A/N: SHE'S ALIIIIIIVE! I'm extremely sorry this took ages! School (and some competition... my team didn't win by the way. Damn) has been giving me hell. I grovel at your feet for forgiveness. I'm at my last two weeks of school and, trust me, it's not gonna be pretty for me for the next couple of days. I finished this (while I was on academic paper-writing break... I've been writing millions of papers these past few days. I cry) and hopefully it will make up for my absence.

Know that I really am in gratitude to those who continually support this fic. I love you all!

IMPORTANT NOTE: Remember how I said the rating would change with this story? How would you all feel about a lemon next chapter? It's part of the original storyline but if a lot of readers aren't too comfortable with it, I won't make it detailed (or should I scrap it altogether? Thoughts?). Anyway, please enjoy!

Still self-proofread. Typos and errors may still be in there.

*DISCLAIMER APPLIES*

BEFORE THE WORST

I'll Be Your Usagi to Your Mamoru

"Why must you hurt me in this way, dumbass..." A certain Uchiha grumbled as he was being adorned by the class costume committee with one of the few remaining articles of clothing – a white mask with relatively sharp corners - to complete his look.

"This... really seemed like a good idea for a theme way back then." Naruto, whose usual pigtails were neatly tied in a bun but had let the ends flow in lush flowing curls, griped in the dreariest way possible. She wanted to dress up as Ginji from GetBackers and then Sasuke could have been Ban! But nooooo! Apparently, the class was against her and had something more brilliant in mind! Never in her life would she think she would be forced to wear a sailor-slash-school girl type outfit. The big red bow that prettily garnished the chest portion of her clothes was slowly getting on her nerves. Someone would pay dearly for this; pay with their life if need be.

"Narutoooo! You look so cute! And Sasuke! No words can describe you!" Ino gushed out, unable to control the onslaught of feels that the sight of her two almost-ready classmates looked. The girl was wearing the most adorable red hood whose cape reached the middle of her back, underneath of which was a charming pink and white dress. She styled her hair in loose low pigtails. Naruto found it amusing that Ino chose to go as Akazukin Cha Cha. It really did suit her.

"Sasuke-hun, everyone's just dying to see what you'll be dressed up as! Literally everyone! We've got so many clients and it's not even noon yet!" The excited voice, which could have only come from their classmate Tsubaki, came from outside the designated changing room. Their class event was apparently a hit! An Anime Cosplay Café? Genius! And add Sasuke in a costume to the mixture? Panties were sure to drop!

"Naruto, just put on your gloves and your boots and you'll be set to go. Don't forget to stay in character!" Sakura, who was managing the class staff, winked at her in a sign of good luck before she exited through the cloth partition in the class room. Naruto sighed once her friend was out of sight and began to put on her long white gloves and red leather boots. That was easy for Sakura to say. The pinkette didn't have to go prancing around the room like some magical bimbo.

"N-Na-Naruto. You're ready." Hinata announced once she had set the even bigger red bow daintily on Naruto's lumbar back region. Ino squealed in excitement as she began to usher Naruto out of the changing room. The blonde groaned while trying to think up ways to delay the torture. Wait. Sasuke wasn't ready yet, was he?

"Ino! Wait! I h-have to wait for Sasuke!" Naruto put more of her weight against the force of Ino's pushing.

"Eh? But why? I want people to start seeing you already!" The pale blonde more forcefully tried to get Naruto past the curtain barrier.

"NO! I mean! Sasuke and I should come out in a pair! It would be more dramatic that way, don't you think? And it'll drive the customers wild!" The whiskered teen frantically tried to reason, hoping against hope that Ino would listen. Luckily, Ino paid heed to her advice. Naruto and Sasuke matched outfits and it was actually more logical to have them come out at the same time.

"Fine. Wait for Sasuke. But no more stalling, 'kay?" Ino warned then proceeded to leave the area to resume her shift.

"Well, that was a pointless effort. I'm nearly done, knucklehead." Sasuke rolled his eyes at his best friend.

"Whatever, asshole. If I could prolong the humiliation even by just a second, I would." Naruto approached the raven. Sasuke was in the process of putting on a top hat whilst one of their classmates was busy tidying up his midnight black cape.

" 'kay Sasuke. Knock 'em dead!" The girl who'd helped Sasuke dress up was called Ami. She flipped the longer side of her short dark violet hair while blushing at the sight of the Uchiha. As expected, Sasuke simply responded with the grunt.

"If we live through this, remind me to kill you." He said as he grasped to open the curtain that would inevitably reveal their state of dress.

