Heyhey it's a new chapter! I know, 'OMG SHE'S UPDATING!' Well, I finished all my schoolwork and I finished 2009 today, so I felt appropriately happy enough to post another chapter. Hooray!

Enjoy.

EDIT: I edited in the 'tiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiime' bit, cos for some reason took it out.

ANOTHER EDIT: okay so just assume that the TIME down there is 'tttttiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiimee' (like someone is yelling). FF is being a bitch.

There were all manner of people staggering about on the road when Itachi pulled up a few hundred metres away from the huge mansion which was Sai's home. It was barely seven, and already people were completely wasted.

Sasuke tried in vain to spot his friends. Suigetsu had texted him about a minute ago to tell him that he and Karin would be there, but so far he couldn't seem to spot them.

As Sasuke got out of the car and shut the door behind him, Itachi was smirking evilly. Sasuke didn't truly appreciate how assholish his brother could be until the older Uchiha was driving away.

"Have a lovely TIME, Sasuke!" Itachi hollered out of his window as he drove off, his steering admittedly erratic. "Don't do anything I wouldn't do!"

"Fuck you, Itachi!" Sasuke screamed back, startling several party-goers around him. He heard his brother's maniacal laughter all the way up the street.

"I would," someone commented from behind, and Sasuke turned sharply to see Karin, sheathed in a thigh-high black dress and strappy heels, her smart-looking red glasses pushed over her delicate nose. Sasuke made a noise of disgust as he processed what she said.

"No. God no. You have a boyfriend, and I think that idea could give me nightmares."

"OK, but you should know that your brother is damn hot. In a mature kind of way."

"Hey, are you saying I'm not mature?" Suigetsu protested, looping an arm around Karin's waist as he came up behind her.

"No," Karin answered. "I'm merely trying to express that, thought Itachi is really, really good-looking, he's more mature than you or me or Sasuke, and I much prefer dating you because I like you, while I only appreciate him." Karin pressed her lips to her boyfriend's cheek in apology.

"Oh," Suigetsu managed. "That's alright, then." The silver-haired youth wore a black T-shirt and faded grey jeans, with black Converse. He fell into step with Sasuke as the Uchiha headed up the long driveway, pulling Karin along with him.

"So your dad's okay with you going out tonight?"

"What?" Sasuke asked stupidly, momentarily losing track of his train of thought. Upon seeing Suigetsu looking at him expectantly, he gathered them again and replied, "Yeah, he was cool, actually. Completely different from the usual. Just told me to have a good time and not to get into any trouble. I think, after five years, he's finally starting to see that I can take care of myself."

"Took him long enough. Can't really blame him for worrying, though," Suigetsu mused. Sasuke nodded in agreement, his thoughts starting to wander again.

"Yeah, I know."

As they approached the house, the door opened and Naruto stepped out. Upon catching sight of the three friends, he waved.

"Sasuke, you managed to come!" Naruto shouted enthusiastically over the party noises.

"That's what she said," Suigetsu muttered under his breath, smirking. Sasuke shoved him; Karin uttered an amused snort.

Naruto grinned at the trio as they passed him, and Sasuke's heart fluttered a little bit as he brushed the blonde's shoulder with his own. Damn it, he shouldn't be reacting so strongly to this guy!

As he, Suigetsu and Karin melted into the crowd, it wasn't hard to lose each other. Soon enough, Sasuke was pressed in between several other people that he only barely recognised, and he could no longer see his friends.

Now this was what he thrived on. Sasuke wasn't so foolish as to get scared of people at a party where it was pretty much impossible to avoid contact with at least five people per second. It wasn't being surrounded that freaked him out. It was being alone…

Sasuke shook his head and dispelled the thoughts. He wasn't alone. All he had to do was find Suigetsu and Karin…

…Who were probably already making out somewhere. And Sasuke sure as hell didn't want to get mixed up in that.

Somewhere else, then. The brunette pushed his way through the crown around him, emerging outside of the mass and taking a deep breath as if the air outside of the bodies was any clearer than on the inside. Or maybe he was just trying to calm himself down.

"I need a beer," Sasuke muttered. He swiped a bottle from a container full of ice, not particularly caring what it was, removed the cap, and brought it to its lips. He made a odd noise as the bitter fluid ran down his throat. Itachi was right. Beer was an acquired taste, and he hadn't exactly acquired it yet.

"Hey, Uchiha!"

Sasuke promptly choked on his beer, spluttering, and a strong hand beat down between his shoulder blades. After recovering from the small ordeal, Sasuke raised watery eyes to see both his ambusher and saviour.

"Oh, hey, love boy."

Gaara sneered at him. "Shut up, duckbutt. My mom wasn't right in the head when she gave me that fucking tattoo."

"Your dad wasn't right in the head for not getting it removed the moment she did it," Sasuke grinned, dropping onto a chair which had been seemingly conveniently placed behind him. Gaara sat next to him. "He must have known you'd be teased all the way through high school."

"Yeah, well, high school's gonna be over in two months and then I'm moving in with Sasori and Kankuro. Then I'll finally be free of that crack-whore and her alcoholic hubby whom I once called my parents."

