Sakura sat uneasily looking between the two men she was with as Sasuke glared at Naruto with a strange expression on his face. It was more than just anger on his face, Sakura studied Sasuke's expression and he looked slightly anxious as well, as if whatever Naruto was going to say didn't bode well for him.
Naruto ignored Sasuke's hostile look and slumped back in his chair.
"Where have you been all this time?" He complained. "I've been looking for you for ages, ever since you left the office, what have you been doing?"He asked and Sasuke just shrugged.
"I went for a walk" He said simply as Naruto looked at him incredulously.
"Dressed like that?" Naruto said looking accusingly at Sasuke's attire as he was ridiculously underdressed for winter.
"Mmm." Sasuke said only half listening as he looked at Sakura who was still looking up at him in shock.
"In this weather?" Naruto demanded.
"Uh-huh." Sakura frowned taking in Sasuke's appearance also, he worked in an office? She couldn't think of any offices she knew that let their workers wear casual dress, and Naruto had implied that he worked their too and he was also in jeans but at least he wore a coat and scarf unlike Sasuke who had nothing to protect him from the colder weather.
Naruto sighed "I'm not going to get a straight answer out of you am I?" He said to himself before turning to the girl that had captured Sasuke's attention. She was looking at them both curiously but when Naruto turned to look at her she looked away and began fiddling with her half empty cup of coffee.
"So Sakura, right?" Naruto continued, ignoring the glare Sasuke had shot at him but Sakura nodded anyway. "How do you know Sasuke?"
"We met by chance really." Sakura said with a shrug.
"Chance?" Naruto said and Sakura realised that he was trying to prod her for information.
"Chance." She said shortly and Naruto sighed.
"Am I allowed to ask where?" He said.
"No." Sasuke said but it was at the same time Sakura replied with; "Here." Naruto smirked.
"Really?" He said giving Sakura a piercing stare. "And how did that work? I wouldn't have thought Sasuke would easily speak to a stranger." Naruto said archly as Sasuke's glare became more intense.
"Um, he didn't, I mostly spoke to him." Sakura replied feeling uneasy with the dangerous looks Sasuke was shooting the man sitting opposite her.
"Really? Heh, that's typical." Naruto said with a laugh and at this point Sakura was surprised that Naruto couldn't feel Sasuke's glare burning through the side of his head. It gave the phrase 'if looks could kill' new meaning as Naruto, by rights, should be a smoking pile of ash by now Sasuke looked that furious at him.
She began to wonder why Naruto felt the need to question her so much when she and Sasuke were barely passing acquaintances, they had spoken to each other a grand total of twice and hadn't even acknowledged each other when they were both in the coffee shop after that. Not like the elderly couple she often saw when she was walking there who always smiled at her and wished her a good day.
"So." Sakura cast around trying to change the subject. "How do you know Sasuke?"
"We've known each other for absolutely ages!" Naruto said with an enthusiastic grin and there was something in his boundless energy that reminded Sakura of Ino which slightly softened her attitude towards him.
"Unfortunately." Sasuke muttered, but either Naruto didn't hear it or chose to ignore it as he didn't react to this jibe. Maybe he was just used to the way Sasuke was.
"Aw, I've known my best friend Ino since we were about five." Sakura said.
"You two must be really close." Naruto said cheerfully and Sakura smiled softly.
"Yeah, she's moving away now. Just to the next town, I'm really happy for her." She hastily added as she saw Naruto's face soften with sympathy and the sudden fear came over her that he might try to grab her hand again. "She's moving in with her boyfriend."
"That's great!" Naruto grinned, and Sakura began to wonder if he ever saw anything negative in things. It must be nice to have such a bright outlook in life.
"Yeah..." Sakura said as she began to wonder how Naruto and Sasuke were friends when they were so radically different, Sasuke had always seemed so quiet but in this one encounter with Naruto Sakura felt herself being swept up by his enthusiasm for things. Maybe that was what had happened to Sasuke but from the hard expression of Sasuke's face she guessed that there was something else that endeared Naruto to him rather than just being caught up in Naruto's enthusiasm for all things for however many years.
"Sakura?" A soft voice asked, and Sakura was interrupted for the third time that afternoon, she turned.
"Hinata?" She stared at the soft spoken girl near her table. "What are you doing here?" Hinata began talking nervously, acutely aware of the company Sakura already had, and that they had all shifted their attention to her.
"Well, Ino wanted us to check up on you sometime, but that not the main reason why we're here." She added seeing Sakura's face darken "Tenten has some news, and she won't say anything to me yet until you were there to hear it."
"What about Ino?" Sakura asked wondering why the last of their circle of close friends didn't need to be there.
"She already knows." Hinata sighed "Which means she's started to gloat, but apparently its pretty good whatever she has to say."
"Well have a seat, where's Tenten?" Sakura said cheerfully inviting her friend to sit at the already crowded table.
"She went to get the coffee" Hinata replied, sitting herself between Sakura and Naruto, she offered Sakura's companions a small smile which Naruto returned with a giant grin of his own making Hinata turn pink, while Sasuke just nodded at her. Sakura moved her chair over so there was room for Tenten as well and she found herself sitting even closer to Sasuke, the alternative being the ever cheerful, hand-stealing Naruto. Sakura shifted awkwardly in her seat, she could feel Sasuke next to her and he was surprisingly warm for someone who had been walking around in a t-shirt in the middle of winter.
"Sakura!" A sing song voice came up behind them and Tenten squeezed in between Hinata and Sakura placing down some coffee for herself and Hinata.
