Miss Trouble Magnet
Chapter 8:
Besides all the bruises I carried painfully all over my body, my injuries were minimal. A few blue and black spots weren't so bad! As soon as I got the chance to escape the house, I went to the mall to meet Hinata. She hadn't been told about the whole incident with Karin, but she'd know soon enough. "Sakura!" She cheered and ran towards me, hugging me tightly. I gasped and tried to suppress the pain, but she did so for me when she let go. "Are you okay?" She asked.
I nodded my head slowly, because that hurt too. She smiled, seemingly convinced. She led me into a store, and we started our shopping from there…
When I got back home, the lights were still on. "I'll have to sneak…" I muttered. I looked at my surroundings, and then smirked. There was a tree right beside the house. I walked towards the tree and jumped up, catching a branch with both hands. I managed to pull myself onto the branch by pushing my feet against the tree trunk, and walking up against it.
I was still far from the roof, where I was heading. I climbed onto a higher branch and looked towards the roof. I counted to three, and jumped from the steady branch to my destination. There was a loud 'thud' sound, when I landed. But I hadn't thought that anyone had heard. "Yes!" I said in triumph. I walked to my window, which I had left open. I took off my shoes and threw them inside, as well as the bag that held my new outfit. I then slid, feet first, inside my room.
My feet landed on my bed, as it was placed right under my window. I sighed and let the rest of my body fall onto my bed, and I closed my eyes. "Sakura-chan." I heard and jumped off my bed. Sasuke was standing in front of my closed door, arms crossed. I laughed nervously and scratched the back of my head.
"Um… H-Hi Sasuke-kun. What brings you here?" I asked nervously.
"I thought I told you to stay here." He said darkly.
"Well… err… I needed to get some clothes you know!" I said, half smiling still. He rolled his eyes at me in annoyance.
"You are really annoying. Do you know that?" He grumbled and put his hands in his pockets.
"That didn't stop you from kissing me." I pouted. He suddenly narrowed his eyes and looked away. "You can't expect me to act like it didn't happen." I mumbled.
"Well I'd prefer it if you did." He told me.
"Sasuke, you need to stop being in such denial. You're going to end up a lonely old man who lives in his married brother's basement!" I concluded. He raised an eyebrow at me. "Okay, fine! I'm not quite as accurate as Sai, but it's still possible!"
"Would you just shut up for a second?" He said. I closed my mouth and waited. He was in his thinking position, and I wondered what he was thinking about at that moment. "Yes, I've decided to pretend it never happened."
"You can't pretend our kiss never-"
"What kiss?"
"Ugh, Sasuke-kun!!"
"No, really… What on earth are you talking about?"
"I'm talking about you kissing me."
"Well, you'll have to explain, because I'm completely lost here."
"Would you stop that?!"
"Hey, that's my line…"
"Gahh!!!" I roared and pulled my hair in frustration. I paced back and forth beside my bed, trying to calm down. "You are such an idiot." I growled and glared at him. He had his fake 'confused' look on.
"Sakura-chan, you're scaring me." He muttered and took a seat at my desk, but still faced me. I stopped pacing and walked towards him. I grabbed his shoulders and pulled him off my chair.
"Come on. You can do it." I said. He furrowed his brows.
"Do what?" He asked suspiciously.
"Do it. Kiss me right now. I know you can." I said very seriously.
"No."
"I'm waiting."
"I'm not going to kiss you."
"Yes, you are."
"No, I'm not."
"Fine, you want me to kiss you then?"
"Why are you doing this?"
"I want to set things straight."
"I don't like straight."
"So… you're gay?"
"No, you idiot."
"Not that I mind. I mean, I've always wanted a gay friend, someone I could go shopping with and not feel weird around..."
"Shut up."
"Make me." I taunted him. He glared at me furiously.
"No."
"Fine, I'll just keep talking 'till you kiss me."
"Then you'll be talking for a while."
"God dammit! Just do it, already!"