"Oh, babe. You seem to be forgetting..." Naruto grasped at the other curtain and harshly yanked at it finally revealing themselves to the crowd. Immediately, the sound of wailing and screaming females hit their senses. "We have a widely female customer-base." She snickered as Sasuke paled at the sight of fast growing mass of females heading his way.

"It's Sasuke!"

"Tuxedo Mask?! Oh my God! My ovaries just exploded!"

"Kyaaa! He looks so handsome!"

"You won't live through this long enough to kill me, babe." Naruto winked before slipping past the horde of girls headed towards her boyfriend. She cackled at Sasuke's desperate shout of her name.

Their shift had begun!

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It would appear that everything wasn't as bad as they seemed. Naruto was truly having fun with this! Well, if she ignored the fact that she was dressed as Sailor Moon, running the café was actually highly enjoyable. The work wasn't very demanding and wasn't overly tiring. Sasuke mostly got all the request for obvious reasons (which truthfully baffled Naruto because Sasuke was not in the least bit pleasant through all of this).

"You should wear this every day to school, dickless." Ahh, it would seem that it had been too early to acknowledge the peace. Sai, dressed in his Goku outfit, chose this time to hassle her.

"So help me, Sai, if I hear another word from you, I am going to shove my right leather boot so far up your ass it'll come out of your mouth." The threat was strange, Sai thought. Sailor Moon never said words of that manner before. Maybe Naruto was performing her own rendition of the famous magical girl?

As if to answer his mental inquiry, Sakura came up behind Naruto and smacked the blonde on the head. "What did I say about keeping in character, idiot." Crap! Naruto had to recover fast lest she be subjected to her untimely demise.

"Err... uhh.- eugh!" She began to sweat profusely at the sight of Sakura whom was presently cracking her knuckles. "Sa—Sakura-ch-ch-chan! Eep.. I-I-I am S-S-Sailor Moon! The champ-p-pion of justice!" Thankfully, Sakura stopped looking violent but it was apparent that there was still quite a bit of edginess in her gaze which meant Naruto had to continue the line. "In th-the name of the moon, I will right the wr-wrong and triumph over evil! And that means you?" There was an upward inflection at the end which was an indiscrete way of asking whether or not the blonde would get a beating. However, judging from the sudden chirpiness on Sakura's part, Naruto would seem to have been deemed off the hook... this time.

"Good girl, blondie!" Sakura petted Naruto's head for extra measure. "Sai, stop harassing Naruto. Both of you get back to work." The pinkette said with authority before accommodating one of the patrons.

"Later, dickless man." Sai teased before leaving Naruto's presence as well.

Naruto thus resumed her work by taking down one of the rare male customers they had. The request was simple enough: iced mocha drink with whipped cream. Naruto went right ahead and quickly went to the make-shift kitchen area to state the order. Just as she had called the order, Sasuke was suddenly beside her appearing as if he'd been haunted by ghosts recently.

"This is flipping exhausting." The poor lad complained as he slumped against the wall.

Naruto was quick to soften her gaze in sympathy and laid a gentle hand against Sasuke's cheek. "Want me to cover for you?" Using her thumb, she began to soothingly rub circles on his cheek. The girl vaguely heard the sound of a camera phone somewhere yet she paid no heed to it. It wasn't like it was the first time someone tried to take a picture of her today.

Closing his eyes, Sasuke leaned in to the touch. "No thanks. I can handle this for a couple more hours. But seriously, these girls are crazy."

Naruto giggled. "Well, that's what you get for agreeing to go as Tuxedo Mask. Honestly, you were expecting girls to just ignore you today? Fat chance, bastard!"

"Didn't think this character would still be popular."

Naruto wasn't able to reply as the iced mocha with whipped cream was announced ready by one of the kitchen staff. She placed the drink carefully on her tray and then looked to Sasuke. "Hey, save me a dance at the bonfire later?"

"Hn." He smirked as a response before walking to the door to cater to the next set of teens (girls) in line at the front. "Welcome to Moe. I am Tuxedo Mask and I will be happy to serve you today." He drawled. Hopefully, these girls didn't freak out like all the other girls did.

"Aghhhhh! Sasuke!"

Of course, that was just wishful thinking on his part.

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Of course, it was just her luck that someone had spilled copious amounts of coffee on her bag, which by the way contained her very clean, very normal uniform. Now, she was stuck walking around campus still in her costume. Looking on the bright side, at least it was dark out. No one would notice her unless she moved to the well-lit areas in school.

