Chapter 6
Sakura's POV
Oh. My. God. I am at Sasuke Uchiha's house. Firstly, it's absolutely ginormous. Secondly, there are like, maids and butlers and chefs and EVERYTHING! Thirdly, according to Naruto, I'm the only girl who has been allowed into the Uchiha property by Sasuke that is not a party guest of some sort. But what was as amazing as actually being at the house, was getting there.
Okay, so school had just ended and it completely slipped my mind that it was Tuesday. Also, Naruto still didn't get the 'take it slow' policy I tried to put forward the day before. So I had a plan that once the bell rang, I would grab all my stuff from my locker and drive home as fast as possible to avoid all the kissing and couple stuff that was way beyond where I was at right then. So, I did follow through with my plan, and it was easy since Naruto and I have different last periods on day 2's. But I forgot it was Tuesday. And I got in my car and drove home (might I add there was some strange whirring sound coming from my ford as I drove) forgetting all about what was supposed to happen after school.
I got home and hung out with Samuel until my phone rang about a half hour later. I looked at the Caller ID and it was then that I finally realized that we were planning to go to Sasuke's after school. The first thing I said when I picked up was, "Oh my gosh! I'm so sorry! I completely forgot!" And then I rambled on and on about some lame excuse as to why I was home in a rush and not there. I didn't even give Naruto a chance to speak I was talking so fast.
But then the person on the other end of the phone spoke and I realized that it wasn't Naruto on the phone, but Sasuke.
And after realizing this, I went into another ramble of apologies. Sasuke, on the other end, interrupted me saying he was going to drop by to get me. Naruto and Sasuke had apparently made it to his house when, after I had not shown up, decided to do a round about the neighborhood to see if I was lost on the way to getting there. They had finally decided to call my house when I was not found, and since they were already out, it would be easier just to pick me up. And Sasuke sounded very annoyed on the phone, so I wasn't sure what his mood would be like in person- and that made me nervous. What also made me nervous was being in Sasuke's car.
When I entered Sasuke's car, it felt like I was transferred into a James Bond movie. Not only was I sitting beside an amazingly attractive guy, but the car was crazy high-tech and fancy. And when he started driving, I couldn't help but smile. First- he is a much, much, better driver than Naruto (while Sasuke drives smoothly, Naruto drives all jerky), and second, the car made the ride so smooth and he went so fast that I found myself grinning. I think Sasuke saw me grinning too, because he gave me a side-long glance before speeding up. He then turned off the main routes and drove through the community streets, where, I believed, he was showing off- because he'd do all these cool turns while going really fast, and sometimes I held onto the seat in anticipation for the upcoming tricks. But he kept it all very subtle. If I were someone completely not obsessed with Sasuke, then I would have thought he was just a crazy driver, but I could see the suppressed smirk on his face and the obvious difference in his driving from when we were on the main roads.
I only smiled more when we reached his house. It was in one of those really nice gated communities where you have to stop at the gate and talk to the camera where a concierge guy would let you in. It was so unrealistic; it was like being in a movie – every house around it looked huge and rich, though Sasuke definitely had the biggest one.
It almost looked Victorian and old fashioned because of the ivy that ran up the bricks and the perfectly grown gardens. There was also a huge driveway that did the circle thing around a fountain in the front, and it lead to a huge garage in the back where Sasuke parked. Even though the car was off and Sasuke had gotten out with the usual passive face, I couldn't stop grinning. …I should get rides with Sasuke more often. But then I wondered why Sasuke had picked me up and not Naruto. He said that Naruto was still out looking, and when I said, 'shouldn't you call him on his cell phone?', he just stared at me and walked towards the house. I guess Naruto will call Sasuke sooner or later.
When we entered the actual house part, I tried not to gape. There were butlers near the entrance and they welcomed Sasuke and me, and there were these other maid looking type people – it was so cool. But it wasn't just the house's servers that amazed me – it was the house itself. You'd think that the president could live there it was so nice. It had the traditional two staircases that curved down on either side of the front hall and a chandelier hanging from the ceiling. Basically, imagine your dream mansion and that's what you got as Sasuke's house. He led me to a library that was to the left of the front hall. I think there were more books there than what we had at our school. Then I wondered why Sasuke went to our school and not some rich private school.
My thoughts were interrupted though, by a hyper active Sarah running into the Library. She was holding 4 pieces of paper- 2 had drawings on them and two were covering half of each drawing. After greeting me enthusiastically, she showed me the papers. They both had what seemed to be a curve with spikes on it, but the other halves of the drawings were covered by the other papers, so it was difficult to tell what the image was. Then she said while holding out the papers, "Hey Sakura! Can you guess what they are?" I flickered my eyes to Sasuke, who looked annoyed, then turned them back to Sarah before shaking my head 'no'. "Well look!" she continued and uncovered the first drawing.
It was of a chicken, and the rounded spiky part was the chicken's but. Then she uncovered the second one and it was a drawing of Sasuke's profile, and the curved spiky part was the back of his hair.
"Look! Look! Sasuke has chicken-butt hair! Isn't that superfantabulous?!" I giggled, and turned back to Sasuke, who had his finger pointed towards the door of the Library and said 'out' to Sarah. Sarah bounced up and down a couple of times with a pout on her face, collected her papers, and ran through the exit, yelling, "Bye chicken-butt!" I laughed again and Sasuke narrowed his eyes at me – so I shut myself up.
