REWRITTEN
Notes (03/26/19): Like I said in my previous notes for this chapter, this is mostly a filler chapter, and I was really thinking about deleting it, but there was only ONE reason I kept it, and that was because it established Sasuke's love interest (An interesting choice I picked back then). Seriously that is the only reason. Anyway, I will try to fix up my dated sense of humor.
Thank you and enjoy!
(Konoha Downtown)
Sasuke was on a mission today, and that mission was to find some girl to date. He of course knew Sakura and Naruto weren't serious, but he had to prove them wrong and show the world that he could manage to find some girl to go out with. This of course, meant that it couldn't be one of his fan girls; he had suffered enough because of them.
He had just made this very difficult for himself.
It was now a little over noon and he had about eight hours to find someone. He knew no one who he could ask out, and was wondering what the best approach would be. He could say he was an Uchiha and probably have about fifty women standing in front of him, but those, again, would be fan girls, which he despised.
"I hate you Naruto." He muttered under his breath. He got an easy way out of something this humiliating.
The sun was now up and it was the warmest time of day, meaning many people would be out and about doing different activities. Many shops were up and their owners were trying to get people to go into their shops sometimes unsuccessfully.
Sasuke turned towards one food stand that Naruto had gotten him addicted to - Ichiraku. He walked in and said, "Good to see you Teuchi-" He looked left and right, not seeing the man, a girl came out from the back and noticed him.
"Ah, Father isn't feeling well today, so he had me work." She said, "How many I help you?"
Sasuke looked deep in thought before it popped into his head, "You're that Ayame girl right?" She nodded, and gave him a smile. Ayame had started working there a little less than a year ago, she had went to a ninja academy, but found that she didn't like it very much and went to Konoha's civilian school instead, they taught the basics and some more advance things, like any other usual school.
"Yep. We've met several times before." She went to the cooking area behind her and called, "Do you want your usual?"
Sasuke gave her a confused look and said, "Do you know what I usually get?"
"Yep, father has a note right here saying what you and your two friends like. You're his favorite and most common customers here." She moved over allowing him to see the note. Sasuke just nodded, somewhat freaked out that Teuchi would write something like that.
"I see." Sasuke said.
She looked over and asked, "So where are your two friends?"
"They're together somewhere probably laughing their asses off right about now." His head fell on the counter in front of him, "They're going on a date tonight apparently and want me to find some girl, within the next eight hours to go with them with," He looked up, "They don't think I'll do it," He began to whisper now, "But I'll prove them wrong."
Ayame gave him a weird look but shook it off, "So, who do you have in mind?"
"Do you-" Sasuke began to ask, but she laughed.
"No! I already have a boyfriend, but thanks for asking anyways." Sasuke's head fell back down on the counter. "Want some advice?" She said grinning, "If you've never met the girl, you've got to impress her first, not just ask her out of the blue, that will freak her out! You have to get to know her!"
Sasuke looked deep in thought, Impress her? I guess I could say that I am-
"And you can't say your family name to them, Uchiha." She gave him a cute smile when he looked up at her with despair in his eyes.
"Then how should I go about this? I am not going to go buy flowers, go up to the girl and say, 'will you please go out with me tonight?'" Sasuke asked, narrowing his eyes at her.
She shook her head, "Of course not! She'll put you in the 'freak' category then, unless of course you're cute enough. With your attitude though, No one will fall for it."
Sasuke looked upward and thought out loud, "I could always spar them or something?"
"If a girl likes that then you can I guess." She said, giving him another one of her weird looks.
"Right!" Sasuke said, pounding his fist into his palm, "Now the only problem is finding said girl." His happy smile suddenly turned back to a frown, "Damn it."
Ayame put some ramen in front of him, "Why not just go find several girls to your liking and asking them if you want to hang out? Don't check them out though; they'll think you're a freak if you do that. Just look for one that seems to like the same things you do or have a similar personality."
Sasuke thought to Naruto and Sakura, "Eh, a similar personality?"
"Something that's alike, it shouldn't be an exact carbon copy of yourself, just someone you can imagine yourself being with for more than a day. If you can manage that I guess that's the first step to finding the right girl." She said, then a thoughtful look came across her face as she said, "Don't you have a horde of girls wanting to date you already?"
Sasuke spat the ramen currently in his mouth out as he glared at her, "You think I'd be willing to go with those insane things?!"
"Ah! Sorry, I didn't know you didn't like having a fan group." Ayame said, fanning her hands in front of herself, as if to get rid of his burst of anger.
"I guess I'll take your advice and go find some girl that somewhat fits my attitude." He finished his ramen almost as fast as Naruto would. "I'll be heading out now." He got up, "Please wish me luck."
She waved him goodbye and dropped her smile when he was gone. "He's doomed." She sighed and began to clean up the mess he had left. "Wait! He forgot to pay! Damn! Father is going to take this out of my check!"