"You really don't know how annoying you are…"
"I'll be less annoying once you kiss me, you know." He growled, and I could almost hear the roaring voices in his head. He walked out of my room, but I followed. He stalked to his room and shut the door in my face. I frowned at the door in front of me, and heard a 'click', meaning it was locked. I ran back to my room and climbed out the window.
I walked on the roof to his window, which he had been stupid enough to leave open. I jumped inside, head and hands first, and landed on his giant bed. "Sakura-chan!" He yelled in surprise. He was standing with his back against his door.
"Yep, that's the name!" I cheered and hopped off his bed. "You can't run away from me, you know." I said happily. He smirked.
"Itachi has the lock to your door, but not mine." He said devilishly.
"Ew!! He could be watching me when I sleep!!" I nearly yelled. Sasuke rolled his eyes.
"That's not what I was hinting at, baka-chan." He said and walked towards me. My eyes boggled in their sockets. "I think the roles in this game of cat and mouse have just been switched."
"Uh-Oh…" I muttered. Sasuke suddenly knocked me onto the ground and stuck duck tape on my mouth and stuck my wrists together. I started to panic and kicked my legs and feet around.
"Calm down! That was just to shut you up." He said. He then picked me up and brought me to the living room. He threw me on the couch and then left, saying, "Goodnight!"
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Friday
I hadn't slept much the last night. I had been trying to stay awake, to see if he would come back and say it was just a joke. He actually left me there, through the whole night! That's just pure evil!!!
The thing was, when I had woken up, the duck tape was off, and smell of coffee filled the air. I sat up and rubbed my eyes tiredly. I knew it was Itachi in the kitchen, because Sasuke always overslept on weekends. "How much sugar do you want in your coffee?" Itachi asked loudly.
"One spoon and a half!" I replied and yawned as I stretched. How did he know I had just woken up anyway?
"What did you do to Sasuke to make him so pissed off?" He asked as he walked into the living room with two coffee mugs in hand. He put them on the coffee table and passed me the remote. I waited for the TV to turn on as I answered.
"I tried to talk to him about why he kissed me." I told him. With Itachi, there was never anything to hide. He was like my… second psychiatrist. Sai, of course, was the first one. "Then I tried to trick him into kissing me again, but of course, I failed." Itachi sighed, as though disappointed in me… or maybe Sasuke.
"I see."
"So, how's that thing going on with pairing up Sasuke and that girl?" I asked regretfully.
"Oh, he definitely likes her." He snickered so quietly I thought I'd misheard his words.
We talked and watched TV until Sasuke came into the living room, still in his pyjamas; which consisted of a T-shirt and loose sweat pants. "Ohayo Gozaimasu Sasuke-kun!" I said rather cheerfully.
"Mm…" He mumbled groggily. He walked to my side and fell on the couch right beside me.
"Idiot." We all mumbled at the same time. Sasuke frowned, Itachi smirked and I burst out laughing.
Itachi yawned, took three big gulps of his fresh coffee and put the mug back down. "Sasuke, why can't just kiss the girl, dammit?!" He suddenly asked loudly. Sasuke face turned red and he looked away. I immediately stopped laughing and tried to hide my smile.
"I don't want to talk about this." He muttered and glared knives into the TV.
"Ah, so you'd rather kiss her than talk about kissing her?" Itachi teased him. Sasuke directed his glare to Itachi now, who was very satisfied with his little brother's reaction. "Fine, I'll drop it…." Itachi said. Sasuke seemed relieved, "But only because I have something even better to announce."
"What?" I asked hopefully. Sasuke only slid lower in his seat.
"Last night, I saw Sasuke-" Itachi was interrupted by the intercom from the gates.
"It's Gaara. Open up." The voice ordered. I ran to the door as fast as I could, but somehow, Sasuke arrived before me. "He's here to see me, not you." He told me.
"Can't I at least say hi?" I asked hopefully.
"Not now, but don't worry. You won't regret it." He said and winked at me before heading out the door. I frowned at his retreating figure from the window and stomped my way back to the couch, where I sat down.