"Hi Tenten." Sakura said taking a sip of her own, which was getting cold, Tenten waved to Sasuke and Naruto then leant forward to talk to the two girls.
"Guess what?" There was a pause.
"What?" Sakura asked.
"No guess!" Tenten insisted and Hinata groaned slightly.
"Not this Tenten." She complained "haven't you kept me in suspense enough already?"
"No." Tenten replied and then turned to Sakura "Guess."
"I dunno…um. You're not moving as well are you?" Sakura said casting a quick look at Naruto and Sasuke who seemed to be having a hushed conversation.
"Mmm, maybe." Tenten said with a mischievous smile. Sakura saw Naruto trying to say something forcefully to Sasuke, he momentarily grasped Sasuke's arm and was quickly shook off. Sasuke shook his head slightly and glanced at Sakura. She blushed suddenly, having been caught staring at him and turned her full attention back to Tenten.
"Maybe?" Hinata questioned.
"That's not quite it" Tenten said cheerfully.
"Um.." Sakura said taking a sip of her coffee.
"Neji proposed!" And nearly spat it out.
"What?" Sakura shouted and Hinata stared at her.
"Cousin Neji?" Tenten nodded vigorously.
"Do you even know another Neji?" She asked and Hinata shook her head sheepishly.
"Neji Hyuuga?" This was from Sasuke, they all turned to stare at him and Tenten nodded.
"No way!" Naruto exclaimed. "He kept saying he didn't have a girlfriend."
"What?" Tenten stared at him horrified.
"Although if Naruto had found out that Neji did he would have teased him mercilessly, so you can see why he didn't want to say anything." Sasuke pointed out. Tenten pouted.
"He didn't need to act as if he was ashamed of me." She said sullenly and Sasuke gave a sideways look at Naruto.
"More like the other way round I think." He said and Naruto scowled at him.
"Hey" What's that supposed to mean?" Naruto demanded.
"What do you think?" Sasuke and Naruto glared at each other, and Tenten giggled.
"I can kind of see why Neji's so reluctant for me to meet his friends."
"Especially as every time Naruto see's him, he asks him whether he's come clean to his family about being gay, which probably doesn't encourage him to confide in you." Sasuke said dryly giving Naruto a wry look. Naruto grinned sheepishly.
"So, when did he propose to you Tenten?" Sakura asked.
"Last night." Tenten said with a goofy smile on her face and Hinata leaned towards her interested.
"How did he do it?" She asked wondering how her cousin had managed to propose to someone.
"Well, I'm ashamed to say that it wasn't that romantic." Tenten sighed, which caught Naruto's attention so he stopped trying to outstare Sasuke and began to pay attention to their conversation. Sasuke smirked in triumph and Sakura took note of the competitive streak between them. "It was just the same as any other date and then he walked me to my door, kissed me goodnight and then muttered 'will you marry me?' but I didn't hear him so I was standing there going 'what?' while he was going bright red." Tenten rolled her eyes. "Anyway I finally got the question out of him again, went completely hysterical, I mean I'm still so excited now, I was so much worse last night, I actually screamed, gave him a hug and whatever he says I did not deafen him. And I said yes." Sakura giggled.
"Nothing like you used to imagine then?" She asked thinking of the childish dreams any girl has about a having a large romantic gesture as a marriage proposal.
"No." Tenten muttered, and Hinata smiled.
"I can't image cousin Neji being that romantic though." Hinata said and Naruto grinned.
"No most of the time he acts like he's got a stick up his-" He began.
"Shut up, Naruto." Sasuke interrupted and Sakura giggled.
"You can tell that you two have known each other for years." She said and Sasuke pulled a face.
"You can?" He asked, Sakura nodded.
It was strange for the other customers to see that the two regulars who usually sat alone with a book were conversing easily with each other and a group of others. Other customers that frequented the coffee shop, amused themselves and talked about the two readers amongst their friends, wondering why they always sat alone when they knew each other, some tables came with wild conspiracy stories similar to the ones that Ino and Sakura had come up with about Sasuke themselves, others created reasons that were more mundane, but as the customers came and when the large group stayed together round the small table, talking and laughing together as other customers came and went.
Tenten stretched slightly as she sat back with a small smile on her face.
"I should go, my lunch breaks nearly up, and I don't want to stay late as I'm meeting Neji" She said sadly and Hinata made to move as well.
"Me too." The quieter girl said pulling her jacket on, "who knows what my co-workers have got up to in my absence." Sakura laughed, she had heard stories about Hinata's office, as far as she could tell the rest of the employees acted like children whereas Hinata was more of a mother figure to them trying to get them to behave.
"See you later Sakura." Tenten hugged her friend goodbye.
"Bye." Hinata said softly doing the same.
"Bye you two." Sakura replied and turned to face her two remaining companions.
"So." She said, but Naruto stretched as well.
"I should be going too." He muttered "I better not push it, Gai's already complained about me being late once." He turned to his friend.
"What about you Sasuke?" He asked.
"I'll stay a bit longer." Sasuke said and Naruto frowned.
"If you say so, here." He said sounding concerned and he gave Sasuke the coat her had been carrying around with him. "It was why I was looking for you in the first place, you shouldn't do that, there'll be hell to pay later." Sasuke shrugged.
Naruto sighed. "I'll see you later then." Sasuke nodded.
And that left the two of them, Sasuke glanced at his watch.
"Are you hungry? Do you want to get some lunch?" Sakura paused, usually if she was presented with a situation like this she would have declined, she barely knew Sasuke anyway and Ino always used to say that this was why she never met anyone new.
But…
"Sure." She said "I'd love to." They gathered their belongings and left the coffee shop, this time together.