A/N: I do not own Naruto or any of the characters associated with it.

It All Started With A Dare

Chapter 2: For the Sake of the Dare

Naruto hurriedly got up to answer the door while the other guys waited for the girls to enter, especially Sasuke who was clearly awaiting seeing Sakura despite having trained with her only yesterday.

"Oi, Sakura-chan, Ino, Tenten ... Hinata-chan" Naruto said sheepishly while giving Hinata a smile. She quickly returned the hello but not without turning red in the face.

"Here, I'll take care of your stuff. The guys are right down the hall. I expect they'll be waiting for you." Naruto said trying to juggle the massive amount of stuff the girls began to hand him. Most of the girls blushed at the last remark hoping that the person they had in mind would be there, but not Sakura. She just stood their solemnly looking at Naruto.

"Hey, do you need any help?" She asked as she saw her teammate struggle with everyone else's stuff.

"No, no, Sakura-chan. I'm fine. Like I said, I'm sure someone is nervously awaiting you to enter." Naruto said trying to give her a little hint. She rolled her eyes at that and continued down the hall. Sasuke, on the other hand, was waiting anxiously for her to enter. For some reason, he had a fleeting sensation in his stomach- one that he had never had before. Before entering the room, Sakura peeked in first. Noticing that everyone had already changed into their pajamas, she assumed she should do the same.

"Hey, Naruto, do you mind if I change?" She shouted down the hall.

"No, but I really really really think you should go in and hang out a while first." Naruto shouted back trying once again to give her a hint.

"Naruto no baka." Sasuke thought to himself having overheard that entire conversation.

He soon lost track of his thoughts, however, upon seeing Sakura enter the room. 'No big deal' He thought to himself as he examined her. So she had changed… a lot. She was no longer awkward in her looks, while she still was "pink," but not so as much in an annoying way. This was going to be an easy dare to complete. He resigned coolly. 'This would be no big deal'

Sakura was not so comfortable. Upon entering, she quickly realized that everyone was staring at her, even Sasuke. She knew she should have gone ahead and changed into her pajama's first. "Ano, I'm going to go change," she said quietly while giving everyone a smile.

Sasuke didn't see what the big deal was about her though. She was different, yes. She was prettier, yes, but really, was she that special? He began to think that these guys here had just been trying to get him excited. He looked around to see everyone laughing at him for being so anxious, but he didn't. Maybe it wasn't a joke.

Soon, Sakura entered the room once again, but this time, not as fully "clothed." She was wearing a short black nightgown that hugged her curves just so slightly leaving the eye wanting more. The straps were a little loose as they hung off of her shoulders. Her hair was somewhat messy, but neat all in the same time. 'Okay,' Sasuke thought, 'maybe there is a big deal about her.' Kiba, realizing that Sasuke's eyes were transfixed upon Sakura nudged him in the side with a smirk upon his face.

Once again, Sakura felt uncomfortable. "Ano, maybe I should just go change back," she said as she began to turn around again. "No dammit," Sasuke thought to himself half surprised at his reaction. He didn't want her to go. He wanted her there.

"Ah, Sakura-chan, you can't go now," Naruto interrupted. "We're just about to start some games."

All the guys in the room groaned upon hearing this; they knew exactly what Naruto had on his mind. The girls however, looked confused as they had no idea why the guys seemed so down about the idea. Sakura, still standing, quickly glanced around the room to find an empty spot. There was one next to Hinata and one next to Sasuke. She went and sat down next to Sasuke knowing that Hinata would like to sit next to Naruto. She was embarrassed though, having to sit by him looking like this. He probably would be disgusted by her. As she sat down, her nightgown came up just a bit, and Sasuke had the perfect view even if only for a second. She quickly blushed noticing that Sasuke was staring at her. Sasuke noticed that he really couldn't take his eyes off of her anymore, but shrugged it off. Any guy would be out of his mind not to look.