(Konoha Park)
"Sakura-chan, do you think Sasuke will find a girl still?" It had been almost a half hour since they had made the bet and had separated from Sasuke, and since then they had wandered around an eighth of the village.
The park they had wandered into was a decent place – actually where they were transported to when they came back from the future. Many families were having picnics, and children were playing various sports. The two of them just walked on the grass, watching the others do their activities.
"Sure he will." She said confidently, "He'll just break down and get one of his fan girls, that's all."
"I just hope they won't act like you did around him." Naruto sighed, "That was a real pain in the ass."
Sakura glanced at the small boy and asked menacingly, "What did I act like around him?" A grin came onto her face when she held onto his arm tightly and smashed her cheek into his and asked, "Something like this?"
Naruto, who felt slight pain from how tight she was holding him, and her cheek against his sighed, in the previous timeline he would have died for this, now he began to understand how Sasuke felt. "Y-Yes." He managed to get out, "Something like this."
She loosened her hold on his arm, but didn't let go, and she got her face off of his. "What do you think a normal girl would do to their boyfriend then?"
"Well, how we usually act together is what I suspect it is like." He said sheepishly, rubbing the back of his head, "I'm not sure though, I usually ignored couples when I was a kid."
She glanced at him, "Why's that?"
He shrugged, "Envy I guess."
She held him tighter, "That's so cute." She whispered to him, "Are you envious now?"
He grinned at her and said, "Hell no, I think everyone else is envious of us! I know I would be if Sasuke and I traded places right now!" He planted a quick kiss on her lips and said, "I'm glad you won't pound my head into the ground for doing that."
"Why would I?" She questioned.
They stopped under the shade of a tree that they walked towards and sat down against the tree right next to each other, "Well, if I even attempted that in the other timeline I'm sure I'd be in the hospital for several months at least." She giggled at that, not at all denying it.
"We were so weird back then." She sighed, leaning her head against his shoulder.
To anyone who didn't know that the children came from a different timeline, this conversation would have definitely appeared to be 'weird' for what was there that a twelve-year-old child can remember? Of course, an eighteen-year-old child doesn't have it much better either.
"Yeah," Naruto agreed, "I'm glad Sasuke brought us back in time to this one. It allows us to change so many things for the better and," He turned towards her, "it allows our relationship to get a head start."
"Yeah," She sighed, the warmth of the air, and the comfortable position both of them were in were beginning to make them sleepy. "The Chunin exams are starting soon." She yawned.
Naruto nodded, "Yeah, Gaara is going to come soon. I wonder how we should greet him. He is still insane remember, so don't do anything to him that will make him want to harm you."
"Naruto." Sakura sent him a glare, "I'm not a useless little girl anymore, and he won't be able to trap me when we have to fight him this time around. Sasuke and I both will be by your side to help fight him off. With us three we can easily overpower him and save the Hokage."
"No." Naruto sighed, "Gaara, no, Shukaku underestimated me a lot when we fought, and because of his stupidity I was able to get rid of him relatively quickly before anything too bad could happen." He looked serious for once, "If all of us fight him, Shukaku will not underestimate us."
Sakura sighed, "Well now you're just making the mood depressing," She pouted crossing her arms.
Naruto smiled, as if forgetting all he had said, "Ah! Sorry Sakura-chan, I was just ranting. I'm sure we'll do well."
Sakura grinned and pulled him closer to her body, simply enjoying the moment with her boyfriend. Soon after she fell asleep, allow Naruto to hold her. He glanced down and brushed some hair out of her face. Heh, I truly am lucky.
As for Sasuke, He looked up at the bright summer sky; I wonder exactly what he's up to now.
(Downtown Konoha)
"Freak!" A woman shouted hitting the ninja straight across the face with her purse. Sasuke twisted in his fall and managed to land on his feet, but was quickly tripped by the girl's friend, and they both ran off. Thankfully he managed to catch himself before his whole body hit the ground.
Sasuke glared at their retreating forms. Okay. I really hate this. He pulled himself off the ground and dusted off his Chunin vest. "This could go better."
"It could." A voice said to his left, he glanced over and saw another girl.
"You here to trip me and make sure I actually fall?" He asked, turning completely towards her. Who is this girl? She looks pretty familiar.
She wore Chinese style clothing, with a sleeveless pink shirt, and baggy black pants. She had two Kunai pouches, one on each leg, and a belt with several scrolls. Her eyes were a chocolate brown color, and her hair was tied up into buns.
"Nah!" She said smiling, "Your attempts to get woman are laughable at best. Who gave you advice?"
Sasuke looked down; a gloomy aura surrounded his body, "Yeah, I figured that out myself now," he glanced up, "So, who are you?"
"Tenten!" She said giving him another smile, "And you are?"
"Sasuke, Uchiha Sasuke." He held out his hand, and she accepted it.
