Hi guys, long time no see! Sorry for the wait, college applications and school just flattened me and I had no time to write anything. (Seriously, last thing I wrote was probably last May or June.) But anyway, for the people who were waiting very patiently to read this, thank you for sticking with me.

And thank you to these reviewers (You guys rock my socks and shoes): ribbons-paws, uchihablossom0626, MelissaMichelle87, .midnight, Crescent-Vampiress, midnightcullengirl, shkh4ever, BornBlindtoBeauty, .midnight, rainbow spell, edgysilence, Uchihablossom0626, cherryblossomdream, Laura-chan, Sessy52, MyUsedRomance, pink-strawberries, and Rachel.

Now on with the story! (Hopefully this will explain Sakura's odd choice last chapter)

Mr. Darcy
Chapter 3

Naruto was not smart. Though he wasn't an absolute idiot as some of his former classmates liked to believe, he would admit there were many things he did not know that other people did.

He still didn't know the boiling point of water or why the ocean was blue. He didn't know how to multiply numbers with more than four-digits; nor did he know how to use mathematical equations to calculate the exact angle and speed to throw a kunai with so that it would ricochet off a wall and kill someone (Neji could save his numbers; he'd just wing it).

However, Naruto knew that he knew the important things. He knew the exact noodle-to-water ratio needed for perfect ramen; he knew how to handle an angry Haruno Sakura, and most importantly, he knew how to tell apart Sasuke's emotions.

Ducking another vicious kick aimed for his head (he was sure this was no accident), Naruto crouched down and threw three kunai, watching as Sasuke leapt back before charging forward again. When he got in close, he began the question that had been sitting on his mind. "Hey Sasuke…" Naruto ventured.

"What?" Sasuke said shortly. Naruto chose to ignore his tone. He knew he didn't mean anything by it; Sasuke's speech patterns were naturally like that.

"Are you angry or something?" Naruto asked, bending backwards to avoid a sweep to his temple (Again, his head. He'd have to talk to Sasuke about the possibility of brain damage one day) before leaping away from the clan heir. "Because it seems like you are."

From his position just a few meters away, Sasuke grunted into his fighting stance. "I'm not," was his clipped answer.

"You sure?" Naruto asked warily.

Sasuke made a grumbling sound before rolling his eyes slightly in exasperation. "Yes. Why are you asking?"

"Because you seem to be hitting a lot harder than usual and—" Naruto's sentence was cut short as he leapt to avoid the large stream of fire aimed towards him. Landing, he stared at the singed grass of the training ground below his feet.

"—and that," Naruto remarked, pointing at the smoking foliage at his feet. The groundskeeper was not going to be happy. Sasuke merely scoffed.

A brief silence passed over the two. Sasuke stared off into the distance, waiting for Naruto to give a signal to continue as Naruto stared at the burnt earth beneath his sandals. Suddenly, Naruto spoke.

"Is it…did you really propose to Sakura?" Naruto asked, his brows knit as confusion colored his tone.

Looking up, he glanced at Sasuke's face to see his reaction. His lips were scrunched into a scowl, his eyes narrowed as the arms crossed over his chest became tense. He was irritated for sure, but nonetheless, he replied.

"I did propose to her," he answered calmly, dropping his arms on a quiet release of air. He figured that having answered Naruto's question, they could get back to training (their reservation was only for two hours and he planned to use every minute of it). However, the dobe had other plans in mind.

Blinking owlishly at Sasuke, a single word left his mouth. "Why?" His tone showed his bewilderment as well as the shock he still carried for the whole event.

Scoffing, Sasuke folded his arms back over his chest and scowled. "Shouldn't it be obvious?"

Naruto looked at his friend and thought long and hard before finally giving his answer.

"…No. Not really."

Sakura sat in her booth seat, seated across from Ino, and stirred her drink cautiously. It was Thursday, two days after her debacle, and she had called Ino for help, telling her to meet at their favorite café. However, now with Ino sitting across from her with a bored (and if she looked hard enough, slightly pissed) expression, she was beginning to regret it.

"So wait, we haven't seen each other in weeks and you're asking me to help you get two of your friends together?" Her tone told Sakura she wasn't amused.

Sakura stirred her drink—a strawberry milk tea—anxiously. "Yeah…" she offered weakly, "But this is important to me! Hinata is important to me!"

Ino hummed in slight irritation and sipped a bit from her own order before releasing the straw with a slight pop. "Fine, but um…who is Hinata again?" Ino asked sheepishly, a complete contrast from the flat tone she spoke in earlier.