Sasuke raised an eyebrow. "That's pretty harsh, you know."

Gaara scowled. "They deserve it. But anyway, how have you been? I'm surprised your dad let you out tonight without Itachi in tow."

Sasuke grunted. "I wish people would stop assuming that I can't take care of myself. I don't need my brother to look after me."

Gaara smirked. "I reckon he just comes along most times because girls check him out all the time."

"Maybe that's his reason for staying away."

"Yeah," Gaara mused. "Maybe. Karin's looking for you."

Sasuke stared at him. "How can you possibly know that?"

"Because she's looking at you right now, and I can see her from here even though you can't. Maybe you're just not paying attention."

Sasuke grunted, and lifted himself from the chair. Immediately, he caught sight of Karin, scanning the crowd for him. Upon seeing him, she darted forwards, grabbed him by the wrist, dragged him into a room, and shut the door.

"Phew," she breathed.

Sasuke stared around the room. It was painted white, with only a few lamps on. These lamps were placed on planned-out side tables all over the place, along with chaise lounges and posing chairs and tables.

"Guess this is one of Sai's drawing rooms," Sasuke commented. Karin had crossed to one of the lounges, a black one, and had seated herself on the end of it. She patted the space next to her, and he joined her. He absentmindedly wondered how many naked people had posed on the very sofa he was sitting on.

"All right, what's up with you, Sasuke?"

"Why does everyone seem to think that there's something wrong with me lately?" Sasuke snapped without thinking. He knew that he'd given himself away the moment he saw Karin's affronted look.

"Well, if that reaction wasn't enough to go by, you've been distant towards everyone for days. And not just me and Suigetsu, but all of our other friends."

Sasuke hmph'ed. "I haven't been trying to be."

"You don't try to do anything anymore, Sasuke. This party is the closest thing you've been doing lately in the way of a life. Also, you were very obviously ogling Naruto back there."

Sasuke shot her a look. "It wasn't obvious to him, was it?"

"I don't think so, but it any case, he's way too nice to mention it if he did." Karin studied Sasuke's face for a moment. "Are you in love with him?"

"Karin," Sasuke sighed, ignoring the stomach turn that one suggestion had triggered, "I don't know him well enough to be in love with him."

"But you like him, right?"

"It wouldn't matter even if I did like him. He's with someone."

Karin snorted. "What, you mean Sakura? She's an overbearing bitch who won't last much longer in Naruto's good books no matter how nice he is. She doesn't deserve someone like that ball of blonde charisma; you'd be a much better person for him."

Sasuke smiled at her, and mumbled a 'thanks'. He was occasionally stunned by his friends' absolute acceptance of his sexual preferences, and this was definitely one of those times. Suigetsu, Karin, and his immediate family were the only ones he had told since discovering that he played for the other team.

Karin stood up, fluffing her hair and fixing her glasses. "Enjoy the party, Sasuke. But keep those wandering eyes under control, okay?"

Sasuke waved her away, and she disappeared out the door.

So she knew. Which meant that Suigetsu, for all his teasing, knew that Naruto meant more to him that merely eye candy. This realisation that his best friend was actually more intelligent and perceptive than Sasuke gave him credit for was disturbing in more ways than one.

For one thing, Sasuke had to accept that Suigetsu, for all his insensitive prodding, really did care about the Uchiha, and that was hard to come to terms with in itself.

For another thing, the silver-haired guy had told Karin, something that he never usually did, and had the red-haired girl talk to him, instead of doing it himself. Suigetsu had an understandable inability to have heartfelt talks with anyone but Karin, and had evidently hoped his girlfriend would be better at it.

Sasuke got up from the lounge, but all energy suddenly drained out of him and he leaned against the wall. He edged along it until he reached an interior door, and went through it into a very, very white bathroom. He closed the door behind him and sat on the tiled floor at its base, supporting his back against it. The cool surfaces soothed his aching heart and basketball-abused body.

The sound of the exterior door slamming open and then closed, and then the sound of two people walking inside, startled Sasuke from his self-induced monotony. The sound of hushed voices and scuffling alerted him to the fact that this was a conversation that he did not want to get involved in, no matter who it was.

His heart palpitated when he heard Naruto's voice outside his small bathroom abode, and then the hushed voice of Sakura, the bubblegum-pink-haired menace. His stomach sank to rock bottom when he realised that there was no escape. If he went out now, it would be painfully awkward, and if he stayed here and got discovered later, it would still be painfully awkward, so all he could really do was sit on the floor, listening to the people outside and await the impending humiliation.

Sakura and Naruto's hushed, angry voices signaled that this was more like a don't-make-me-yell-at-you-cos-I'm-about-to-break-up-with-you instead of an I'm-going-to-have-sex-with-you-right-now-on-my-best-friend's-chaise-lounge conversation.

Sasuke really did not want to be here.

Remember, my children, reviews = love and happy Sharzam and faster chapters.

I'm trying to put some personality into characters that I haven't really come into contact with since the early days, like Gaara, and putting my own personalities into characters like Suigetsu (whom I love) and Karin (whom I don't really mind).

xx

Sharzam