"You're the so called, 'last Uchiha' then? I didn't think you'd be looking for a date like some desperate puppy. Your reputation would make it seem like you're some rich broody kid who does nothing."
Sasuke stared at her in disbelief, "That is your mental image of me?"
"Yep!" She chirped happily, she laughed as Sasuke's face fell once more, "So why are you looking for a date?"
Sasuke glanced at her and said, "Two reasons." He held up two fingers, "One, Sakura and Naruto, my two teammates, forced me to reduce myself to this and find a girl to go on a date with them tonight or they claim that they'll do many uncalled for things. Two," He lowered one finger and a small blush was almost visible on his face, "My clan won't revive itself any time soon."
"I see." Tenten said and walked forth, "Well, good luck! I hope you do end up finding the so called girl of your dreams!"
Sasuke sighed and was about to walk away, but turned and jumped at her feet and plead, "PLEASE! Help me! I can't do this! I admit that much!"
Tenten glanced down at the boy and began to laugh, she tried to hold it in to show respect, but failed and began to laugh out loud, so hard in fact that she fell to the ground and rolled around on the dirty road. Sasuke just watched on, knowing that his reputation was going away with each second, not that he really cared anyways.
"Sorry, sorry!" She said, getting off the ground along with Sasuke, "It's so funny to see a 'prodigy' such as yourself go and do that."
"I get that sometimes." He sighed, dusting his vest off.
Tenten looked at his Chunin vest and said, "So you're a Chunin already? Didn't your class just graduate the academy today?"
"Yes, my class did. I and my two teammates were taken out three years ago because we were far more advanced than any of our classmates." Sasuke said, "Kakashi-sensei thought we were good enough and-." He looked up and noticed her face turned to a panicked one. "Did I-"
She covered his mouth and looked around, "Don't say that name out loud around me or my team. Our sensei is insane and seems to hold some kind of grudge against that guy." She released her hand when she knew her sensei wasn't around.
"Who is your sensei?" Sasuke asked, he had forgotten over time.
"Gai-sensei." She said, "He's a good person, but he can be so idiotic sometimes that it's pathetic."
Sasuke chuckled, "Sounds like a friend of mine…"
Tenten washed the thought away from her head and glanced at him and said, "So you're a Chunin already? You're good, I'm a year older than you and I'm still a Genin… Are the missions any better than the D-ranked ones?"
"Much better." His eye twitched a little at the mere mention of a D-rank mission, "Taking out thugs is much better than walking dogs, catching cats, picking weeds, and all of those things."
"I hope Gai-sensei puts us in the Chunin exams this time." She pouted, "The last two he didn't let us enter because we weren't ready, I bet it's because of Lee. If he could actually do Ninjutsu and Genjutsu we could go much quicker."
Sasuke definitely remembered Lee, he was the kid that knocked him down a few pegs before the Chunin exams last time, and was really weird, "Don't say that." He spoke up, "Lee is very powerful. I'm pretty sure he could beat you and Neji."
"How'd you know about Neji?" She asked, forgetting about the topic at hand, "I didn't tell you his name."
"Eh, Hinata - She told us about him. She's his cousin and all, and she has told us about the 'special' love they have for each other." Sasuke said, telling a little lie, I hope she doesn't go and ask Hinata now.
Tenten sighed, "Ah yes, got to love that part of Neji." She walked forward leaving Sasuke behind. When she was a fair distance ahead she turned around and called, "Are you coming?"
"Eh?!" Sasuke said unintelligently, and quickly ran forth to her, "Sure. Where are we going?"
Tenten led them into a rather large park and turned towards him. She grabbed a scroll off of her belt and said, "Let's spar!"
Sasuke smirked, and Ayame thought that this wouldn't work! He grabbed a Kunai out of the pouch on his right leg. "Ready when you are." He stated, getting prepared.
Tenten nodded and threw the scroll in the air, suddenly several hundred or so weapons appeared out from the scroll they were sealed into. Sasuke took this time to quickly activate his Sharingan. Right at that moment, Tenten jumped in the air and quickly grabbed weapon after weapon and threw them at Sasuke, who easily managed to weave his way through all of them and tossed his kunai so it pierced the scroll that was floating down to the ground, pinning it against a tree.
Tenten looked at him and sighed, "You have a Bloodline like Neji does, I hate fighting against him." She grabbed another scroll and took out a Bo Staff that was sealed in it and stood ready.
I remember her now. "You're a weapon master it seems. Have you learned to master all the weaponry in this village?" Sasuke asked, pulling out two Kunai to fight with now.
"Heh," She laughed slightly, "Pretty much. Just a few things I need to improve a little, and this is one of them!" She said charging at him.
Sasuke twisted out of her path and threw another Kunai at her, which she swatted down like a fly so it wouldn't pierce the wood of the staff. She began to twirl it around and ran at him again. Right before she was in front of Sasuke, she jumped up and slamming the tip of the staff down where Sasuke stood only seconds before, an explosion occurred in that area.