Meanwhile, from across the table, Sakura was trying very hard not to scream.

"How do you not remember who Hinata is? I just introduced her to you two months ago!" she shouted in disbelief, her voice causing the water in the small vase on their table to quake. Nearby, the patrons made furtive glances from their tables, knowing full-well that it would be wise to keep their mouths shut if they didn't want that anger to be directed towards them.

Ino, on the other hand, stared back at her friend unperturbed as if she wasn't looking at a girl capable of bursting every blood vessel in her face with just the touch of her pinky. She even had the audacity to look bored. "I know a lot of people, forehead," she stated stirring her drink before taking a sip, "But the name sounds familiar."

At this, Sakura groaned and covered her face with her hand. How Ino, mistress of all that was gossip and information in Konoha, could not recognize the name of the Hyuuga clan heiress was beyond her, but that was a problem for another day. Trying to pull herself together, Sakura tried to refresh Ino's memory.

"She was the shy, freaky girl when we were in the Academy together," Sakura reminded, head hanging limply between the hands buried in her hair. "You know, pale eyes, dark hair?"

At the thoughtful noise Ino made while sipping her drink, Sakura assumed she was getting somewhere. Raking her hands through the rest of her hair, she continued. "Anyway, now she has really long hair and…um…ahugerack," Sakura said hastily, feeling her cheeks burn as she cupped her hands over her chest to what she believed to be Hinata's chest size before dashing them under the table as if she was burned. She felt mortified for making such a gesture, but Ino wouldn't have got it otherwise. Despite what people thought, Ino wasn't that great with remembering people. However, she was great with names and the statistics of their owners.

As if a light bulb went off, Ino let go of her straw with a loud 'pop!' of her cherry-lip-gloss-covered lips. "Oh…her!" Ino exclaimed with a look of recognition in her eyes. Sakura felt the hope brimming within her. Finally!

Still feeling the euphoria of remembering the quiet heiress, Ino smiled and waved her hand. "I'd be glad to help!" she chimed. Sakura felt her breath catch and opened her mouth, ready to bombard her friend with questions when she heard Ino continue.

"…If only it worked on blonde idiots."

Ignoring the large, glaring target that comment left open to her, Sakura settled for a confused, "Come again?"

Leaning against the wall of their booth, Ino sighed and played with her hair, frowning when she found a few split ends—she'd get those later—before letting it go with another hopeless sigh. "You heard me. It doesn't work on idiots like Naruto. That boy isn't natural, and I doubt my tricks are something her family would approve of."

In her mind, Sakura imagined Hinata exercising Ino's tricks. Sakura knew they involved a fair amount of low-cut clothing (she'd been a victim to Ino's dating lessons herself), and ignoring Hinata's personality and the way she dressed, Sakura had to only see the mental image for half a second to see the disapproving and perplexed look of her father, and the horrified, scandalized faces of her elderly council.

"You're right," Sakura agreed, shaking her head at the plan. Ino took no offense and sipped her drink thoughtfully, rolling the taste around her mouth. "So why are you so interested all of a sudden?" Ino asked languidly, pushing her drink away.

At this, Sakura gave a nervous chuckle and forced a benign smile. "What do you mean? Hinata's been a really good friend to me and I just want to help her since she's been in love with the poor boy for so long.

Ino hummed and sent a dubious look over her tall glass, telling Sakura exactly what she though of that answer. "What's the real reason? And tell the truth this time, or at least try and lie a little better. You are talking to an Anbu interrogator, after all."

At this, Sakura's gaze fell into her lap as she felt apprehension creep up her spine. Glancing up through her bangs to see Ino still awaiting an answer, Sakura drew a breath and hoped Ino couldn't see how she was wringing her hands under the table. "Promise not to tell?" Sakura asked hesitantly.

"Promise," Ino replied solemnly.

Sakura measured Ino's gaze before raking a hand through her hand. "Alright," she sighed. Placing her arms on the table, she leaned forward with Ino following suit. Not knowing where to begin, Sakura hesitated. Was it really right of her to share a private matter like this?

'This is perfectly fine and I'm in my right to do this. I'm just telling Ino so I can seek her counsel on this delicate matter. Yeah, that's it.'

Besides, her mind argued, she was the real victim for having to be subjected to this type of harassment. If Sasuke thought he was doing her a favor in proposing to her, he had another thing coming.