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When Naruto finally arrived, I was somewhat grateful. Even though he gave me a longish kiss (which was rather sloppy – I ended up wiping my mouth when he turned away), he broke the awkward silence between me and Sasuke while we were waiting for him to arrive. Apparently, Naruto and Sasuke went off searching for me in different directions, and Sasuke had thought to call me before Naruto did, making him the one to pick me up.
"Oops…" I realized that I had forgotten my knapsack at home in the rush to get into Sasuke's car. Naruto and Sasuke looked at me and I explained. Sasuke rolled his eyes and Naruto was more than happy to share his notebook and pencils with me. I then noticed how messy Naruto was. His binder was made up of unorganized loose-leafs and all his pencils and pens had bite marks on them, even the ones he gave me to use.
We first decided to plan out who would be doing what and when for the project. Step number one was to draw the focus, or in our case- a hand- from a view outside of the body. Naruto proclaimed that since he 'could not draw for beans', he was going to go raid Sasuke's kitchen for food. I didn't say anything, nor did Sasuke. I'm guessing we had a mutual feeling about not wanting Naruto working on any type of drawing related steps in fear of him screwing them up.
So that left Sasuke and I alone in the library again. For the first thirty seconds, Sasuke just stared at me. I found myself staring back, not that it was meant as some sort of brave act, but that he was just so good to look at. Then, he raised an eyebrow, and I realized he was only looking at me because he wanted me to initiate the discussion of 'who was doing what'. I blushed and looked away as I usually do, but he kept on staring. How am I supposed to talk when his eyes or boring into me?
"Um, why don't you… erm, draw the picture… you're… really good… I could get started on the, uh, writing….stuff…" I offered in a half- strangled voice. He was still looking at me. And when he continued staring, I got a little flustered and started rambling again. I swear my mouth is separate from my brain. This was a perfect example of it. Externally, I was blabbering about other ideas we could do, but internally, I was like, 'Shit! Shit! Shit! Stop talking!' Its funny how, when I am flustered, I have no problem in speaking freely to Sasuke, though when I am normal, all my courage and integrity is depleted.
I finally stopped when Sasuke interrupted – which I was thankful for, though it still was embarrassing.
"The first one." Was all he said, before getting himself his own pencils and paper. I gave a small nod before turning to the things Naruto had left me. Frankly, I didn't really want to touch them, because they looked a little nasty.
Where I was going to place the title of 'Step one, sketches', I noticed that the sheet of paper had something stuck to it. Ew.
And I didn't even touch the pencils he let me use- I mean, I get enough of Naruto's mouth while I'm at school. I don't need to be drawing where he has bitten into.
Sasuke noticed my reluctance to touch Naruto's things, and after rolling his eyes again, he pulled out a couple more sheets and pencils from his knapsack and flicked them across the table, over to where I was.
I lightly jot-noted what I was going to do first, and then started the actual writing. I looked up every once in a while to see how Sasuke was doing, and in my head I decided that he was going to do all the drawings, because mine would look like two year old's scribbles compared to his. Of course, Sasuke finished before me and it was amazing. I took a little while longer because he was staring at me again so it was hard to concentrate, which was really awkward. When I finished my work, we showed each other what we did, and I ended up trying to compliment Sasuke on his work (but it really only came out as a jumble of words). Sasuke had just started to get on the good copy of drawing the hand when Naruto came back in. He had three cups of steaming instant ramen, but apparently, they were all for himself- though he did offer me some, I refused because he held out the noodles on the fork in his hands expecting me to lean forward and take a bite while he still held onto the it. And that was a little weird.
I kind of just sat there as Sasuke drew and Naruto inhaled his ramen. Again, kind of awkward. So I started doodling on the jot-notes that I did. When I got bored of that, I started twiddling with the pencil in between my fingers. But then it flew out of my hands and underneath my chair, and I had to bend over in such an embarrassing way – a way that half of my but was in the air, and one of my hands was flat on the ground. Then I heard Naruto, and I think my face spontaneously combusted.
"Hey! Stop checking out my girlfriend's ass!" he said while scowling at Sasuke. I shot right back up into a regular sitting position, eyes wide and forgetting the pencil completely. Sasuke gave a 'what-the-fuck?' death-glare to Naruto who scowled back. I sat there very embarrassed and confused, my eyes flickering to each of the boys.
"What's an ass?"
All heads turned to see Sarah, standing innocently at the doorway of the library, head cocked to one side.
My eyebrows raised and my hand went to cover my mouth- to stop me from laughing or to stop an 'Oh my god', I'm not quite sure.
"Uhhhh, it's, uhhhhhh…" Naruto was at a same loss of words as I was.
"Nothing. And don't say it anymore." That was Sasuke, who looked at Sarah, then glared at Naruto.
Then Naruto suddenly spoke up, "It's a donkey!" That earned another glare from Sasuke. And a tiny giggle from me.
"Okay!" And Sarah skipped from the room. Sasuke went back to drawing the hand silently, and Naruto went back to eating his ramen. Again, I was left sitting there, until Sarah came running back in.
"Look! I got an ass! See!" she held out a donkey figurine, grinning proudly. My eyes widened and Sasuke sent a slightly exasperated, though still stoic look towards Sarah, who started dancing around the table singing Mary had a little lamb, except replacing 'lamb' with 'ass'. Naruto burst out laughing and I covered my mouth again, to stop my own giggles.
