good night, you two. See you in the morning." Sai said as he walked away. Sasuke refused to slack his assumed dominant posture as long as Baikan was still within the premises. Thankfully, Sai was out of the restaurant and Sasuke could finally relax.

"Hate that guy." Sasuke mumbled. The lad continued to stand once he saw that Naruto was making motions of leaving Hokage as well.

"Total creeper." Naruto cringed. "He could totally be cool if he just dropped the whole stalker act." She confessed as she tried to wear her backpack on her person. Being the gentleman that Sasuke was, he was quick to take the load off of Naruto's belonging from her.

"Thanks, S'uke." She beamed at him to which Sasuke smirk-smiled at.

They returned their chairs back to place before Naruto checked the time. "I know it's pretty late but we can still try to hang out today. You can crash at my place if you want?"

Sasuke instantly felt guilty. Naruto still wanted to hang out with him despite how late it already was. She had a reason to want to though. It was a special occasion after all. Sasuke pulled the girl into an embrace and placed his mouth beside her ear. "Sorry I wasn't with you all day, Sunshine. Something huge came up at the company and Orochimaru wanted me in on it." He gently whispered his apology and simultaneously held on tighter to the girl. He began to lightly sway their bodies, the amount of love they exuded was insurmountable.

"Happy Anniversary, Naruto." He said in a voice Naruto rarely got to hear. It felt like her heart began to beat thrice as fast and strong than it usually does. No doubt Sasuke could feel her palpitations.

"Happy Anniversary, Sasuke." She said and comfortably rested her head on his chest. "Don't worry about today. I can understand. Anyway, we have plenty of anniversaries coming our way. You can make it up to me then. You basically owe me now, ass." She brightly smiled to herself at the idea that they would have countless more occasions to celebrate as a couple. Sasuke 'hmmed' in agreement. He found that he also quite loved the idea of making it up to Naruto on their future anniversary celebrations.

Naruto ever-so-lightly thumped a fist on Sasuke's chest to get his attention back to present-day. "Love you, jerk."

"... Yeah. I know. Me too."

Naruto ignored the infinitesimal ache in her chest that Sasuke's response brought her. It wasn't something to gripe about, really. He'd said he loved her too, right? Well, he didn't outright say it but at least the sentiment was there. Never mind that 'me too' was almost on the same league as saying 'ditto', it was the thought that counted.

Yeah. She could keep telling that to herself if it made her feel better.

She looked up to him, willing away the illogical apprehension from her mind. "Let's go. I got a whole bunch of new games from my birthday. I've been practicing since then and I know I can finally beat you this time!" She took Sasuke's hand and led him out the door.

"We're going, Tsunade! Thanks for the food! Love you!" She shouted the goodbye to her aunt, hoping that it had been heard. Sasuke voiced his own gratitude in a much less boisterous voice.

The bus ride was relatively quick as it was quite late at night and the amount of commuters was near to none. They got off at their stop and as they journeyed back to Naruto's place, the girl's thought continued to bother her. She shook her head to rid herself off of the feeling. Sasuke had said 'me too'; the sentiment was enough. He loved her too and it showed. She was being a real idiot if she let herself dwell on this. Plus, it would look like she was doubting the strength of her and Sasuke's relationship. With those rationales, she began to feel better once more. And no doubt playing games with Sasuke would make her feel even better!

"You okay, idiot? You went quiet all of a sudden. Something bothering you?" Gripping her hand tighter, Sasuke asked the million dollar question.

She shook her head. "Can't wait to kick your ass, is all!" The grin she sent him clearly shown of challenge; and who was Sasuke to back down on a challenge.

"You keep telling that to yourself."

Naruto flinched in a subtle manner. Luckily, Sasuke hadn't seen the reaction he'd caused.

Feeling frustrated with herself, she began to sprint to her house with Sasuke in tow. She was becoming annoyed with herself because of the randomly surfaced insecurity. Sasuke loves her. Sasuke loves her. Sasuke loves her. She chanted in her head over and over and over and over until the nagging feeling at the back of her skull numbed somewhat.

You keep telling that to yourself if it makes you feel better.

Screw this!

She was being stupid and insecure! That wasn't her anymore! She had faith that Sasuke loved her too. Having thoughts like this would only end up mucking up whatever was left of their anniversary. She wouldn't stand for that! She abruptly stopped sprinting; coincidentally, they had stopped right at the front of the girl's home.

"Sasuke?"

"Hm?"

"Let's make the most of the time we have left, 'kay?" She faced him with glassy eyes. A look which Sasuke thought he'd imagined due to the lack of lighting.

"Sure thing."

And they did. They'd spent the entire time talking and laughing and generally having a grand time. They'd stayed up until the wee hour of the morning doing everything and nothing. They'd stayed up just before the first rays of sunlight shone in the horizons. Much to their panic, they'd woken up fifteen minutes before the school bell rang (it was a miracle in itself that they'd woken up at all!); but that didn't matter because being together was always so fun and nothing ever seemed wrong.

Make the most of the time they had left, Naruto had said. None of them could have known the overwhelming weight of such words.