Sighing agitatedly, Sakura played with the fabric of her elbow-guards before finally finding a good way to start. "So I was on my way to work Tuesday when Sasuke stopped me. I asked what he wanted—you know how we never talk anymore—and well…he kinda…sorta…proposetedtomeandIdon'twanttothinkaboutitanymore.Done," she squeaked.

Hesitantly cracking open her eyes (Sakura had closed them in her nervousness), she saw Ino gaping across the table, her eyes as wide as saucers. "He did WHAT?!"

Wincing at the volume of her friend's voice, Sakura felt a hint of respect for the girl for having managed to catch all that. She had spat those words out in such a rush, she was surprised she hadn't stumbled over them.

"Ino, indoor voice. We aren't the only people here," she reminded.

Ino made a sound that seemed to be a cross between a growl and a groan. "Forehead, how do you expect me to speak softly when he—AHH!!! I can't even finish my sentence, I'm so excited!" she gushed before letting fly a stream of high-pitched squeaks. To be honest, Sakura didn't know if she was laughing, muffling her screaming, or trying to impersonate a banshee.

Sakura winced at her friend's screeching tone and, trying very hard not to shrink into her booth seat as she felt the eyes of the people neighboring their table stare at them, slapped a hand over her friend's mouth. "Not so loud, Ino!" she hissed, pressing her hand to the table Ino had been kicking for the past ten seconds.

Ino tried to argue that she wasn't being loud, but finding her words muffled by her friend's hand, she pried it off and began her point again. "I am not being loud. I'm just excited. BECAUSE UCHIHA SASUKE PRO—MMMPH!"

"Ino!" Sakura hissed, glaring at her friend to get the hint to 'shut the hell up.' Ino, offended by her friend's insistence that she was being annoying, glared back, but eventually sighed and gave up. Forehead could be as stubborn as her sometimes (and that was saying something).

Picking off Sakura's hand, she watched Sakura take it back gratefully and, ignoring the fact she wiped her hand off with a napkin, Ino stirred the remains of her iced melon drink beside her hand, staring into it and sighing.

"Okay, I get it. I'll be quiet. Still…forehead, this is a miracle. Sasuke—THE Uchiha Sasuke—proposed to you. That ice block—that guy with the biggest stick up his ass—bigger than Neji's—melted and proposed to you. This is BIG. Bigger than big. This is huge! Just think. You're going to be Mrs. Uchiha Sasuke—"

"Ino…"

"And think, you'll have his last name. Uchiha Sakura. Kind of catchy—"

"Ino…"

"And your kids! They'll be so cute! I hope they get his genes for hair color. No offense, billboard, but your hair color will have your kid laughed out of the Academy. And—"

"INO!"

At the sound of Sakura's ear-splitting yell, said girl winced as she covered her ears, still feeling her head ring. "Sheesh, forehead. And you say I'm loud."

"Sorry, but it was the only way I could get your attention," Sakura replied, which was true. Ino was talking a mile a minute and if she didn't interrupt Ino, she was sure the conversation would've breached into talks about her grandchildren or something else equally awkward.

Waiting for Ino to recover, she looked the girl dead in the eye, already seeing her opening her mouth to speak. Sakura raised a hand to stop her. "Before you go on another tangent, you should know that I didn't accept his proposal. I refused him. On three separate occasions, actually," she admitted sheepishly.

"What? But I thought you liked him," Ino stated, and when she said anything—especially when it came to her best friend's love interests—she was never wrong.

Sakura shook her head. That disgusted look on her face seemed to say otherwise. "Not anymore. In fact, I hate him," she said resolutely.

Ino, having finished her drink, licked the spoon of its foam thoughtfully. "Someone sounds bitter," she quipped.

Sakura narrowed her gaze at her friend. "Stuff it, Ino."

Ino merely brushed it off and artfully plucked the spoon from her mouth. "Whatever. But you know…if you hate him so much, why do you seem so bummed about it? Shouldn't you be lauding over the fact you dumped him?"

At this, Sakura sighed and pulled at her hair. "Yes…no…I don't know. It's just—it's just…when he proposed to me, I thought it was a joke that Naruto had put him up to, but apparently he'd been serious. And we know how big his ego is. I don't know. I just feel guilty."

Sakura looked to the side and bit her lip anxiously. It had been a bit mean of her to reject him more than once, especially with his ego. If there was one thing she was sure of about Sasuke, it was how much pride he had in himself. She didn't blame him, of course. He did come from a very powerful and prestigious clan; he had looks that could rival a model's; and he had intellect. There was a lot for him to be proud about, and she suspected that with what happened to his family, that pride in who he was and where he came from was all that he had.