"Sarah," Sasuke started warningly, still sitting in his chair. Sarah kept on circling, this time making the donkey dance as well. "Sarah," he said again, but she kept ignoring him. "Sarah, stop it. Now." If I were Sarah, I would have probably run from the library and pray to god that he wouldn't come after me, because the look on his face and the twitch in his jaw muscles screamed 'Angry!'
I decided to try and intervene, maybe get on Sasuke's good side for once.
"Sarah," I asked a little quietly.
"Yeeesss!?" she continued to dance and sing, but at least she acknowledged me.
"Come here, I want to tell you a secret," and I motioned with my pointer finger for her to come. Sarah immediately stopped and stared with awe-filled eyes.
"Is it secret spy business?" she asked in almost a whisper.
"Uh, yeah" I answered, sort of winging it. Sarah came over in a tip-toe, then stood straight and saluted to me.
"Agent Superfantabulous, reporting for duty," she said still whispering.
"Okay, here is the secret," also whispering. I leaned over to her, to make it look like it was important, though I was very wary of Sasuke's passive stare and Naruto's amused look. "That word you were singing, we don't ever want to say that. Do you know why?" Sarah shook her head furiously while I though of what to say next. "That is the code word for the evil spy team. And if they hear it, they will attack."
"Oh no! I didn't mean to! I'm sorry!" though still whispering, Sarah's voice was filled with anxiety.
"It's okay, I don't think they heard you. But remember, don't say it." I replied, and leaned back sat back normally again.
"Don't say it." Sarah confirmed, than ran for the library exit. She stopped at the door though, and turned around to salute to me, before running off again, taking her donkey too.
When she left, Naruto burst out laughing again, and I felt really self-conscious. Sasuke glanced at me, and then continued working. It wasn't a glare, so I think I'm making progress.
And I can't even describe how happy that made me feel.
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I had completely forgotten that Naruto and I had a date after Sasuke's. Luckily, he had reminded me before we left so I didn't look like idiot.
He took me out to dinner at a small pizza place, and I have to say, I did enjoy it (+1). There wasn't much kissing (+1) so I think that the only reason he does it so much at school is to show off or something. Anyway, after pizza, he took me for ice cream but ended up not having enough with him to pay for it, so I had to (-1). We then walked to a nearby park with our ice cream just talking about random things (+1), but a lot of jokes he made, I didn't really get (-1). But then, while we were still in the car just before I got out to my house he gave me a sort of 'goodbye kiss. And it was a good type of kiss. Different from the ones at school, and very sweet (+2). But then his hand moved to my thigh at one point, and though it gave me shivers, it was still a little wrong/ fast/ not what I was comfortable with (-1). We set up another date for sometime on the weekend and I ran into my house after saying goodbye. So the date wasn't that great. If I added up my scores, it got a +2. Which I guess is okay. But I also found myself not running to my room and squealing on my bed. And I'm not sure if that's good or not.
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I haven't seen my mom in three days. I had gone straight to sleep when I returned from my date on Tuesday, but vaguely I remember as I walked up the stairs to my room, I had seen my dad in his bedroom – not the couch. The next morning she wasn't in the house, and I assumed she had an early morning meeting and had to leave early. But when I got back from school, she wasn't there. My dad and I had a quiet dinner by ourselves that night, and even later on in the evening, we hadn't heard from her. The next morning she still wasn't there and that's when I started to get really worried. I didn't dare ask my dad where she was – he's depressed enough already. He still acts like his usual self when I'm there, but when ever he thinks I'm not looking, he drops the act.
My mom hadn't returned after school or in the evening that day, and I found it very hard to get to sleep. The house was so quiet, and it felt rather empty- Sam seemed a lot happier with the stress level tuned down to almost zero. The next day I finally told Ino about my mom disappearing, and she sympathized with me and since it was a Friday, I stayed over at her place for the night.
It was the morning when I finally saw her. I drove home from Ino's and my mom's car was in the driveway. She had greeted me warmly with a smile, a hug, and an 'Oh honey, I missed you.' I didn't smile back, instead, my brow furrowed and I asked her, "Where were you?" I was genuinely concerned with her whereabouts even though I'm not as close to her as I am with my dad. She shrugged it off and said, "I brought you something, come see what it is." She led me into the living room where she had a suitcase opened. I was confused and a little bit scared. If she had a suitcase then that meant she had planned to leave for a couple of days. But why didn't she tell me where she went?
I tried to sound happy when she showed me the gift, but I still was really concerned. It was a faded green skirt that went down to the knees. It was made out of a light material, so it almost looked like a beach wrap. She wanted me to try it on, so I did. When I came back to show her, she gushed on how it matched my eyes perfectly and how I looked so gorgeous. Though I liked the skirt, I didn't gush with her, I was still concerned.
"Where did you get it?" I asked her.
"This designing company that had just opened, one of my friends is the owner and head designer. The company let me bring home some samples for you." She answered. She avoided my question; she told me how she got it, but not where.
"Oh." I replied, "But where did you get it?"
"How about I take you out to lunch? You can wear the skirt." Still avoiding my question.
"Um, Hinata and I were going to do something today," I lied – why was she being like this? Where did she go?
"That's fine darling, we'll schedule another time, how about that?" my mom said, closing her suitcase.
"Um, okay." I answered, and she lugged the suitcase up the stairs to her room.
"Mom," I started, when she was half way up the stairs, "I missed you." I tried to look innocent and sad; maybe she would feel guilty and tell me.
"I missed you too darling," And she continued up the stairs. Dang it. Usually the innocent thing works.
