Kissing Contest
Chapter Two
"Hello, and welcome to Konoha's first annual kissing competition!" A pretty blonde said into a lapel microphone as she beamed at the camera. "I'm Hashida Yukino, and as you can see, couples everywhere have signed up for this contest and are taking their seats now…"
Sasuke and Sakura trudged over to their assigned table, a little rounded wooden one with a dazzlingly red tablecloth set atop it, dripping beads from the edges. It practically screamed 'lovers,' and yet the two could not possibly be feeling less romantic.
"I can't do this," Sasuke said, glaring at the tablecloth and interlacing his fingers.
"Of course you can," Sakura assured him. "We both can."
"It's not a matter of whether I can," Sasuke said through gritted teeth. "It's a matter of actually doing it in front of this huge crowd of idiots." He gestured to the swarm of giggling onlookers thankfully held back by the barricades, and his gaze snapped back to Sakura. "See? Intimidating, isn't it?"
Sakura sighed. No amount of caffeine could prepare her for this. "We've come this far," she said. "We at least showed up, we might as well follow through. Besides, no one will be looking at us individually. They'll be looking at all the other couples, and won't give us a second thought. Think instead of the prize. Think of the money."
"Screw the money!" Sasuke hissed. "Screw the company! Screw this contest!"
Sakura gripped his hand rather hard, and stared at him straight in the eye. "Now, you listen to me, Uchiha, don't go getting cold feet. You're my only chance to getting that money and getting back to having a life."
"Figures that you have to enter a kissing contest in order to do that," Sasuke muttered. "If you're sure no one is going to really see us."
"I'm positive," Sakura replied confidently, giving his hand another squeeze. Sasuke moved his hands away from her grasp. "Let's just get this over with."
Scanning the rest of the scene, Sasuke almost let out a low growl. Tables identical to theirs littered the area in perfect tessellations, the only difference being that the tablecloths were various shades of red and pink, and that the other couples actually looked ecstatic to be there. Sasuke actually wanted to throw up. The clear blue sky was the precise setting for a happy romantic event, adding to his desire to rid himself of the heavy pancake breakfast currently in his stomach. That would sure give the reporter something to say.
"Wait." Sasuke rounded on Sakura. "You said that the first rounds weren't going to be televised!"
"They weren't!" Sakura responded in slight panic. "They must have come unexpectedly! Either that, or they paid large amounts of money to be here…" She put her head in her hands. "I'm about to start banging my head on the table. What a headache."
Headache was a pretty accurate description, Sasuke had to admit. So much for no one really seeing him. If any of his coworkers saw this on television, he would never live it down. Temari would have a field day…
"So what do we do?"
"What do you expect?" Sakura asked. "We sit here, wait for some volunteer workers to hand us a card with our criteria, and then wait for them to give us the go signal."
"This isn't a horse race," Sasuke said despairingly. "We don't just 'go' like we're supposed to take off running. Actually, taking off running sounds just fine with me." He eyed the grinning reporter with a wilted look, and groaned. "Anything but this."
"You agreed to it. Suck it up."
A card suddenly appeared in front of his face, and he found out that it was held out by a short redhead, who was giving him an odd sort of confident smile. She still stood there after he took the scorecard, and rested her hand loosely on her hip. Oh, lord, not another Temari. I know that look.
"You fill this out," she said as she bent over to point out the bottom, accidentally-on-purposefully giving him a view straight down the front of her low-cut shirt. "Then, once you're done, hand it back to me and wait about three minutes for the judges to give the signal."
The girl received a surprise as Sakura snatched the card from Sasuke and took a pen out from her purse.
"I'll do it," she said as she scowled at the girl. "It doesn't take a brain child to fill it out, right?"
The redhead looked startled, while Sasuke hid a smirk. He wasn't dense; he knew what Sakura was thinking. "All right, but we don't want to keep this lovely girl here waiting," he teased, causing the red-haired girl to blush and Sakura to glare at him. She barely took her eyes off of him as she scribbled down their information, and thrust the card back at the girl.
"I'll take care of this right away," Redhead Girl said in an annoyingly preppy voice. She then lowered her voice to a slightly husky whisper. "Maybe when this is over, you can come see me, and we can talk," she breathed, dangerously close to Sasuke's ear.
What Sasuke did next took Sakura completely by surprise. He turned to the girl and placed a hand on her arm before pushing a little so the distance between them was lengthened.
"Get lost," he said coldly. Obedient, Redhead Girl scurried off, leaving Sakura to stare incredulously at him.