But even then, she couldn't quell that spark of indignation that rose within her at his proposal. Just because he had a lot of things to be proud of, didn't mean that she was going to bow down and count herself lucky that he had chosen her out of all the other prospects in Konoha. Maybe when she was younger, she would've thought that way, but this was a new Haruno Sakura, and she would be damned if he expected her to be grateful; his hurt feelings were no concern of hers.

Besides, it was his fault if his ego was hurt by her dismissal. After all, hadn't he heard of the phrase 'the bigger they are, the harder they fall?'

Her feelings of guilt gone, Sakura felt decidedly better. 'Besides, I have no time to feel pity for myself or him. I still have to get Hinata and Naruto together!'

With a fiery determination in her eye, Sakura looked up and smacked her money down resolutely. "See you, Ino. I gotta go. I need to figure out my plan for getting Hinata together with Naruto," she said scrambling out of the seat and straightening her clothes. Satisfied with her appearance, Sakura bid Ino a rushed farewell and quickly left the booth.

Ino watched as Sakura made her way down the aisle towards the exit. Head cradled in hand, she stirred her empty glass absentmindedly as she watched Sakura's resolute steps. Her back straight and eyes forward, she was the embodiment of a woman with a plan. In some ways, she felt very proud of Sakura for her new determination. Though she had always been serious by nature after Sasuke's defection, it was always work-related. Ino hoped that this new plan of getting Hinata and Naruto together (no matter how misguided) would loosen her up a bit.

Still, she felt bad for Sasuke. Though she hadn't talked to Sasuke much since his defection (Anbu kept a girl busy), he couldn't be as bad as Sakura was making him out to be.

Still, she could feel sorry for him later. Right now, she had some gossip to spread.

Sakura lay in bed with a book in her hands. It was still the same day as her talk with Ino and while she had been determined to have some improvement between her two close friends, Hinata was in a clan meeting all day and Naruto had disappeared into one of the many training fields. And once the sun went down, Sakura knew she couldn't do anymore for that day. Hinata's family was very punctual about dinner and interruptions, whether by family or outsiders, were not tolerated by any means.

After going home and eating a quick dinner and having a quick shower, Sakura climbed into bed with a book in her hands. It was Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen, and while Sakura was never quite into romantic novels as much as her other friends and coworkers were, it had come under high recommendation from both Ino and Hinata. Hinata had even begged Sakura to read it, saying that even if it was a romantic novel, it was a classic, and Hinata knew Sakura's weakness for classic literature.

Her hair still damp, Sakura flopped onto her stomach, pulling down the hem of the camisole creeping up her stomach and finding a comfortable position on her bed. Flipping to the place where her bookmark was wedged firmly between pages, Sakura idly kicked her legs as she searched for the line she had left off on.

Though she had initially had a hard time reading the book (the language was not difficult. Trying to accept what it was inevitably going to be was the hard part), she found that she actually enjoyed reading it. The characters were amusing and she found some of them quite relatable. However, she shared Elizabeth's sentiment about Mr. Darcy, disliking his snobbish behavior and pretentious air (much like a certain person she knew). Even his looks couldn't save his horrible personality for Sakura (plus, he insulted Elizabeth. Rude!), and she much preferred Mr. Bingley to his grumpy friend. Still, Darcy was enough of a complex character that she couldn't dislike him entirely.

However, her work at the hospital didn't give her much free time, so she was only a fraction into the book, much to her dismay (as much as she hated to admit it, this book was hard to put down). She last left off on the scene in the drawing room while Jane was still ill, and upon finding the line, Sakura began reading.

"…My feelings are not puffed about with every attempt to move them. My temper would perhaps be called resentful. My good opinion once lost is lost forever."

At this, Sakura scoffed. Darcy was too much like Sasuke for her comfort, or her liking, but she put her grumbling aside to get back to the story (even if Darcy annoyed her).

"That is a failing indeed!" cried Elizabeth. "Implacable resentment is a shade of character. But you have chosen your fault well. I really cannot laugh at it. You are safe from me."

"There is, I believe, in every disposition a tendency to some particular evil, a natural defect, which not even the best education can overcome."

"And your defect is a propensity to hate everybody."

"And yours," he replied with a smile, "is willfully to misunderstand them."

The line made Sakura give pause. Not only did he smile, but his tone seemed almost teasing. It was almost cute, and it sparked her interest even further, causing her to shove her nose into the book as she continued.

"Do let us have a little—"

Suddenly, there was a knock on her window.