"Don't act so grumpy. The surprise will be great." Itachi told me with a smile.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I waited right outside the gates, sitting on the sidewalk, for Hinata to come pick me up. I hadn't bought a dress, but a long tank top and matching skirt instead. Dresses were too formal for me. I look down the road, Hinata should be here any second now… My eyes widened in surprise when I saw a flashy hot pink hummer roll slowly in my direction.
But, that wasn't the surprising part.
Inside the hot pink hummer were Hinata, Gaara, Sai and… Sasuke?! I jumped up onto my feet as the hummer parked itself right in front of me. "Awesome ride!!" I could help but squeal. I jumped inside right beside Sasuke, who was in the driver's seat. "Did you buy this, Sasuke? I thought you hated pink!" I exclaimed and looked at the car's sleek interior.
"Don't be silly, this isn't mine." He told me, still smirking. I turned to Gaara, Sai and Hinata, who were in the back seats.
"Who's is it then?" I asked curiously.
"None of ours." Sai said happily. I frowned at them all, and then widened my eyes at Sasuke.
"Oh my god!! You guys high jacked this car?!?!" I screeched as I nearly ripped out all of my hair.
"Wrong again, Sakura. We got it for you." Gaara said. I slowly let go off my hair and turned my gaze to Sasuke. I paused for one long and tense minute.
"Moved it Sasuke, I'm driving." I announced. His smirk only widened as he hope out of the car. I climbed inside the car to the driver's seat and sat down. Sasuke came back into the car at sat at the same spot where I was previously. Everyone waited for me to start driving the gigantic machine, but I was shaking with anticipation.
"Come on, hit it!" Sai encouraged me. A wide smile spread across my face as I hit the pedal as hard as I could. My new car flew into an amazingly fast speed in a matter of seconds. We stopped and picked up Temari on the way there. We screamed and yelled excitedly as we drove, but the excitement didn't end once we arrived at the school for the scheduled dance. We ran inside and had arrived to the ticket booth on record time.
"We'll have 6 tickets please!" I announced to Jiraiya-sensei, who organized the dances. He took my money and gave me the tickets. Gai-sensei was standing beside him, beaming.
"May the full power of youth dance with you!" He called as we went passed him and into the cafeteria. Gaara and Sai went towards the speakers, they never actually danced. Hinata went to look for Naruto and Temari was heading to Kankurou, her younger brother, to try and save him from Kakashi-sensei; who was trying to show him one of his damned books.
Sasuke suddenly grabbed my hand and dragged me back outside. I heard Jiraiya whistle at us, but Sasuke ignored him. "Sasuke-kun, where are we going?" I asked as we found ourselves outside again, it was a little chilly. He didn't answer me and looked around, checking if anyone was near. "What are you…?" I asked quietly. He finally turned his gaze to me and frowned.
"You're really annoying." He repeated. I sent him a serious glare.
"You're so-" My lips were cut off by his own. His hands were firmly placed at my cheeks so I could move, and I shivered at the feel of his warm touch. I widened my eyes at his sudden action, and after a few seconds he pulled away again.
"Happy now?" He mumbled in irritation.
"Y-Y-yeah…" I stuttered dreamily. "Y-You just k-kissed me… a-again…" I said in surprise.
"I told you that I found you annoying. I had to give in before you drove me mad." He muttered as he stared at the wall, beside my head.
"R-Really?" I asked.
"That's only half of it." He told me. I frowned at him. "I've been tempted to do that for a while." He said and, while still staring at the wall, smirked. I let a small smile spread across my lips. He grabbed my shaky hand, and soon I stopped trembling. "You feel really cold." He noted and looked down to my fragile fingers.
"No, just nervous." I told him truthfully. He finally looked into my eyes and smirked.
"Come on." He said and led me back inside the school. We both held our tickets up as we neared Jiraiya. He was smiling slyly at us as we approached.