"What was that?" she asked, amazed. "One minute you were looking so cozy with her, and the next you act as if she has leprosy. I don't think I'll ever understand you."
This time Sasuke allowed a wicked smirk to unfurl on his face. "The flirting was just to tease you, since she obviously bothered you so much," he explained in a mocking tone. "There was nothing genuinely interesting about her."
"There were a few things repulsive about her," Sakura grumbled. Sasuke chuckled.
"Just a little jealous."
"I don't see why you would be. After all, she happens to be a not-so-attractive female--"
"You know very well that I meant you," Sasuke told her. She harrumphed and turned her head away.
"Jealousy is not a word in my vocabulary when paired with your name."
"Ouch, that hurts a little bit."
"It should."
Sakura grew more and more angry with Sasuke the longer he continued to smirk at her. He clearly wasn't buying her words. She opened her mouth to protest against his complete ignorance, but a loudspeaker boomed out across the area and drowned out her voice.
"All right, everyone, get ready!" A male who sounded very much like a game show host announced. "Get our partners ready…"
"As if I'd want to kiss you now," Sakura said, but she leaned in anyway. All of Sasuke's previous uneasiness immediately returned as he saw her looking up at him, and he glared.
"Don't screw this up," he warned. Her mouth fell open.
"Me? Screw this up? What about you? You still have yet to show me a decent kiss--"
"GO!" The announcer called. Ino, who had managed to secure a table right next to her best friend, grasped poor Shikamaru by the collar and went to work. Sakura forced herself to look away.
"All right, you ready?" she asked Sasuke.
"Technically, we already should have started," Sasuke noted. Sakura made an aggravated noise deep in her throat and leaned closer.
"I know that," she said. "Now let's start or we'll fail right now--"
Sakura had no time for breath as Sasuke reached a hand behind her head and pulled it to his own, causing their lips to clash together awkwardly. Sakura restrained a sarcastic smile. Apparently Sasuke did not like the word "fail" very much.
After about ten seconds, Sakura realized that she should be kissing back, and moved her lips against his. It was an amateur, passionless kiss, but at least they were doing it. Sakura lifted a shaky hand and settled it on the front of Sasuke's shirt. That should add to the effect, right?
The air was filled with hushed whispers and buzzing conversation as the competition dragged on. Sakura felt the warm sun on her ears as she kept her eyes tightly shut, wishing that if she couldn't see the situation, it must not be happening.
Ugh, how long is this supposed to last? Sakura asked herself. She knew Duration was one of the categories, so the judges must be grading on timing. How long was too long? Sakura certainly felt like it had already been hours too long. She didn't know how long she could keep this up. It just felt like skin, not like actual kissing. What maniac came up with this again?
Peeking out of the corner of her eye, she saw several couples separating. Thank God. With a gentle hand on his chest, Sakura slowly pulled away. Sasuke opened his eyes and raised an eyebrow at her, as if to say, Are we really done? Is it finally over?
Sakura gave him a weak smile. At least the first round is.
Sasuke gave a grateful sigh, and his posture sagged. He prayed that their faces would not show up on TV; his sanity would be in danger if they did.
"Come on, let's slip out and head to the hotel," Sakura suggested. Sasuke was out of his seat before she even finished her sentence.
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The hotel room was large and spacious, with wrinkle-free bedspreads and an up-to-date TV and microwave. The bathtub was almost big enough to swim in, Sakura noticed happily as she pulled back the shower curtain. The hotel soaps were actually brand names! The room was certainly a perk in the contest, with its warm cream-colored wallpaper and large window overlooking the endless horizon of the ocean. A hotel right next to the beach. Sakura doubted that she would do any swimming, as her childhood fear of sharks had never completely faded, but maybe some morning walking across the wet sand would do her some good.
"Sakura, we're not taking this room," Sasuke called from the main room. Frowning, Sakura leaned past the doorway to look at him.
"Why the hell not? It's perfect!"
"It's a single bed."
Her face fell. She hadn't noticed that little detail. Sighing, she turned off the bathroom light and walked out. "Guess I'll repack."
Sasuke snorted. "I can't believe you already unpacked."
"Hey, just because I got here five minutes earlier than you did after your little episode in the taxi cab--"
"He had no clue where he was going!" Sasuke defended angrily. "You'd think drivers would learn directions before deciding to drive as a career."
"Still, that was no excuse for you to storm out claiming that you could walk faster than he could get you there." Sakura grinned at him. "It seems he took your words to heart, as he did end up getting here before you did."
"Was that even the point?" Sasuke asked, annoyed. "We can't stay here. We at least have to exchange this room for a double."