"Ahhh!" Sakura screamed, looking up to watch as her window opened and a shadowed figure entered into her room.

"Hello, Sakura-chan."

"Kakashi-sensei!" Sakura shrieked indignantly, throwing a pillow at him in her frustration which he easily caught. "Don't just come to my window in the middle of the night! What if I'd been naked?!"

"But you weren't. In fact, I doubt you've ever been naked in your own room," he stated calmly, leaving the window sill and crossing the room to return her pillow to her. Annoyed and frustrated by his response (was she really that predictable?), she snatched it from him, and marking her place, hugged the pillow to her chest to petulantly glare at him. Kakashi merely took it with stride, no doubt used to outbursts such as these from years of teaching Team 7. He probably had the patience of a saint by now.

Using the moonlight filtering through her open window to glare at him, it was then that she noticed his appearance. He was still in his Anbu garb with small scratches and nicks dotting the bare skin of his shoulders and peeking through the tears in his gloves; no doubt he just got back from his Anbu mission. There was also a large red stain on his front armor plate above his abdomen.

Suddenly, her annoyance was forgotten as she threw aside her pillow and scooted aside to make room for him on her bed, already urging him to sit. He did so slowly, easing himself carefully onto her bed as if not to stain it when they both knew that it would be inevitable.

Moving to sit on the floor in front of him, she pulled out the first aid kit she kept under her bed and waited patiently for him to strip the torn article, revealing the gash over his abdomen. It was large, but shallow; a quick fix, and disinfecting it, she summoned a familiar glow to her hand before pressing the healing chakra to his left side, knitting the flesh and skin back together. They watched the action in silence, the same comfortable silence that filled all their other encounters. However, tonight was different. Kakashi broke the silence.

"So I heard Sasuke proposed to you," he stated. Despite his bland tone, the statement was like a knife into the night. It was enough to cause a slight distortion in the steady hum of the chakra in her hand as she stared up at him with surprise. How did he—never mind, she already knew who had told.

'Ino…' she thought with annoyance. If Kakashi had heard, no doubt all of Konoha knew about it.

Sighing, she kept her gaze to the floor as she closed the first aid kit and pushed it back under her bed (she had done an inspection of his system while healing his wound. There was no hint of poison in his system so those small cuts could be left to heal on their own). 'I'll apologize to him tomorrow. First for refusing his proposal like I did, then for Ino. No doubt his ego must be smarting now that the entire village knows I rejected him.'

Feeling Kakashi's patient gaze still on her, she realized she hadn't answered, and smoothed out the fabric of her sleeping shorts. "He did propose to me, and I refused," Sakura explained with a measure of awkward civility that made her feel oddly ill.

Kakashi looked up and blinked, a look of genuine surprise in his eyes. "But I thought you would've been happy."

"I don't like him anymore," she replied stiffly, fingers picking at her carpet. "In fact, I don't even know who he is anymore."

Kakashi hummed and nodded thoughtfully before clapping a hand to his knee. "Well, you should get to know him seeing how he'll probably be placed on our team once again when his probation is up. Ah, the joys of babysitting the Uchiha heir again," he mused to himself, pushing himself up from the bed.

It was Sakura's turn to blink. "Will that really happen?"

At the windowsill, Kakashi turned to her. A breeze crossed the room, ruffling her white sheer curtains and his Anbu scarf. The moonlight outlined his face, and though it was nowhere near his left eye, his Sharingan glowed eerily into the night. "Sakura, it was inevitable," he told her.

And with that, he disappeared on the wind. Walking to the window, she stuck her head out, hoping to catch him. She knew it would be nearly impossible—even at his age, Kakashi was still one of the best in the village—but still, she felt like trying.

Staring out over the rooftops, she searched for any moving shadows, but did not find the silhouette she was looking for. Sighing, she pillowed her head on her arms against the windowsill, her body bathed in moonlight. Thinking about what Kakashi said, Sakura felt her brows knit and a deep frown pull at her lips.

"Sakura, it was inevitable."

Burying her head deeper into her arms, she let out a large groan. "The inevitable is a pain in the ass."

A/N: Done with chapter three. So now we know why Sakura was so excited over helping Hinata and Naruto. If some sentences seem awkward, I'm sorry. I haven't written in so long so everything is funky. :/

The quotes from the book are direct from the copy of Jane Austen I own and I do not own them, though the book is very lovely (even if I'm only a bit further than where Sakura left off).

Hopefully my computer will be fixed soon (See my moodiful819 profile for details). See you guys later! :D