The moment I heard her bedroom door close, I ran up to my room, took off the skirt and threw it into my closet, frustrated that she was acting so weird. I sat on my bed huffing with no pants on and Samuel on my lap. If I were Sarah, I'd call my mom a stupid-head.
Naruto took me out on a date on Sunday. We didn't do much though. He had gotten us ice cream and we walked around a bit. We didn't kiss as much, because I found different ways to inconspicuously avoid it though. Overall, it was a pretty boring Sunday.
That night, I contemplated my parents' relationship. First, I think all the arguing and fighting is started by my mom- she seems to be the one that has a problem with their marriage. Second, I think they only stay together because of me. I think that they will wait until I graduate, then they will divorce. Third, if they were to divorce sometime before I graduate, then I would probably stay with my dad. I'm a lot closer to him. And my mom doesn't like Samuel that much so he would stay with my dad (and I can't leave my Sammy).
After thinking about all of this I couldn't get to sleep, even with Samuel's comforting purrs. So I quietly went on the computer and played mindless online games. It was 3:30 am when I finally felt the effects of sleep come over me. I shut of the computer, and went to bed with my ipod playing, Sam curled up at my feet.
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I really shouldn't have stayed up so late. I ended up falling asleep in Math and getting a half hour detention after school, and a couple blows to my self-esteem from all the people around me. I told Naruto that he and Sasuke could go ahead to his house and I'd arrive once I got through my detention. They agreed and Naruto gave me Sasuke's address because I didn't know the exact street and number.
It took me a while to find Sasuke's house. The concierge guy at the gate apparently knew of my arrival and let me in without any trouble (I was a little nervous about that part) but a lot of the homes and streets in his community kind of look the same. I ended up stopping some random person who was walking by and asked where the Carter household was. He was surprised that I even asked – the Carter family was the most popular out of the community, even if they just recently moved in. I finally got the directions and made it to Sasuke's house, where the butler dude let me in.
I met Mr. Carter for the first time when I entered- he recognized me from Sarah's description of my pink hair, I recognized him from the drawing in Sasuke's sketchbook. Mr. Carter was very handsome, and there was no doubt that he was Sarah's father. He had short curly blonde hair, blue eyes and tanned skin. I think that if you put all of the Carter family together (subtract Sasuke), they would look like the perfect American family.
Mr. Carter and I briefly talked, mostly about how much Sarah enjoyed me babysitting her and how I would love to babysit her again. I also figured out that Mrs. Carter works in the same building as my dad, and that's how I came to babysit Sarah in the first place. Apparently Mr. Carter owns a large car dealership, which explains Sasuke's Maserati Diablo.
Before Mr. Carter and I parted, I asked where Sasuke and Naruto were, and he said they were probably in Sasuke's room. I very much wanted to see Sasuke's room, though I didn't tell Mr. Carter that. He gave me the directions and I took them:
Up the left staircase in the front hall, turn left and down the hall to the very end. Up the staircase to the right (not the left), to the middle of the hallway where there will be a large window that looks over the back yard. The staircase beside it leads to a landing where there are 2 double doors on the left and right walls, and a couple of steps straight ahead that lead to a single door. The single door is Sasuke's room.
Holy shit, thank goodness I didn't get lost. I knew the house was big, but not that big. I'm guessing a lot of the house consisted of guest rooms because there were too many halls and doors to count. Some of the doors were open and I could see what was inside as I passed. A couple of doors contained art rooms and music rooms, and I desperately wanted to look through them, but I had to keep going while I still had the directions to Sasuke's room in my head. And when I passed the window that overlooked the backyard, I couldn't believe my eyes. He had a hot tub three times as big as mine, a huge pool and patio, an outdoor bar, a field with a soccer net, a small basketball court, and trampoline. I was surprised they didn't have a horse stable or something. I also felt really weird walking through the house alone because it was so big and I seemed so small.
Anyways, I finally got to Sasuke's room, where the door was closed. There were noises coming from inside (most sounding like Naruto) so I knocked twice and entered.
Sasuke's room was huge though simple, and it even smelled like Sasuke (not that I actually know his scent, but the slight whiff of cologne, aftershave, and the very fresh sort of smell – like it had just rained – seemed to suit him perfectly). The walls and carpet were navy blue and the ceiling and trim were white. He had a ladder that led to a loft which stretched all the way across the back wall. The loft was guarded by a railing at the edges, and held a bunch of blankets, pillows and mattresses which I assumed to be his bed. Above the loft, on the ceiling, was a sky light that looked accessible. It was probably used for sneaking out or something, because I think I saw a shoeprint near the window- on the ceiling. Plus, it looked that if you stood on the railing, you'd be tall enough to reach it.
On the right side of the room, near the wall that had the door I just entered from, was a white desk with a computer. Opposite to it on the other side of the room was a bookshelf, and on the left wall was an open door that led to a closet and probably a bathroom. Beneath the loft was a large TV, a black leather couch, 2 bean bags, and a couple of game systems.
The colours of basically everything else in the room were white, black, or navy blue – a little boring, but sophisticated. I also noticed that in some places, there was a red and white fan. Like there was one on the wall, and I think there was one sewn into some of his pillows and comforters, but it was to far away to see for sure.