"Finally getting some action, eh?" He said to no one in particular. Sasuke shot him a death glare as we entered the bright and loud room again. Sasuke and I stopped when we got inside, and glanced at each other, still interlocking our hands.
"Care to dance?" He asked me in his soft velvet voice. I beamed and nodded my head enthusiastically, and, in a matter of seconds, we were on the dance floor.
Together.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
My dance with Sasuke was still replaying in my head. I would never forget that second kiss we shared, and of course our first, which was my first official kiss. Sasuke was absent again, just like the last time he had gotten dangerously (in his opinion) close to me. I didn't care this time though, because he had admitted that he had wanted to kiss me.
I was swinging my feet as I sat in art class with Sai. Teaching us was Deidara-sensei, the most inspired art teacher I've ever met. He liked water… and sodium.
Together.
Yes, boom. Big booms, he says that's what art is. It amazes you and stuns like an explosion, and the aftershock is just as good. I liked Deidara-sensei very much, he wasn't like those uninspired art teachers who just make you cut out letters from magazines and stick them on coloured cardboard.
But this isn't about his bomb-filled life, it's about mine! So anyway, I was sitting in art class; completely ignoring Deidara-sensei's loud scolding at Naruto, who had spilled black paint on the floor. Sai was making a beautiful painting beside me; it was abstract, but still beautiful. My painting, on the other hand, looked like spattered blobs with lots of white dots scattered here and there.
Man, do I love art class
"What is that?" Sai asked curiously as he looked at my disastrous creation.
"Uh…" I tried to think of something smart, "It's a replica of my first attempt at cooking." I muttered. He raised an eyebrow and turned back to his board, snickering quietly. I ignored him and tried to cover all the white dots I had left.
"Mine is a man on a galloping horse, throwing his hat into the air." Sai said, smiling at his painting. I frowned; it looked more like a cake and rabid squirrel to me. I shook my head and smashed my paint brush onto the painting, and then slid it all the way down. It made a weird brown line that made my painting looked even uglier, if possible.
Ugh, I hate art class...
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
During the lunch hour, I daydreamed while eating my sandwich. Sai was telling me something completely random that I wasn't paying attention to and Hinata was talking to Naruto. Gaara was eating his cheeseburger happily; it was great to see him in a good mood again. He was finally happy for me, instead of being over-concerned. Gaara had always been like my big brother, so seeing him happy made me happy, and vice versa.
"Sakura, you're chewing on a spoon." Sai noted. I immediately stopped my daydreaming and noticed that Sai was right.
"Oh…" I mumbled and put my spoon down. "What were you talking about, anyway?" I asked Sai, finally ready to listen. He sent me a short glare, but noticed that I was paying attention and began talking.
"I heard that Sasuke got his job back at the café." He informed me. We never really ate there much anymore; it was always packed with people during that time. I listened intently as he continued. "And…" He said, making me come closer and closer with each second wasted, "Karin got fired" I gawked at him in surprise.
"R-Really?" Hinata suddenly asked, turning to us curiously. Naruto smiled, ready to add in his information as well.
"Yep. Itachi fired her right when you passed out Sakura. He came in right after the huge fight and started yelling at all of us!" Naruto announced and moved his hands around, demonstrating the scene. I let a wide smile spread across my face.
"Oh yeah, Karin has a broken nose now, and she says that she won't be appearing at school until the 'deformation' heals and she can remove the cast plastered on her face!" Sai laughed. I was happy for the news, but frowned at him.
"How do you know that?" I asked him.
"Oh, I read it on her blog." He explained. I raised an eyebrow.
"Is that how you know about everyone's life and thoughts??" I asked.
"No way, it would take years to read all the blogs in the school! Besides, not everyone has one." Sai said, as-a-matter-of-factly, "I was surprised that she posted it on her blog. Usually it's in her live journal. And yes, I just happen to know that Karin writes in a live journal daily under a fake name." He said and beamed. We all sweat dropped.
"Riiiight…"
