A/n: I'M TRULY SORRY –bows- hopefully you'll enjoy this chapter

Chapter 12: Researching Begins

'Okaa-san' Sakura thought while looking up at the huge mansion gate in front ofher

'You once told me,' Sakura looked farther in the mansion garden,

'Big houses that I imagined before, would just be found in Heaven' Sakura looked at the golden letters and the symbol engraved at the post supporting the large gate

'But I realized just now,' she read the letters saying, 'Uchiha Residence' with the fan symbol

'Imaginations can be real'

Sasuke weirdly looked at her out-of-space moment in seeing just the front of his house. She just sat straight at the passenger seat looking up at the house gate and Sasuke noticed how her eyes were like by the moment, it's so radiant, and shiny and brighter, especially by the time of the night.

Sasuke smirked, he just thought that he'll see those eyes for the whole night because of her too much amazement.

The gates opened automatically as the car went in and more 'whoa' were heard from Sakura in passing by the outer garden of the house. Sakura laid her hands flat at the car window, "This looks like a house in a private hill inside a village, there's a lot of trees out there. Say," Sakura didn't look at him but continued to look at the garden they're passing by, "will this take another 10 or 15 minutes before we reach the main house?" Sakura asked with her usual sweet voice.

"No, we're almost there" Sasuke replied plainly smirking at Sakura's remarks. He will surely enjoy the night.

"Let's see, I passed by a gigantic gate, a mini forest, a sort of park fountain, statues, a flower area, then," she said silently and thought for more things that she could possibly see like tables made from gold or rare antiques from western countries, "then, I'll really drop at the floor, dead afterwards, this place is too bright"

They stopped in front of the Uchiha's main entrance door causing Sakura to snap back, "Oh, we're here" she looked around the area before she went off.

As soon as Sasuke stepped out the car, Sakura followed Sasuke in going to the mansion where she can probably get lost. Sakura stepped at the marble stairs to the entrance door causing her jaw to drop in seeing another fabulous place. "This place..is just too much" she whispered, scared of the hugeness of the house, scared of how big it would feel if she'll step inside.

Sasuke frowned at her, "Do that later, we have to hurry, it would get really late if we'll not do so"

Sakura nodded and gulped saying to herself repeatedly, 'I won't drool over this house, do that later' They stepped in, only to be greeted by two maids. Sakura looked at Sasuke's back wondering why he didn't even said something back to the maids and instead, just walked past them. Sakura kept her pace slow and waved her hand at them smiling while bowing slightly, "Hello"

The two maids at about 30 or something smiled back at her and watched her catching up to their master.

"Sasuke-kun" Sakura called as she caught up to him.

Sasuke looked down at her, "Hn?"

"Why didn't you greet your maids when you entered? They look nice" Sakura pointed behind

"Hn..I don't really need to" he looked on the way he's going

Sakura frowned, "Why not? They've been here for so long and you've been with them for a long time. Are you not talking to them?"

"No" he plainly answered

Sakura sighed, "I think you should socialize more with others so they'll think of you as a person worthy to be their master"

Sasuke smirked, 'A person worthy to be their master, huh?'

They reached a big wooden door at the second floor. Sasuke turned the doorknob and opened the room for Sakura to come in.

Sakura stepped at the marble floor and stared at the biggest room she had ever seen. The room is complete with two rooms, one is a bathroom and one is the bed room. And outside the bed room was a mini living room with fireplace, mini studio, television, table, sofas, couches, paintings, table with pictures, and a lot more. Sakura thought of the size of the room as the same size of the apartment unit she's staying in..tsk, tsk, rich people.

Sasuke sat down the black sofa same with Sakura. While sitting, she turned her head around to examine the room. Her eyes reached the family picture lying on top of a small cabinet. There was Sasuke's father, his mother, his older brother and the small Sasuke.

Sakura smiled, "You and your brother looks the same" she giggled then stood up to prepare the materials for their project while Sasuke's still resting.

"We're not" Sasuke suddenly replied, "He's gay" he shifted his position resting his arm at the couch.

"Really?" Sakura looked at the picture of his brother again, "He… seems to have the same personality as you do"

"Hn" that ended it

"And your mother's gorgeous too. She's so pretty" Sakura looked at his mother at the family picture.

"…" Sasuke didn't reply but just closed his eyes to rest for a while

"Are you tired?"

"Not really"

"Just take a nap for a while, you'll need it" she smiled at him as Sasuke looked at her

"I'm not tired" He stood up and worked with Sakura who's currently arranging the materials at the carpet "You know there's a table" Sasuke pointed at the living room table.