"I missed!"
Sasuke stared into the hole where he would be if that had hit him, "Are you trying to kill me? Putting chakra into your weapons is creative, I admit, but that could have caused some serious damage!"
"Stop crying, you're not going to impress anyone like that. Besides you have those eyes of yours." Tenten called out to him.
Sasuke deflected two Shuriken she threw as she charged again. He stood his ground and as she jumped to do the same technique, he jumped and grabbed the staff, twisting it out of her hands and tossing it to the ground. He then grabbed her wrist and tossed her to the ground. He landed quickly and glanced around to see if she was ok.
She got up, a little bit of blood was coming out of her mouth, but otherwise it was ok. "You're not going too easy either." She coughed a little.
"I learned a long time ago to never underestimate my opponents, male or female." He said, grinning at her, "So just because you're a girl doesn't mean you will win easily."
"That's what I expect." She grinned and disappeared in a puff of smoke. Sasuke turned around and grabbed the Kunai that was about to be stabbed into his back. She looked surprised that he managed to catch that and jumped back.
Seeing the confusion on her face Sasuke called out, "My eyes slows things down, if you will, and makes it easier for me to adjust against opponents. I heard you coming behind me and I turned around quick enough to get you off guard." He tossed a Kunai to the ground, "If I had wanted, I could have killed you right there. Of course, I'm pretty sure I'd get in too much trouble and Hokage-sama definitely wouldn't want that now."
"Not like you'd get into too much trouble." She mumbled.
"What?" Sasuke called out, only hearing a part of what she said.
She looked away, "It's nothing." She glanced back up, and saw him right in her face looking into her eyes with his red ones. This of course scared the hell out of her and caused her to trip back down to the ground. "What the hell!" She shouted, getting back up.
"Ayame said that to get close to a girl I have to learn about them, and if they're similar to me then I have a shot." Sasuke told her directly. Tenten could feel her face burning up.
"Y- you want to get close to me?" She said, "Why?! I have known you for like, a half hour now, if even!"
Sasuke shrugged, "Have to start somewhere." He smiled and said, "So, what did you say earlier?" Naruto had taught Sasuke, that smiling, even if you didn't feel like it, would help whoever you were with open up their feelings for you. Saying something about they would feel more secure or something. Sasuke didn't really pay attention to Naruto during his rant.
"I said, 'Not like you'd get into trouble'." She sighed, "For killing me I mean."
Sasuke squatted down on the ground, supporting himself with both his arms behind him and asked, "Why's that exactly? You're not into death or something like that, because that'd be kind of creepy."
"No!" She said, sitting down herself across from Sasuke, "I'm an orphan. I don't have any parents, and I don't even know my last name," She sighed, "Why am I even telling you this?"
Sasuke shrugged, "I don't know, why are you?" He put the question back in her face.
Tenten stared at him for a moment before sighing once more, "You're weird." Sasuke nodded, he knew he was weird after all, "You want me to go on your silly little date with your two friends who I have never met, and we have only knew each other for not even an hour. Now you're prying into my personal life."
"No." he responded, "I'd be prying if I asked for your measurements." Sasuke learned that after saying that that you should NEVER say that to someone you just met, because his face met the ground in about as long as it takes for Naruto eat ramen.
"Gah! I now know why those girls hit you to the ground, you damn pervert! Your Uchiha status isn't going to swing me over to your side you know!" She replied, her face blushing once more.
Sasuke considered what she said and asked, "Then what would?"
Sasuke knew he was beginning to act very out of his character, but this was actually the first woman he thought he could spend more than two hours with, and he didn't want to lose this chance.
"I don't know," She sighed, "Look, if I go with you on this date thing will you never ever ask me out again?" She said with a little hope in her eyes.
Sasuke nodded, "Sure." Score! Take that Naruto!
"When are you coming to pick me up?" She sighed grabbed a used scroll and a pen seemingly out of nowhere, "I'll write down my address here."
"Eight." He responded, "Please, be ready by the time I get there. Don't dress too formally either; I doubt Naruto or Sakura will."
Tenten looked in thought for a moment, "Is Sakura the girl with pink hair?"
"Yep." Sasuke answered, grabbing the scroll that Tenten was handing towards him, "Really smart, one of my teammates. I doubt she could match Shikamaru's intelligence though."
"Who's Shikamaru?" Tenten asked sympathetically, knowing this was probably getting on Sasuke's nerve, asking who all these people were.
"No one important until next month. Pray that you don't go against him." He said, "He can get out of almost anything given how smart he is."
Tenten nodded, "Eh, ok. See you tonight."
Sasuke disappeared that second, giving her no warning. After a few moments of standing in the middle of a field she muttered, "Why do I feel like I made a pact with the devil?"