"Dun Duh Nah!" Naruto sang, trying to make the game he was about to announce just as much fun for them as it was for him. "Pin the Kunai on the Donkey!" With that being said, everyone groaned, even Hinata for she thought that he would have picked a game a tad bit more interesting.

"You dobe," Sasuke said while reaching over to pull Naruto's nightcap down over his face. Sakura chuckled at his action causing Sasuke to slightly blush. He smiled; he was happy that he had amused her. "Wait. What am I thinking?!? He never cared before if his actions amused her. Actually, he would actually be rather annoyed normally. He needed to get his head on straight.

"How about… spin the bottle?" Ino said pulling out a bottle from her purse. She wasn't about to get caught dead playing Pin the Kunai on the Donkey. Plus, maybe this way she might snag a kiss from that lazy Shikamaru. "Sakura, you first," she said slyly clearly noticing how out of place she looked.

Sakura took a deep breath. Everyone was looking at her now. She didn't want to do this. She didn't want to get her first kiss playing a game. She wanted it to be real, but she couldn't let the rest of the room know that she hadn't ever been kissed. It was too embarrassing. She reached for the bottle and gave it a good spin. Around and around it went as she held her breath waiting for it to stop.

When it stopped, it pointed right between her and Sasuke. She looked over nervously to see Sasuke's expression, but he was just staring at the bottle.

"Well, is it on Sasuke or yourself?" Tenten inquired trying to break the tension that was steadily building with each passing moment.

"I don't know," she replied, "it's Sasuke's decision." She hoped to pass the decision on to him knowing that he would say it didn't land on him. All the guys in the room just looked at him. He could feel the eyes on him anxiously awaiting his decision. Kiba nudged him in the side again to let him know that he could say yes without losing to the dare Shikamaru gave him yet.

"Fine," Sasuke said coolly and got up to walk over to the nearest closet. All of the girls' jaw dropped. Sakura, though, was the most shocked. She slowly got up and entered the closet too, and she had thought that the tension was unbearable before.

Upon entering, she bumped into Sasuke fairly many times as she tried to get situated. Sasuke enjoyed the brushing of her soft skin into his own. She had a gentleness that he had never recognized before. It was dark in the closet, but Sasuke could still see her eyes. He gradually moved closer to her, inch by inch.

"Ano, Sasuke-kun?"

Startled, Sasuke managed catch himself right before his lips touched hers. "Yes?"

"You don't have to do this Sasuke-kun," she said looking away from him. "Actually, I'd really rather not." She lied. She just knew that he didn't truly want to go through with it.

Oh, but how she was wrong. Sasuke shocked by what he had just heard was slightly embarrassed and somewhat hurt. She had just rejected his kiss. Any other time she would have jumped at this opportunity, at least that's what he had thought. Sasuke, unaware of what to do, opened the closet door and proceeded out as Sakura followed him as they became the object of stares.

'Wow,' Shikamaru thought, 'even I didn't think he was going to be that quick.'

Sasuke continued out the door trying to avoid the stares he was receiving. Plus, he wanted to get away from her. He had to clearly think about what was going on. He was confused at everything that had just happen. Why did he feel that sudden urge to kiss her? Why did she refuse? More importantly, why didn't he ever notice her before this? Right now, all he wanted to do was be alone as he gazed at the stars above him.

That wasn't going to happen because Sakura had soon left the game that was going on in the other room. She wanted to get some air, but she also wanted to know what was going on with Sasuke.

"Sasuke-kun?," she inquired innocently upon finding him outside as well. "Ano, is something wrong?"

He sighed. Of course there was something wrong, but he couldn't let her know that. "Sakura, I have a question."

"Yes?"

"Do you want to go out for dinner tomorrow?" He asked unable to look her in the eye.

"Sure." She replied with a strange tone in her voice, confused on why he had asked her. 'He probably doesn't mean it as a date anyway.' She turned around and returned inside the house while Sasuke remained outside trying to convince himself he had only asked her for the sake of the dare.