"No, it's fun working at the floor and.." she touched the carpet with her hand, "there's a carpet anyway, I think I can work here"

"Hn"

She stopped with what she's doing, "Wait, the book" she turned around while she was at a kneeling position to look for her bag.

"I'll get it, continue preparing" Sasuke walked passed her and reach for her bag lying at the sofa. He rummaged through her stuffs and found weird things inside.. one of those is a pepper spray, "Hey, do we need a pepper spray?" he asked in curiosity

"Ahh, no" Sakura replied while doing the preparations

"Why do you have it?"

"Dad found out I have to stay late so he put that pepper spray in my bag for self protection"

Sasuke stared at the pepper spray he's holding and thought, "He doesn't trust me that much" he put it back and looked for the book. He found the book and gave it to Sakura

"Thanks"

After a while..

KNOCK! KNOCK!

Sakura looked at Sasuke's gigantic bedroom door and was about to get it when Sasuke walked passed her.

"That's probably a maid, just don't mind" he said, thinking that those annoying maids miss him so much that they're making excuses just to reach his room and see him, but as he opened the door, he saw someone worse than a maid.

Itachi Uchiha was standing in front of his younger brother with a towel hanging around his arm and a bun of clothes, shampoos, soaps, deodorant plus the duck on top of it lying at his hands as he smiled in a chibi form at Sasuke.

Sasuke's eyes twitched and said in an annoyed voice, "What do you want?"

Itachi ignored his question and instead moved his attention to Sasuke's attire, he said in a delightful voice, "Whoa! Why are you still wearing your uniform? Too excited for school tomorrow huh? Hmm.." he looked at his watch, "It's 7 pm and you're already dressed up for tomorrow? What a very good brother are—"

"I'm giving you 2 seconds before I'll shut this door in front of your fugly face" Sasuke warned with dangerous onyx eyes.

Itachi stopped dead as he got taken by his brother's reaction and the word 'fugly'. He raised his point finger, "Can I use your bathroom?" Itachi regained back his mood and smiled in chibi form, "cause my faucet broke and there's no water coming out" Itachi grinned and scratched the back of his head.

"Then use the garden faucet" Sasuke retorted and was about to close the door when Itachi got in between the door and the doorframe to stop him from doing so, "Hey! Why can't I use your bathroom?" Itachi whined and tried to enter again but was blocked by the door that Sasuke's pushing.

"Get the fuck out!" Sasuke growled with a tint of annoyance on his voice as he tried to pry him off.

Itachi tried to look inside his room to see if Sasuke's doing some dirty business. That would be an enough reason for him to go away and disappear, "Hey, are you hiding another girl inside?" he tiptoed to see what's inside but his view was blocked by Sasuke's figure.

With Sakura..

She looked at Sasuke's back in confusion and curiosity as he's conversing with a person that seems to be another person that Sasuke included in his I-will-kill-you-with-my-death-glare list.

She stood up and dusted her skirt before checking on the happenings with Sasuke and the mysterious person that would soon spend his remaining years in the hospital looking aimlessly at the hospital ceiling.

"Get your ass out here" she heard Sasuke said warning the person. She put her hands behind her, clasped together, "Is there something wrong? Sasuke-kun?"

Sasuke turned his head to the pink haired girl and Itachi looked at her with teary eyes after hearing Sasuke's unkind, cruel, spiteful, wounding and tactless remarks, "You don't have to lie to me otoutou! I know what your hobbies are!"

Sakura went closer and the yellow duck at the top of Itachi's bundles took her attention as she slightly bend over to take a closer look at it, and after, she smiled like an idiot and said, "Kawaii!"

Itachi lighted up, "Really??!! You're the first ever person in the world who noticed Kamo-chan's beauty and elegance!"

Sakura also lighted up and went hyper, "Wow! That's so rewarding!!" And they continued with their useless talk.

Sasuke twitched in annoyance by watching the stupid morons acquaint each other in front of him.

Itachi stretched out his arm, "I'm Uchiha Itachi, that guy's older brother" he pointed at Sasuke and then looked back at her.

"I'm aware of that" Sakura took his hand, "I'm Haruno Sakura" she smiled sweetly making the younger brother who's watching twitch more.

Itachi got back to his normal face after hearing her name, 'So she's the girl who lost that necklace?' he smiled again and thought of a plan, "I'm glad to meet the girl that would make this day more than just an ordinary day!" Itachi exclaimed turning Sasuke's annoyed look into a glare.

"Eh?" Sakura blinked after realizing that she's just conversing with another moron. She grinned nervously while scratching the back of her head, "I-I see"

Sasuke wasn't enjoying what's currently happening, he grasp Sakura's forearm and dragged her gently inside his room, he turned his head to his brother and said plainly, "Find something else to do" he then closed the door but was stopped by Itachi who went in between the door and the doorframe again, "I have to take a bath you know!" he whined again trying to get in.