Naruto was making her way to the field where the bonfire was arranged to take place. A couple of her friends were already there; Sakura, Ino and Sasuke were left behind to tidy up and to balance the finances.

"Dude! You're way into it now! Your shift's over and you're still wearing that?" Kiba came walking towards her.

"Ageha was being a klutz and dropped her tray on my stuff." Naruto frowned. Although, thankfully, their classmate, Ageha, had been nice enough to offer to clean the stuff for her, she was still stuck as Sailor Moon for the rest of the night, which she definitely was not appreciative of.

The two trekked to their group of friends who'd luckily gotten good spots right near the bonfire. Just as they were about to reach their destination, the hired band began to play a very impressive sound check song. Naruto and the gang were up on their feet in no time and swaying to the music. Song after song after song, the band didn't let up on their degree of energy and soon everyone was enjoying to their musical styling.

"Naruto, would you like to dance with me?" It was Sai and surprisingly enough, the boy had asked politely. It completely threw Naruto off-guard. A perverted Sai, she could deal with no sweat. A polite Sai... not so much.

"Sai, I'm with Sasuke..." She said apologetically.

"Please? Promise I won't do or touch anything." And suddenly there were puppy dog eyes. Naruto mentally growled. Damn her compassionate nature!

"Fine. But no contact." She strictly warned him.

Sai honestly beamed at the acceptance. "Promise."

And so they danced for a song or two. True to his word, Sai had done nothing outside of their agreement. It was then that Naruto realized that Sai could actually be an okay guy. It was quite possible that Sai could actually end up being a very close friend. A good friend. Nothing more, nothing less.

"Hey! What?!" Naruto squeaked when she felt arms lifting her from behind. She did not appreciate being carried like a bride by some stranger! She turned her head to glare and curse out the little fuc—Oh. It was Sasuke. And apparently he was also still in his costume. Was it just her or was the heat of the fire getting to her cheeks?

All of a sudden, Sasuke was carrying her away.

"Sasuke? Wha?" Confusion. Complete and utter confusion. And maybe slight hint of delight because Sasuke was freakin' carrying her.

"I'm getting you away from Baikan. You're dancing with me, idiot." Possessive little Uchiha, wasn't he? He carefully released Naruto from his hold and slowly spun her around.

"Why are you still wearing that thing, Sasuke-bastard?"Naruto nodded at his get-up. She highly doubted the costume grew on the boy in that short amount of time.

"Heard from Sakura that you were stuck in your costume. Thought I would sympathize." He shrugged and spun Naruto once more. The startings of a big grin came to Naruto's features. Now that she thought about it, this was the very first time Sasuke would be dancing with her like this.

Sasuke raised an eyebrow in a silent question to Naruto's change of expression. The girl simply replied with a mirthful chuckle and a shake of her head as if to say to ignore her blatant giddiness.

"Can you keep up with me, Sassy-cakes?" She teased while affectionately grasping his hands.

"Try me." There was a clear sign of challenge in his eyes.

For the next couple of minutes, Naruto and Sasuke were in perfect sync with each other. There couldn't have been a closer bond. Their happiness was contagious, managing to catch the attention of those immediately around them. There was a flash of a camera but none of the two stopped to see where the source of the light had been. Silently, Naruto prayed that the night wouldn't end. It couldn't end. Not just yet.

Duties, however, wouldn't allow the night to continue on any further.

"Sunny, I have to go." Sasuke reluctantly announced while he held her close.

"Eh? Why? Weren't you having fun?" Lord knew that wasn't the case. Sasuke was indeed having the best night in a long while but he had obligations to accomplish.

"Stupid. Of course I was having fun. I just need to discuss something important with Orochimaru." He was so close, so very close to learning how to fully operate the company with the finesse and power his father once had. Amaterasu was becoming a close reality. Just a little bit more and he could finally fulfill his ambitions.

"Oh. Okay. Drive safe, alright?"

"Hn. I'll ask Kakashi to pick you up."

"Nah. I'll hitch with Sakura-chan."

Sasuke looked as if he was about to insist on his idea however a quick shake of Naruto's head dissuaded him from pushing further. He nodded in understanding, gave the girl a chaste kiss on the lips, said his goodnights, and left. Naruto briefly watched Sasuke's retreating form. She knew it wasn't normal for a teenager to be so involved in matters of high businesses but Sasuke had always been an overachiever. In times like these, she wouldn't be selfish. She'd support Sasuke and she wished with all her might that he would be able to attain whatever he was trying to accomplish.

In the darkness of the night with merely the orange glow of the warm fire to provide her light, Naruto silently prayed for Sasuke's success.