(Uchiha District)
Sasuke took almost an hour to find Naruto, who was too busy sleeping with his girlfriend under a tree to notice Sasuke had arrived in front of them. Sasuke shook Naruto awake and dragged him to the Uchiha District, leaving a groggy Sakura in their banks, Naruto tried to go and tell Sakura that he was leaving, but Sasuke's grip held him for too long, and it became pointless.
Now the two boys were in the Uchiha district, or as both of them liked to call it, home. Naruto broke out of Sasuke grip finally and asked, "What's going on?"
"I need your help." Sasuke immediately admitted.
"And you know what! Sakura is probably-!" He turned to Sasuke, "What did you just say?"
Sasuke sighed, "I need your help." He responded once again.
Naruto looked at him in a confused matter, and looked up to the sky, just to make sure it wasn't falling. "I see. With what exactly?"
"I managed to get a girl to come with me." Sasuke said, a grin on his face knowing Naruto was going to be fairly surprised.
Naruto was more than surprised, his face was frozen in one position and he stopped at breathing and body movement for near a minute. Frankly, Sasuke was beginning to get concerned, so he poked his friend and watched as he fell to the ground laughing. Sasuke only glared at Naruto during his huge laughing fit.
"Are you finished yet?" Sasuke called down to him.
"Hold on, hold on! You're telling me you actually found someone? I bet you broke down and went to a fan girl didn't you." Naruto said, beginning to get up.
Sasuke quickly tripped him and said, "No, I managed to get a girl named Tenten. You may remember her."
"Tenten?" Naruto muttered, "You're going out with that weapon girl? She's creepy and insane! She loves weapons like they're her children and you should see how she," He looked around and whispered, "Killed people with the Shuriken, it was not a very pretty sight when we caught up to them."
"Then again," Naruto thought, "You're pretty insane too, so it might work out. Though, she ended up going out with Neji in the previous timeline. I wonder what poor Neji will do this time around."
Sasuke looked at Naruto and said, "Screw the last timeline, I doubt that Hinata girl always followed Shikamaru all over the place like she does now."
"True." Naruto nodded, "Poor Shikamaru, he won't have to put up with a 'troublesome' Temari if this goes where I think it is."
Naruto shrugged his shoulders, "Not like I can tell her that she was with Neji in a non-existent timeline to her. She'll probably think I'm insane if I do that." Naruto shrugged again, "Well, it's an interesting person you got. Now I lost five hundred ryou. You don't happen to have any money do you?"
"Naruto!" Sasuke shook his friend's shoulders, "I need help, I don't know what to do in these kinds of situations! I can kill an army, I can go steal some important documents, but I have learned that I completely suck when it comes to women."
"Well," Naruto was about to say, but an unintelligent sound rolled out of his mouth. "Um…" He looked very deep in thought, "You know, maybe I'm not the best person to ask for this. This is actually my first time dating too."
Sasuke sighed in frustration, "I thought I could actually learn something from you, and instead I learn that I can't learn anything from you and I wasted an hour to find you!"
Naruto shrugged and put his arm over Sasuke's shoulder, "I think just wear something nice, and don't do anything too stupid, and you'll manage to make it out alive or somewhat intact at least."
"I can hardly wait." Sasuke muttered, knowing he wasn't going to enjoy this.
(Later that Night, Haruno Residence)
The two had gotten prepared and realized that they still had several hours on their hands. Not feeling like doing anything too productive during those hours, and knowing the next day would be filled with even more fun ANBU training, they sat in the living room and played board games and the like for near five hours. Afterwards they prepared once more for their dates, not wanting all the intenseness of playing board games to ruin their appearance.
Naruto wore a white shirt with a gray button up shirt over it, and tan colored shorts. He discarded his Chunin vest and headband, knowing that he wouldn't need it. He looked at himself in the mirror, deciding that it would be best not to have anyone throw them out; he cast a little Genjutsu on his whisker marks, making them go away.
Sasuke had done pretty much exactly what Naruto had done and wore a white shirt with an Uchiha marked button up shirt over it. He wore darker shorts than Naruto, but pretty much the same thing. Both of them wore their ninja sandals knowing, that if anything bad did happen, their feet wouldn't be cramped in shoes.
Finally the two stood in front of Sakura's house once more. Naruto quickly rang the doorbell, and the door opened to reveal Sakura's mother.
"Hello Mrs. Haruno, is Sakura ready yet?" Naruto asked kindly.
She looked down at Naruto then her eyes went to Sasuke and asked, "What is Sasuke doing with you two?"
"Oh! We're doing a double date thing; he actually managed to find someone." Naruto said grinning, "It surprised me to be honest." He admitted. Sasuke sent him another glare.
Mrs. Haruno nodded, "Ok, Sakura will be done in a little bit. She's getting kind of carried away right now."
"Oh really?" Naruto replied, "How carried away?" He knew she would dress somewhat nicely, but was praying she didn't take it too far and make his preparation look like nothing. Of course, she was a woman, so it was probably natural.