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"I'm sorry," the desk clerk smiled apologetically at him as she typed at her keyboard. "It seems that the contest only covers the cost of single-bed rooms. If you want a double, you'll have to pay extra for the upgrade."
"We'll do it," Sakura said eagerly, handing over her credit card. In one swift movement, Sasuke roughly knocked it away with his arm.
"I'm paying," he said firmly, taking out a business-like checkbook.
"Why?" Sakura asked, not as mad as she thought she would be.
"You can't afford it, can you?"
Her eyes traveled to the floor. "I can pay for one night…" she said quietly, ashamed of her financial trouble.
"Don't worry about it." Sasuke scrawled his signature on the check, and tore it out.
"But I want to pay for something," Sakura said desperately as she lifted her head. Normally Sasuke would have said no, but the look in her eyes told him that she needed to salvage what little pride she had left.
"You're buying dinner," he commanded, and brushed rudely by her as he was handed a room key. Sakura was too relieved to be angered by his action.
"Thanks," she said softly.
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"What do we do now?" Sakura asked impatiently. In his extreme spare time and boredom, Sasuke had read over the entire guidebook to the contest, and had memorized every word.
"We wait here in the room until another volunteer worker slips our results under the door," he said patiently. For someone who was so urgently against this before, he had an amazing amount of tolerance now.
"Under the door? What kind of twisted plot-maker thought of that? Why not just knock?" Sakura paced back and forth as Sasuke lay stretched out on one of the queen-size beds, biting her lip. "I guess it's to enhance the "flavor" of the show or something." She shrugged.
"This isn't a cooking show, Haruno," Sasuke told her from his position on the bed. As if she hadn't already guessed.
"I knew that," she said waspishly. Her mood was at the end of its tether. If she didn't get some coffee in her system now…
She stopped in her tracks as a manila envelope slid across the carpet from under the door. She heard a faint laugh from the volunteer worker as the soft sound of footsteps retreated, and she turned her attention back to her partner. Sasuke was already off of the bed, and had snatched the envelope. He tore at it viciously until the paper inside was revealed, scanning its contents hastily as if it were a doctor's report. Judging by the way his brows furrowed and his eyes widened in indignation, he did not like what he saw.
"A 3.0 out of five?" he exclaimed, outraged. "And the category was technique?"
"Hey, that means I didn't do too hot, either," Sakura reminded him as she read over his shoulder. "And of course we both sucked in the Passion category. A measly 2.3."
"But technique?" Sasuke sputtered. "Did you see the way the guy with the table behind us slobbered on his partner?"
"He nearly drowned her," Sakura instantly agreed as she attempted to block out the horrifying sight they had come across as they were making their escape.
"Technique," grumbled the Uchiha. "As if I wasn't skilled enough."
"Well, it was our first time doing that," Sakura said consolingly. "The good thing is, we still made it to the second round. And we only really practiced for about a half hour. We're just not really comfortable around each other yet. That would explain the lack of skill."
"'Not comfortable?'" Sasuke echoed loudly. "'Lack of skill'? I don't have a lack of skill." And before Sakura could protest, Sasuke had grabbed her, giving her just enough time for a startled gasp before he crushed her mouth to his.
"We need to practice more," he said against her lips.
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"Okay, so we're getting better with each other," Sakura said after coming up for air and scooting off of his lap onto the bed. "But we barely passed the first round by the skin of our teeth." Sasuke gave a little "harrumph" and looked away. "The first round's supposed to be the easiest! If we don't get amazing fast, we lose. And that's it."
"We're not going to lose," Sasuke spat out defensively.
"Really, I appreciate your enthusiasm, but if you keep...sucking at this as much as you do, it isn't gonna help us any." Sasuke shot her a deadly glare, and Sakura shivered. Sometimes Sasuke was able to intimidate her much more than she would have liked.
"And you think that your lack of passion is going to get us anywhere?" Sasuke raised a skeptical eyebrow, pride grazed.
"Hey, we did much better this time around! My passion's got nothing to do with it anymore, you know that, right?"
"Do you want me to lie and agree with you, or do you want me to tell you that you're like kissing an unresponsive marshmallow?" He folded his arms and smirked arrogantly. Sakura's blood boiled, but she refused to retaliate. Control your temper, she instructed herself. Tossing her hair, she arranged her face into what she hoped was a carefree expression.
"Okay, so we both need to brush up on a few things," she said, ignoring his disbelieving snort, "but let's get one thing straight. Insult me one more time and I swear, next time we kiss I will bite you hard." She crossed her arms, imitating his stubborn stance.