Currently, Sasuke and Naruto were playing a Star Wars game for Xbox (shouldn't they be working?). Sasuke was slouched on the couch holding the controller lazily, face passive. Naruto was on one of the beanbags, his tongue occasionally sticking out, face contorted in concentration and letting out obscenities or "Come on! SHOOT HIM! DIE DIE DIE!' every few seconds while he jammed his fingers over the controller. I'm guessing Sasuke was winning then.
"Um, hi," I said after entering fully and closing the door behind me. I was acknowledged by Sasuke with a flicker of his eyes to me then back to the TV. He said nothing.
"Hey… Sakura!" Naruto yelled, still caught up in the game. His sentences were fragmented – he would speak and then focus on the game, then speak again – sometimes words would be louder than others and sometimes held longer than others. It was kind of funny. So when he invited me to sit down in the other beanbag (which was near Sasuke's feet- I will be so close to him!) it sounded something like this: WHY… don't… yoooouuuu…come… SIT OVER HERE… on… the other… beeeeeaaaaaaannn… BAG!
Trying not to distract them, I half- tiptoed to the other bean bag and sat down- right in front of Sasuke. The bean bag was so squishy, I felt like I was sinking in it. It took me a while and a couple of awkward positions to actually find a comfortable spot, and I blushed – feeling like a loser while doing it. After getting comfortable, I finally realized HOW close I was to Sasuke- my head was almost touching his shins!
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Sasuke's POV
Sasuke was just about to beat Naruto when Sakura sat down in front of him, distracting him. It wasn't that she was blocking the TV or that she was moving around, probably trying to get comfortable – it was her hair brushing against his shins and her arms lightly touching, not even purposefully, his legs. He looked down to see exactly where she was situated.
In between his legs.
It wasn't intentional – before Sakura came his legs were already on either side of the beanbag, too lazy to move it. And Sakura had sat down probably oblivious to that fact. And Sasuke knowing that fact found it hard to concentrate.
So now he was closer to winning than Naruto, but struggling – because every time she moved, her hair or arms would brush against his short clad legs, touching the exposed bare skin.
And it made him twitch.
Every damn time.
And he didn't even know why he was twitching. He had had plenty of girls in that region before, and neither of them made him do this. Maybe it was because she was off limits and presented a challenge. Or maybe it was the fact that she was so much more innocent compared to all the other girls that had encountered him.
Anyways, she was really distracting him. Very much so. It was like the many times when they were in the art room or cafeteria and all he could hear was her voice, no matter how much other people were talking. And Sasuke couldn't find a word to describe why it happened – the hearing her voice and making him twitch – so he just settled for calling it 'annoying'.
"Um, shouldn't we be working?" asked Sakura, to no one in particular. Naruto didn't hear her or he was too occupied, because he didn't answer.
"Finished." Sasuke replied, not knowing exactly why he answered her.
"The three drawings? They're all, um, done?" She asked, confusion present in her voice.
"Desk." He answered shortly over Naruto's grunting. Sasuke had finished the rest of the drawing by himself out of sheer boredom after Sakura and Naruto left that Tuesday. It was also an excuse to get Sarah to leave him alone – using the 'I'm doing homework. Don't disturb me' excuse.
"Oh… okay." Sakura said, and got up to walk awkwardly, from sliding around in the bean bag, over to the desk. Sasuke used this time to gain control of the game and actually, finally, win. But it was once again hard to, because he heard her gasps and "Oh wow's" as she looked at his drawings. Sasuke suppressed a smirk – she almost sounded like Sarah when she discovered something new.
Typical, he thought- it wasn't the first time someone fawned over his work.
But then Sakura started giggling. It was only when she murmured 'chicken-butt' to herself and then said slightly louder, "Sarah's pretty good at drawing for a six-year old," that he realized why she was giggling. Sarah had probably put her drawings of himself and the chicken with his project. "The nose is a little big though, and the hair a little too spiky." She continued talking – making remarks on the relation between the picture of Sasuke and Sasuke himself. And it was still making it hard to concentrate. He couldn't even tune her out. It was like there was a headphone's jack plugged into her, and the speakers were in his ears.
She finally stopped talking and Sasuke could concentrate, though there was a little nagging feeling in the back of his mind that was asking 'what is she doing now?' Luckily, that nagging thing wasn't enough to overtake his concentration, and he beat Naruto easily within minutes of when the distractions stopped.
"Aw! Fuck! I was SO close!" Naruto yelled, moving to a sitting position. "So close!" He continued and let his head loll back to where he saw Sakura, who was still looking around the desk. "Hey, Sakura! You wanna play?"
Sasuke grimaced slightly, but didn't say anything. Sakura answered with an "Um, I don't know."
"Come on! It will be fun! Sit back down in the bean bag! Sasuke – give your controller to Sakura!" Naruto yelled again, getting more enthusiastic. Sasuke narrowed his eyes at Naruto and reluctantly extended the arm with the controller towards Sakura.
"Um, Okay." Sakura replied and nervously took the remote from Sasuke. "But I don't have Star Wars for my Xbox, and I've never played it before," she said and sat back down into the bean bag.
"What games do you have?" asked Naruto.
"Um, Dance Dance Revolution?" she answered, and blushed slightly.
Naruto made a face before saying, "Stupid. This is much more fun. Now," he continued, showing her his controller, "The A button is to jump, R to shoot, circle to crouch and square as an action. It's really easy."
"Um, okay…" To Sasuke, Sakura still didn't seem to get the controls as quickly as Naruto explained them. It bothered him how he was concerned about whether or not she knew how to play.