"There are a lot of faucets in this damn house!"

"Sakura-san!! Help me!!" Itachi cried with pleading eyes trying to reach out his arms to her.

Sakura quickly looked at Sasuke and defended, "He's your brother after all!" Sakura said in a not so angry voice.

"He just wanted attention, he'll just—"

"But he just wanted to see you!"

Itachi smirked on his victory as Sasuke ended the futile discussion of bathroom faucets, "Whatever," he let go of the door and went in his sofa to cool down.

Itachi entered with his normal self, same with Sakura who stood there looking at Sasuke stomping on his way to the sofa.

"He was never commanded like that," Itachi said, "he doesn't follow anyone"

"He can't do that, he can't live without following" Sakura pouted by the manner that Sasuke just showed.

Itachi looked at her, a kind of girl that can complain at Sasuke's manners, and much delightful, a girl that Sasuke can follow. The girls that he meets for the past years were bunch of losers who'll do anything for their Sasuke-kun and will do anything that his brother will say. It's just surprising that, after the years that Sasuke wasted for those losers, a girl would come up and change his ice cold brother.

Itachi smirked, "You're a good girl after all" he lightly punched her head and lean down at her without releasing his other hand at the top of her head and whispered, "Take care of him"

"…" Sakura just stared at him. It's not like she's going to put Sasuke in danger or leave him when they're attacked by bad people. But in some way, she believes that someone has to look over Sasuke with regards of his feelings inside, someone who would light up his latent sadness that he's bearing for so long. The sadness that she can feel every time he'll do something carelessly and selfishly. He needs that person that would somehow make him happy and satisfied for the rest of his life. It's just surprising that his brother is asking a naïve girl like her to look after his younger brother, when she herself wasn't even sure if she can take the hardest role that Sasuke's brother is granting her, to take care of the Sasuke. And yet, it served as another fun challenge for Sakura.

She slightly smiled and said, "I would do my best" she tilted her head, "You're brother is hard to take care of" she sighed, "but that sure would be fun" she smiled.

Sasuke slump down his bed laying face down after taking Sakura back home and the argument that happened before taking her home when she insisted that he must not bother in taking her home but at the end, he still won. With this condition, he didn't notice the person who ruined his day, still staying inside his room.

"Did you take her home immediately?" Itachi finally spoke for Sasuke to realize that he's not alone inside his room.

"What are you doing here?" Sasuke asked without looking up at him

"Tsk. Tsk. Don't avoid the most important question that I just asked.."

"What do you think of me?!" Sasuke replied with annoyance

"A man whore, I think" Well, isn't it more obvious than what Sasuke just asked

"Shut up, I'm tired, go out, disappear" Sasuke said which turned out to be more of like a command.

Itachi sat at his bed looking at the window, he smirked, "She's a nice girl" he said "Someone that you don't deserve to have"

Sasuke lifted his head to show his brother his death glare with higher quality this time, "I told you to shut up" he said monotonously then faced his bed again.

"Don't take it seriously" he said to spare his life from possibly more death glares that he'll receive if he'll continue, "It's just that..you're acting gay"

Sasuke didn't reply. A visible and obvious answer that a minute from now, he's gonna regret what he just said.

"You know that you want that girl," Itachi snorted, "But you're not even doing anything to make that happen..that's so gay"

Sasuke didn't reply, merely telling that the third time he'll mention gay is the end of him. But what he said really made a point and is enough to keep him awake to think about it.

"You're not the only person who wants her, at least consider the time that you could have spent with her if you did it earlier" Itachi looked at him at the corner of his eyes, hoping to see a regretful Sasuke Uchiha.

Sasuke changed his position and lay up facing the ceiling thinking about it. Yes, what his brother brought up was something worth thinking.

Itachi closed his eyes and made his tone exaggerated with emotions as he said with gestures and overly weird reactions, "A beautiful princess like her is not even receiving any flowers or anything from a craven secret lover, that's…simply sad"

Sasuke didn't react at the stupid voice and gestures that his brother's doing, but instead, he thought of every sentence that he's saying which makes him feel shameful for not doing anything.

"Just imagine how awful the image looks like when she's going home and coming to school without anyone offering her a ride or even carrying her stuffs"

Sasuke gulped admitting that he had never been that kind of a gentleman.

"And for a sweet girl who's so full of comforting words, she also deserves to hear sweet, comforting words from a person who wanted to make her feel important.

That's the worst part.