"Would you two like to come in?" She invited, opening the door for the two of them. Both noticed a difference in her character, she didn't seem to hug them or anything related to that.
When they walked in and sat at the kitchen table Sasuke voiced his concern, "Are you ok Mrs. Haruno?"
"I'm fine. I'm just worried that Sakura may be going too quickly with you is all." She sighed, "I'm glad Sasuke is going to be keeping an eye on both of you though."
"Is Naruto here already?" Sakura called from upstairs.
"Nope. Sasuke's here too Sakura-chan, take your time!" Naruto shouted up, only to hear a loud sigh come from there. "You nearly done?"
It took a little bit before she called out again, "Pretty much. I'm coming down now."
She walked down the first they saw of her was her shoes, which thankfully weren't fancy, just normal sandals, she seem to have the same chain of thought they had, probably some ANBU behavior. When she came all the way down, Naruto gave her thumbs up, and smiled. She blushed slightly before walking over to him and Sasuke.
She wore a white skirt that went down to her knees, and a white sleeveless shirt as well. Over her shirt she wore a pink jacket that she left unbuttoned, and she had obviously fixed her hair up, it was like a pink mirror for the lights of the house reflected right off of it.
"Do I look good?" She twirled around, and watched their reactions.
Sasuke nodded, "Fine." He said.
"You look beautiful as always Sakura-chan," Naruto answered, she rewarded him with a kiss. Sasuke noticed from the corner of his eye that Sakura's mom tensed when that happened. He'd have to store that memory for later.
"You look handsome too." She whispered into his ear, which made his smile ever larger, if that was humanly possible.
Sasuke watched the whole exchange and took some mental notes of it, figuring they could come in handy with his date. "You two ready to go?"
Both of them nodded, and Sakura took the time to ask, "So, who did you ask out Sasuke?" She held out an open palm behind Naruto's back, to which Naruto begrudging gave her Five hundred ryou.
"Tenten." Sasuke replied. Naruto and Sasuke walked out, but turned around to see a still frozen Sakura standing there. "You alright Sakura?" Sasuke asked.
"Sakura-chan?" Naruto walked over and grabbed her hand; she quickly shook her head clear and tightened her grip on Naruto's hand.
"You're going out with Tenten?" She asked, not waiting for an answer she then asked, "Why Tenten? I thought you were just going to go with Ino."
Sasuke's eye twitched for what felt like the hundredth time that day. He sighed once more and said, "She seemed like a nice girl." He responded, "And I will not go out with a fan girl."
"You're making this a lot harder on yourself Sasuke," Sakura said, "If you picked a fan girl at least they would lead you through the whole process. Tell you what! Naruto and I will help you two!" Naruto gave her a nervous glance.
"Both of us?" Naruto asked.
Sakura nodded and grinned at him, "Yes, is there anything wrong with that?"
"Eh, of course not." He answered back.
Sakura shook her head, "See you later mom, I'll be home around in two, three, maybe four hours." She walked out the door.
I hope she isn't gone that long. I might pass out from worrying too much, the older woman thought, "Well. What should I do now?" She glanced around the house and began to look for something to do.
(Tenten's Apartment)
The three walked to a decent looking apartment complex. It was three stories tall, and according to Sasuke, Tenten was on the second story. Outside the building there was a large set of stairs leading to each floor, and then it was like a deck for that floor with all the doors going onto it.
"This place looks much nicer than my old apartment." Naruto commented.
"That's an understatement." Sakura muttered.
Sasuke was a little ahead of them and then stopped in front of a door. "This looks like it's it." He knocked several times and called out, "Tenten, I'm here."
"Be right there!" She called out, "I'm almost done."
Sasuke shrugged and leaned against the door he took a note out of Naruto's book and called, "Take your time." He glanced at Naruto who gave him thumbs up.
Sakura and Naruto both leaned on the railing of the deck they were standing on and looked at the darkening sky. "The sunset is going to look very beautiful tonight." Sakura whispered to Naruto.
"Yeah." Naruto responded. The sky was a dark purple color right above them, and out in the horizon it was slowly turning orange. The sun itself was barely visible in their view. "Too bad we don't live near an ocean or something." Naruto sighed.
Sakura nodded and looked down at Naruto and noticed something quickly wrong with him, "Naruto, Why are you hiding your whisker marks?"
Naruto glanced at her, "What?" He asked dumbly, hoping she'd get the hint to drop the subject.
"Naruto, why'd you do that? They looked good on you." She sighed, and was about to dispel the Genjutsu when Naruto grabbed her hands.
"I want us to have a good time tonight, and I don't think being thrown out of all the places we want to go to will be very fun." Naruto answered, "I know some may recognize me, but most adults know exactly what I am when they see them." He released her hands.
She quickly undid the jutsu before Naruto had a chance to stop her. "I don't want to be with people who hate you for something you have no power over anyway." She said to him. "Besides, they're too cute to cover up."