"Great! Let's start!" Naruto picked a battlefront and walked Sakura through the beginning until the battle actually started, where he was too concentrated for his own player to remember to help Sakura.
Sakura seemed hopeless. Within seconds of the battle starting, she had already died twice. And when she wasn't busy getting shot, she was still trying to figure out the controls.
Sasuke watched in some amusement at how pathetic she played, and even though the accidental brushes she made against his skin made him twitch, he wasn't playing, so he didn't mind it as much. Sakura still didn't notice these accidental touches, she was to busy trying to figure out how not to die. After the ninth time that she died, Sasuke decided to intervene.
An opponent was shooting at Sakura at the moment and she couldn't figure out how to shoot back. That was when Sasuke bent down, so he was practically leaning over her, his head almost on her shoulder, right beside her cheek. He put his right hand over her right hand, and pressing down the R button so she could shoot back. Sakura became extremely red and stuttered thank you's and okay's. Sasuke found this fairly amusing, so he stayed like that until the enemy died. Then, with his head still close to hers, "Press the R button to shoot. You'll die if you don't." Sakura became even more flustered and started rambling, losing focus of the game. This amused Sasuke even more, and he wondered how many times he could make her flustered and nervous. He enjoyed seeing her flustered and nervous.
So for the next 45 minutes, Sakura and Naruto played Star Wars, and Sasuke tried to make Sakura flustered. Every attempt he made, he exceeded, which pushed him more, wanting to see how flustered she could get. How far he could get until she or Naruto said something.
So the instances continued, like when Sasuke leaned over again, this time putting his left hand over her left and pressing down on the L button. Then he said in her ear, "The L button switches weapons. This one is more effective against your opponent." And instead of sitting back up normally, he made his hand lazily drag up her arm as he sat back. She became, once again, highly flustered and nervous, and started rambling on about random things until she calmed down. He also felt her shiver, and he smirked at that, somehow reveling in it. And this happened many, many more times. It was a little disappointing though because Naruto didn't get pissed or annoyed; he was too focused on the game to notice.
After another hour of videogame playing and flustering Sakura, Mrs. Carter knocked on the door and entered. After greeting them all, she stated that dinner would be ready in 15 minutes, and offered for Naruto and Sakura to stay as well. Sakura declined, saying she should get home for dinner, but Naruto accepted (because he always did).
Sasuke decided to make Sakura flustered one more time before she left, and that was when she was walking out the door. He had intentionally stared at her as she walked by, and when he got her attention, he smirked and tilted his head slightly to one side. She blushed madly and rambled some 'goodbyes' before rushing out. Naruto didn't even have time to give her a kiss, something Sasuke was unknowingly relieved about.
He and Naruto decided to watch TV until someone came to tell them it was time for dinner. And while Naruto was channel surfing, Sasuke realized two things.
ONE: He liked it when Sakura got flustered. He decided that every time they saw each other, or had to get together for the project, he would somehow make her flustered.
TWO: He hadn't once referred to Sakura as 'paper towel girl' the whole time she was there.
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Sakura POV
What the frig happened there?! I thought it would be a work hour or something! Not a 'what-the-hell-is-Sasuke-doing-to-me?' hour. I mean, could he get any closer?!
First, we weren't even working, Second, I was in Sasuke's room, and third, what was that stuff he was doing? Is he trying to make me, like, permanently embarrassed? Jeez! And even though I was all 'wtf' at what happened today, it was a disappointment when we agreed that we didn't need to get together on Sunday to work because we had all the drawings done. Though I was kind of relieved that I could miss a chance at embarrassing myself, I was a little sad that I wasn't going.
But you know what was the coolest thing ever? Okay, well when Sasuke reached over to press the buttons for me (what brought him to do that?!) I noticed that on the inside of his wrist, there was a black tattoo. It depicted three sixes, all with their bottoms facing towards the centre of the tattoo. Then when he did it again, except with the other hand, I noticed he had the exact same tattoo in the same place, just on the other wrist! This discovery made me randomly excited, and the next day, I definitely decided to ask Naruto about it in instrumental.
According to Naruto, those aren't the only tattoos Sasuke has – there are a total of three on his body. According to Naruto, the first one is where his left shoulder meets his neck, and it's basically the same to the ones on his wrist, except it has a circle thing that kind of looks like a sun around it. The second one, according to Naruto, is on his shoulder blades- an outline of a hand on each one. And, according to Naruto, the third one is on his lower back, and it's of the red fan that was also in his room. According to Naruto, the fan is the symbol of his last name, but he didn't tell me any more than that, though I believe he could have.
And when I said, 'that's so cool!' when referring to Sasuke's tattoos, Naruto exclaimed that he also had one- it was on his stomach. And then he showed it to me as we were leaving instrumental. Might I say that Naruto has a really, REALLY toned stomach? I had to bite my lip to keep from drooling! And the tattoo was really, really cool too – it was a spiral with a kind of circle-type-sun thing around it. But, if I were him, I wouldn't have gotten it on my stomach, because what happens when you're older and you go out or something? The settlement of it is a little obnoxious – but at least it matches his personality.
When we walked into biology, Sasuke was in his usual seat and we sat next to him as always. Before we sat down, I remembered that though we had completed the drawings for our project, we hadn't come up with a presentation yet. We then decided that we would meet at Sasuke's house on Sunday to finish that part up because the presentation for it was the class after the weekend.
Once that was sorted out, Naruto and I sat down and got settled. But this time, I was seated in between them. Naruto on my right, and Sasuke on my left. And it was really awkward.