Sasuke didn't last three seconds before he started laughing, loudly and openly, his shoulders shaking and his head down. Sakura gaped at him in disbelief, and suppressed the overwhelming urge to smack him upside his head.
"Bite me? Given your lack of passion, that might actually raise our score." He continued chuckling while his partner slowly lost her furious expression.
"Biting," she said thoughtfully. "Maybe that was why we scored lower in technique. We didn't make the kiss very original."
Finally straight-faced, Sasuke considered the idea. "So we just need to mix it up a little, instead of focusing on just getting through it."
"Yup. Which means that we both really need to get over our aversion to this." Sakura let her body fall back onto the bed, and she closed her eyes. "No more nervousness every time we get near that horridly-decorated table."
"Right. When's the next round?"
Sakura sighed. "In a week. Apparently since they started filming so early, it'll be a weekly series starting now. It's funny, though; the show won't be very interesting if it's just the actual rounds, will it? I'd have thought something like this would be more of a reality show."
"Got me," Sasuke admitted. "I read through the rules, but none of the details. I'll bet it's in there."
There was a knock on the door, the raps coming quickly and loudly, as if the knocker was very excited to be there. The partners exchanged looks.
"You or me?" Sakura asked. When Sasuke remained silent, she sighed and threw her hands up. "Guess I'll get it," she grumbled. She lazily slid off of the bed and wandered over to the door. The knocks came again, this time more impatient.
"In a minute!" Sakura said sharply. She hadn't even met this person and already their very presence annoyed her. She swung open the door, and her eyes widened.
"Hi, I'm Hashida Yukino, the show's host, remember me?" A pretty, peppy woman asked. She was clad in an entirely pink suit, the buttons of her jacket encrusted with pearl insets. She was the type of person who would spend a thousand dollars on an outfit without blinking.
"I'm here," she plowed on without waiting for an answer, "to inform you that you will be the chosen couple we'll film for the more personal part of the show." She winked. "Don't worry, your part starts next week, so you'll have plenty of time to get adjusted to the idea."
Get adjusted to what? Sakura thought dazedly. Adjusted to the idea of going through pure, privacy-free hell for a week?
"What is this about?" Sasuke asked gruffly as he came up behind her. Mrs. Yukino's smile grew a little wider as he caught sight of her.
"For the reality part of the show, we're going to be filmed here in our room for a week," Sakura said softly, still in shock. It seemed that getting used to the idea would take a while.
"When?" Sasuke demanded to know, scowling.
"Your part of the show will take place next week," a beaming Mrs. Yukino informed him. "This week we'll be filming a different couple, and next week it'll be your turn!"
Sakura turned to Sasuke. "I didn't hear about this," she said, confused.
"Did you read the rules?"
"No." Sakura now sounded panicked. "And you didn't read them very well…what else have we missed?"
"Anyways, I just dropped by to give you some notice before we started rolling in the cameras next week!" Mrs. Yukino said cheerily as she gave them one last unblinking smile. "See you then!"
Sakura shut the door behind her and steadied her legs. This was going too far. "It was only supposed to be a contest," she said weakly. "This isn't a season of Laguna Beach."
"You watch that?" Sasuke asked her while making a face.
"I do, and I happen to like it," Sakura told him defiantly. They stared at each other, and Sakura was the first to back down. Sighing, she collapsed back onto the bed. Sasuke, however, strode over to the end table drawer and was rummaging through papers.
"What are you doing?" Sakura asked him.
"Seeing what exactly we missed," he replied. He scanned the headings, and then the fine print.
"Any surprises?" Sasuke caught the sarcasm in her voice.
"Actually…" he continued reading, and his brows knitted. "Not so far."
Sakura felt her body relax, and she sagged further into the bedspread.
"Well, that's a relief."
"Oh, God."
Sakura didn't like that tone. "What is it now?" Though Sasuke's back was turned to her, she still caught the tension in his shoulders and knew that whatever he had to say couldn't be good.
"Well, during out part of the so-called "reality" show, we're expected to make things interesting," Sasuke said quietly. His voice grew hard. "They'll basically be handing us a script and telling us what to say and do."
"Well, that doesn't sound too bad," Sakura said consolingly.
"Don't you understand?" Sasuke was standing now, and he glared down at her. "Do you know the things they could make us do? We're under a contract. We happen to be in a hotel room."
"No way." The blood drained from Sakura's face.
"Leave the rest to your imagination."
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AN: Another chapter done! Thanks so much for the awesome reviews, everyone. You guys are great.