Naruto sighed, still not too happy about her decision. "Well. I wonder when Tenten will-" Sakura turned his head and quickly gave him a rather large kiss straight on the lips, after a few moments of the initial shock to wear off, Naruto quickly took the lead.
Sasuke watched the display, noting everything that they did, like Sakura running her hand through Naruto's hair, "You're only twelve." He reminded them, to which they quickly jumped apart blushing madly. "Do that when I'm not around at least." He sighed. Suddenly the door opened behind him and he quickly fell inward, landing on the back of his head.
Tenten who had jumped out of the way of the falling boy walked to his side and said,"You know, you could have said that you were leaning on my door."
"I was too distracted." Sasuke mumbled.
"You look good Tenten." Sakura spoke up; looking at the clothes she was wearing. Tenten had on a very light blue dress that stopped at her knees, and was sleeveless. She, like Sakura, had worn a jacket, however hers was white. Her colors were not near as bright and noticeable as Sakura's, but that was probably the whole point. She had her hair down for the occasion too; it was as clean as Sakura's, and fell down to around her shoulders, unlike Sakura's which went to her mid back.
Naruto held out his hand, "Nice to meet you." Tenten smiled and shook it, as Sasuke got up from the ground.
"Tenten, uh, chan," He looked at her with a questioning glance, obviously asking if it was ok to call her that, she nodded so he continued, "This one, wearing gray is Naruto, and the other, wearing pink is Sakura. Though I'm sure you could have figured that out."
"Nice to meet you, Sakura, Naruto." She addressed both of them. "So, what are we going to do for tonight?" She asked kindly.
Naruto grabbed Sakura's hand making sure to do it within Sasuke's eyesight and said, "We were planning on going out to eat together and decide what to do after that."
Tenten nodded, "Ok, sounds good, where are we going to eat?"
"We're going to look around, Naruto and I will go in first and make sure the place is friendly, and if it's not we'll head back out and pick a different place." Sakura explained.
Sasuke knew what it was about and nodded. He then grabbed Tenten's hand and looked at her for a reaction, when he saw her glance down at their crossed hands and blush slightly he sighed within his mind. Ok, managed to do that. He congratulated himself.
A little bit after making sure they were situated, they left the apartment.
(Downtown Konoha)
The lights of the village were all beginning to go on now, and the streets were filled with many different kinds of people. Gamblers, entertainers, venders, and young couples like the four walking together now. It was like a village wide party, at least until it got too late.
Naruto and Sakura glanced around, and after debating on which place to go into they picked one. It looked very fancy, thank god he and Naruto were ANBU, or this might actually have put a huge dent in their income for several months.
"You two wait out here." Sakura said, turning to Sasuke and Tenten, "We'll check the place out."
Sasuke and Tenten nodded, both standing right outside of the place. "So, Sasuke, how are you feeling right now?" Tenten started, hoping to spark up some conversation.
"I'm fine." He said, glancing at her, "And you, Ten-chan?"
Tenten grinned at her new nickname, "Ten-chan?"
Sasuke, knowing she found nothing wrong with it allowed himself to smile, "Yeah, it sounds better than Tenten-chan." He awarded himself a imaginary pat on the back as her cheeks reddened.
"I guess it does." She agreed, looking down at the ground.
"Tenten?" A voice called from the crowd in the streets. She looked up to see someone she hadn't expected to meet until the next day.
"Neji? What are you doing here?" She asked, a little confused.
Sasuke took one glance at Neji and inwardly groaned, he looked exactly the same. He stood with his arms crossed and a glare on his face; as if he knew he was superior to everyone around him. He was just the same. Why do I have to see him here? Just don't let him notice me.
"Who's the kid?" He asked, pointing at Sasuke.
"Oh, this is someone I met earlier today; we're on a date now." Tenten said, wrapping both her arms around Sasuke's arm.
She didn't seem willing to want to come earlier this afternoon, Sasuke thought to himself, but now it's as if she's enjoying herself. I hope it's not an act to appease my friends.
"Dating? Tenten, you've much more important things to do than date. The Chunin exams are going to occur soon. You're only making your abilities worse by doing this." Neji said, almost as if he was completely against the ideal of fun.
"Hey, you know you don't always have to train, being a ninja doesn't mean that all you have to focus on is your job." Sasuke spoke up, "Just go and leave us alone."
Neji smirked, "And what are you going to do about it?"
"Do you really want to find out?" Sasuke said, not dropping into his fighting stance, knowing that it would be a 'bad move' as Naruto would put it during a date.
"Gladly." Neji said as he made his hand fly forward and try to hit a pressure point on Sasuke's body. Sasuke reacted almost immediately and twisted out of the way and grabbed his wrist, almost snapping it if he didn't have enough control.
A smile appeared on Sasuke's face as he asked, "Do you want to continue, Genin?" He didn't want the Hyuuga to know he was an Uchiha just yet, if at all. It would definitely have made his little victory sweeter though.