Especially half-way through the class, when I noticed that Sasuke didn't have a high-collared shirt like he usually does. So I kind of pushed my chair back a bit, and leaned a little to the left, hoping to maybe see his left shoulder, and to maybe get a glimpse of his tattoo. But then Sasuke caught me, and turned to look at me. I froze; my face very close to his. And then he leaned the tiniest bit forward towards me, and I blushed furiously, trying not to start rambling so I wouldn't catch the attention of the rest of the class. He leaned even further towards me, and I was like a statue – not even blinking.
"You should pay attention." He whispered in a low voice (though it was still passive). And it took every ounce of my self control to not close the tiny space between us and jump him. Except really, I would never do that, no matter how badly I wish I could.
In the blink of an eye, he was back in his original position- and if I hadn't known better, I would've thought that I had day-dreamed the whole thing. It then occurred to me that I was still in the very uncomfortable position of leaning to the left. So after straightening myself out, I tried to pay attention to Mr. Kakashi. But I was oh so very distracted by Sasuke. Every one of his movements my eye would catch, and sometimes I found myself unconsciously tuning out the rest of the world and watching him out of the corner of my eye.
And then, as I was finally able to actually work, Sasuke lifted his arm to scratch the spot where his left shoulder meets his neck. It was like he knew that I was trying to see his tattoo. But there was one thing that didn't fit- I didn't see any tattoo.
Maybe it was because I just blinked when it showed momentarily, or maybe it was because it wasn't near the spot he scratched- or MAYBE he just didn't have a tattoo there and Naruto had either mistaken it for something else or it was in the wrong spot.
Either way, I tried to find out. So after waiting a couple of minutes to make sure no one was looking, I slowly leaned to the left again.
But Sasuke's shoulder was out of my line of vision, so I leaned a little bit more to the left.
Nope. Still couldn't see it.
Leaning even further to the left, I stupidly and embarrassingly lost my balance – my chair tilted to one side and I found myself falling. Reaching out with flailing arms, I tried to grab anything to keep me balanced. Unfortunately, that 'anything' was Sasuke's shirt, and it didn't keep me balanced. Instead it pulled his weight to lean on the back of his chair and made him lose his balance as well.
And I found both of us falling.
I hit the ground with a rather painful thump on my back, and Sasuke landed with his head on my chest.
Yup. He sure did have that tattoo. With my hand still clutching his shirt, it stretched the collar far enough for me to see where his shoulder meets his neck- and the tattoo was definitely there. Mission Accomplished.
Well, sort of.
I was too shocked to move, especially with his head on my chest. And after a couple of moments of just laying there in shock, I heard Sasuke say in that same low whisper,
"Well this is comfortable."
My eyes widened to golf balls while he reached behind his head to untangle my hands from his shirt (and his hands were very nice and warm). But as he did that, his hands swept across certain places accidentally (at least I hope it was accidentally), because his head was on my chest. Some of the spikes in his hair just happened to brush against my neck as well, and I'm just going to mention that his hair was soooooo soft (I think it's natural), it was hard not pull him back down to run my fingers through it.
Anyways, he slowly stood up after disentangling us and sat back down in his seat as if nothing happened.
But something did happen, because I was on the floor. And I just realized everyone- EVERYONE- was staring at me. I shot up like a bullet into a sitting position, though I was still on the floor, and blushed so hard I think I burnt a layer of skin off.
Naruto, once the situation registered, stood up and helped me to my feet, all the while he was yelling at Sasuke on how he was such a clumsy idiot – though truthfully it really was the opposite and I was the clumsy one.
After that whole ordeal passed and the class had stopped laughing at me, Mr. Kakashi resumed his teaching, though he seemed to be smiling secretively at something. I kept my head down with my hair covering my face as it was still unbelievably red and I was still unbelievably embarrassed.
But remember how each of Sasuke's movements caught my eye? Well, I definitely caught him smirking while quickly glancing in my direction. That only boosted the embarrassment meter up twelve hundred steps.
I avoided talking to anyone as I escaped from class when the period ended. I walked quickly and directly towards my locker to grab my things and skedaddle. But Naruto caught me and gave me a quick 'goodbye' peck before I ran off to my car.
When I got home, I noticed that the phone had a message waiting. When I checked it, the caller turned out to be Mrs. Carter asking if I could babysit Sarah on Saturday. Even though I didn't need the money, I called back and confirmed that I could babysit. Mrs. Carter thanked me and also said that I would be babysitting at their house this time. Sometimes I wonder why I am to babysit Sarah when they have all those maids and butlers and people. Oh well.
I found myself searching the computer on Google Images for pictures that would be good for a tattoo – if I were to get one (which I probably won't). I chose a really pretty picture of a cherry blossom and decided that if I were to get it, it would be on my back near my left shoulder. But I also found myself searching the other designs that Sasuke had for his tattoos. Some of the history behind them was kind of disturbing, though some things I found interesting. For example, the hands that were apparently on his shoulder blades stood for 'Flapping One Thousand Birds', which was a symbol for protecting comrades- but could also be used for severing those ties to the comrades. I wonder why Sasuke chose that one.
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A couple of days later in art class, Ms. Lunids assigned us our 'super project' which is a smaller version of a culminating activity before Christmas break (even though it's only nearing the end of October). This time it was an actual normal project, which I am thankful for. Basically, we have to paint picture of something significant to us. It sounds pretty easy, but I'm not the greatest artist when it comes to painting people, so I decided to pick someone easy to do – Samuel. I mean, he's important to me, and a lot easier to draw than a person. I looked over to see who Hinata decided to do, and she's doing her cousin, Neji. Apparently, not long after I talked with him that one morning with Naruto, he and Tenten decided to become an item. I don't really know them that well, but they look like a pretty cute couple to me.
I also got a peek at who Sasuke decided to do while I was inconspicuously walking by – his sister, Sarah. I'm surprised because before he kind of wanted to keep her secret, but now he is doing a whole painting of her. And I saw the picture he was thinking of using and it's so adorable! She has one of her innocent and angelic smiles on her face, and she's holding a stuffed dog; I hope she acts the way she looks in the picture when I babysit her on Saturday.
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Unfortunately, Sarah didn't want to act innocent and angelic when I was babysitting her. Since we were at her place this time, she thought she could do anything.
So after Mr. and Mrs. Carter left (I don't know where Sasuke was), we decided to play dress-up because she had a 'superfantabulous' idea.
But the idea wasn't even close to being 'superfantabulous'.
At the beginning she behaved though. She had shown me her room- which is every six year old child's dream. Huge, sparkly, and toy- filled, Sarah's room looked like it popped out from a fairytale book. And her bed was even modeled into a horse drawn carriage, while the rest of the furniture consisted of pieces that looked like miniature castles and trees. The walls were even painted to look like a 3D fairytale- so the theme to our dress-up game was 'Fairytales'.
Sarah had decided that she was going to wear some of her mom's very expensive and very valuable clip-on earrings when playing dress-up. And she told me that they were, in fact, very expensive and valuable just before she ran away yelling, "Hide and go Seek! Hide and go Seek!"
So I had to search the whole entire freaking mansion to find her. And I barely even know how to get to Sasuke's room again, how does she expect me to find her in such a humungous house?
By using the maids and butlers of course.
After searching for a couple of minutes, I decided to ask the house's staff where Sarah went. And guess where they pointed me? To Sasuke's room.
It took me a long time to finally find his room again, and when I got there, it took me just as much time to find her.
Sarah had hidden herself in all the many blankets, pillows, and mattresses of Sasuke's bed in the loft. Not only did she make me climb up there (which I didn't mind so much), but she made me catch her while she scampered and reburied herself amongst the bed.
When I finally caught her, I noticed something very wrong. Sarah was only wearing one earring.
Meaning the other very expensive and very valuable earring was lost amidst the blankets.
It took us 1 whole friggin hour to find the stupid earring, and just as we finally found it, guess who walked in?
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Sasuke's POV
Sasuke decided to leave the party he was at early, because there was no alcohol at all, and his stupid fangirls were all over him. Plus Karin was being a fucking idiot trying to get him alone in a guest room all not. Not happening. Especially since he was sober. The only problem was that because he left the party early, he would be home early, meaning he would have to babysit Sarah (though it would give him another chance to make Sakura flustered…).
He entered his house to hear nothing but the obvious sounds of the house's staff working, though he should be hearing one of Sarah's ridiculous songs and Sakura's voice.
After doing a quick sweep through the house, he heard noises coming from up stairs.
From his room.
Sasuke should have predicted that at some point in time, Sarah would end up in his room, which he didn't mind so much – but what peeved him was the fact that it wasn't just Sarah in his room, but Sakura too. Alone.
He opened the door to a position he didn't expect to see the two girls in.
Sarah was fast asleep on the couch below the loft, while in the loft was Sakura- half covered in his blankets and pillows.
Once Sakura realized that Sasuke had walked in, she awkwardly froze in place- half buried, half crawling. And stayed like that for another thirty seconds.
Sasuke just scowled, walked towards Sarah, and picked her up to carry her to her own room. When he returned, Sasuke found Sakura, not in the loft, but standing on the ground near the latter, holding one of Marie's earrings. One of her very expensive very valuable earrings.
But Sasuke didn't even have to ask why she was in his room, in his loft, holding his adoptive mother's earring – because the moment he opened his mouth, Sakura blurted out the whole story.
And Sasuke managed, after the over-blown ramblings of Sakura, to make her flustered too – he walked towards her, keeping his intense gaze on her face, and continued to stare at her even when he was towering over her.
With his body very close to hers, he bent down to say in that voice he always does around her – the one that is a partial whisper and very low,
"I think it's time you go now."
And he took Sakura's hand, making her face turn tomato red. He then opened the fist that held the earring and switched the jewelry for the money she earned that night. He also made sure to make his fingers linger a little longer than usual, to make the effect work that much more on her.
It was quite humorous - Sakura was like a metal detector, where Sasuke was the metal. Every time he came really close to her, she would turn read and start rambling really fast. And when he moved back a little, her face would redden less and her rambling wouldn't come as quickly.
"Tomorrow." He said, before backing away and sauntered towards his bathroom/ closet. Also, in the process of walking there, he started to pull of his shirt as if to get ready for bed. He then made sure that his shirt was fully off, and that Sakura had a glimpse of his bare back (tattoos and all) before he threw it to the side and closed the bathroom/closet door.
Sasuke turned on the shower and waited until he heard Sakura leave, before undressing and getting in. But it took her a long time to leave – almost 5 minutes. She was probably still standing in his room staring at where his form used to be and trying to recall what image she still had of his bare torso.
Which was exactly the reaction he wanted.