"Both of you stop it!" Tenten said, getting in-between the two of them.
I was only going to hit one point, but he was able to do that without me being able to notice until my wrist was about to be snapped, "What rank are you?"
"What's it to you?" Sasuke asked.
"You're much higher in skill than I am. At your age I would expect you to be a Genin, but you fight with the skill of a Chunin, maybe even better." Neji admitted, "I would probably have to activate my Byakugan to defeat you."
Sasuke grinned, "You couldn't beat me with it either."
"Oh?" Neji accused.
Sasuke nodded,"You'll always be weak. From what I have learned from you just now and earlier today, I can conclude that you don't work with your teammates at all. This is sorely to your disadvantage, and will make you weak. Ninja are split into three man units so they have enough people to work with, and watch their own back. To be able to accomplish this, you must trust, and to trust, you must work together. See where I am going with this?"
Neji may have acted professional before now he yelled, "Do you know what I have been put through my life? It was nowhere as bad as your life! Trusting is harder than just saying a few words!"
"I have gone through hard times," Sasuke exclaimed, "Actually, I guess we both have something in common. I lost my father too." Sasuke smiled at the shocked face Neji had now, "But not only my father, no, I lost much more - My clan. That includes my mother, grandparents, cousins, and my brother."
Neji's eyes widened when he realized who Sasuke was now, "Uchiha." He muttered.
"You want to know what though? I managed to get over it and learn to trust my two teammates again. Yes, it was tough opening up, but once you do, you'll find a different family, one much closer than the one you already have."
Neji looked down. He truly did want to strike down the Uchiha in front of him where he stood, but that could get him into huge trouble. Another side of him was telling himself to listen to the boy, and take what he said to heart. "What is your name Uchiha?"
"Sasuke." He replied, "Uchiha Sasuke."
Neji nodded, "Sasuke, I will keep your words in mind; I will take my leave now. Please Tenten, enjoy your date." He walked away, almost as if he was sulking.
"Wow," Tenten muttered, "No one has managed to make Neji look that down in, Well, ever."
"He needed it." Sasuke replied, "You could get seriously injured because of his stupidity."
Tenten glanced at Sasuke, "You think he'll take your advice?"
"Yep. It doesn't matter though, I'll train you if you'd like." Sasuke offered.
Tenten blushed again and nodded, "That would be nice." She grabbed his hand and smiled at him.
"That was some display Sasuke." Sakura called out, leaning on one side of the doorway to the restaurant, Naruto grinned at him from the other side.
"You were there for the whole thing?" Sasuke sighed, feeling it pointless to argue, "Is the place good for us all to eat at?"
Naruto nodded, "Oh yeah, they're way too fancy to notice such small details." Naruto grinned and led the group into the place.
(Near eleven that night, Tenten's apartment)
Naruto and Sakura had gone the other way and allowed Tenten and Sasuke some privacy when they walked each other to her place. The journey to her home was quiet and in a way relaxing. Both held each other's hand and walked side by side, like any real couple.
When they finally reached her home Sasuke spoke, "Well, that was it. You don't have to go out with me anymore." He turned to leave when she called out to him.
"Wait!" He stopped and turned to her, "Listen, I had a really good time, and well, you're a nice guy and all." She walked towards him; "I'd like to thank you for some things. Thanks for knocking Neji down a few pegs, and," She glanced away, a blush visible on her face, she then must have decided what she was going to do for she turned towards him again and planted a kiss right on his lips.
Sasuke was surprised, much like Naruto, and gave into it, allowing Tenten to lead; he wasn't an expert at these kinds of things anyway. Once they finally parted, due to lack of air, Sasuke spoke, "I take it we'll be seeing each other soon, Ten-chan?"
She blushed, but nodded anyways. "Yeah. Remember you offered to train me!"
"Oh yeah. After missions tomorrow I'll seek you out to do that." Sasuke grinned.
"You better." She turned towards her door, "Thanks for the good time," Before she entered, she glanced around the building and asked, "Would you like to stay for a little while?"
Sasuke glanced at the dark sky, it was eleven, and that in his book was late, but he smiled and said, "Sure Ten-chan."
The two entered, and Sasuke had to mentally check to make sure his hormones would stay in place, and not get the better of him that night. Thankfully, the thought of a twelve year old kid doing anything like his imagination was suggesting drove even him close to vomiting, considering he was over twenty years old mentally.
Delete those images! Argh! He thought to himself as he entered the house.
---END---
Documented changes:
-First thing I did when skimming through this was change the ending. I vaguely remember trying not to make it seem like Sasuke had sex, but it was STRONGLY suggested for merely being a mistake. Wow… That is fixed anyway.
-Fixed grammar errors. An interesting note: It seems that by this point I had gotten over my ellipses addiction. There were FAR fewer of them in this chapter than there were in previous chapters to remove.
-removed some redundant dialogue when Naruto and Sakura are in the park.