"A lovely princess who never heard a lovely confession from a prince is the worst sight to see.. Don't you just feel ashamed of what that prince lack?" he finished his speech and turned around to look at Sasuke who is thinking deeply, 'Looks like it worked' he smirked as he quietly stepped out his room.

"Just think about it..foolish brother" Itachi said…a sudden change of mood?

'He's right' Sasuke agreed but not with the gay part that his brother mentioned. What his brother just said really hit him so hard that he admits he's the worst guy in the world. He felt like punching someone now to release the shamefulness that he believes he doesn't deserve to be feeling. Darn it.

Damn it all.

If some guy would just pop up and will have the guts to be his rival, he'll kill that guy just as soon as he finds out that he'll take part in getting Haruno Sakura.

Damn it.

Everything's just stupid.

He got up and annoyingly sat at the chair facing his computer. He searched for dating tips while thinking, "I don't have to do this" He clicked the first result, "Why am I even doing this?" his eyebrows twitch as he glared at some results that he found stupid and useless. Such as do something to make him/her feel special (send a card, give a flower, compliment him/her, write a letter), be confident/ believe in yourself, 'What the hell?' Sasuke thought angrily as if those dating tips are treating him like a stupid chicken that needs things to be repeated over and over again. Of course, he's not that stupid in not knowing those; he's just stupid for not doing such things.

He looked at another search result and found a page with a girl's point of view, he managed to read some like: we may think you are gay if you wear tighty-whities on a regular basis, you look hot in hooded articles of clothing, Never comment on how much a girl eats…ever, make fun of our clothes...prepare to die, and so on. But some of the items on the list are something that gave a weird stomach feeling to Sasuke, like: Hold our hand, walks in the rain, kisses on the forehead, and cooking dinner for us will get you everywhere, if we can admit that we're wrong, you'd better be able to do the same, tell us we're beautiful, and if you're gonna look at other girls, at least make sure we don't see you do it.

He felt more awful by just reading those things. He managed to play countless girls who are all swooning over him for who knows how long. And now, and just now, he realized that he doesn't know how normal girls react. Normal, meaning, someone that would not swoon over him all the time. And much worse, he can't even imagine himself doing all those romantic things to a person.

This is just crap.

He turned off his computer and lay down at his bed trying to erase all those things about 'courting', which is the new registered word in his dictionary. He simply doesn't have enough courage to do so and to think that Sakura would even like or notice what he's doing.

It's just crap.

But it's something that has to happen.

A/n: Waahh ToT I'm really sorry for not updating, I've been so busy in school for the past months. Its sembreak now and it's really like heaven that I did a lot of things that I missed during the days when I was staying in hell. I just hope that this story didn't vanish in your mind yet. Anyways, for this chapter, Itachi was really out of character and during the part that he's making Sasuke regretful, I actually imagined it as Tamaki's way of speaking [from Ouran High School Host Club, but I really found Itachi cute that he keeps on changing moods. In the courting part, I would like to give credits to some search results that I found in the net but unfortunately, I didn't get those websites. Well, thank you for posting up tips like that [I really researched for that. For the manga update, the Akatsuki member, Paine, is fighting with Jiraiya who's currently at his hermit mode. Well WHAT DO YOU THINK?! SUBMIT YOUR REVIEWS AND MAKE ME HAPPY!

When I'm going to update?..Not sure..cause I haven't even updated my fanfiction notebook and I'm stuck in Chapter 17. But hopefully I can finish typing the next chapters and also the editing for Chapters 4-6. Chapter 3 is edited. So please..again..REVIEW.

I would like to inform everyone that grammar errors are increasing in this story because my beta-chan let go of me, but I would like to thank her for the help that she did at my previous chapters and for her continuous support. Please bear with some mistakes, thank you.

Next chapter would be so much fun..

Chapter 13: You, Me and the Konoha Lunchroom

Sasuke walked faster to keep Sakura from tugging his sleeve and complaining of what he's doing. Doesn't she even know that it's hard for him to stay cool in what he's doing?

Sakura caught up, "Well, I thank you for picking me up and saving me from the serial killer news thing" she said in a not so mad voice, "but you actually don't have to carry my bag, I can do it myself you know!" she protested. He's being a gentleman today but it's just unnatural to see him be like that.

"You're gonna be late, so shut up and just follow me" Sasuke coldly and continued to walk carrying his and Sakura's bag.

For Sakura, it's not about the carrying of the bag anymore, she once again protested, "But you look gay with my pink bag!"

"Hn"

--Sasuke's courting successful or failure? Let's start first by picking up the girl in the morning, carrying her stuffs, answering all her complains smoothly, having lunch with her alone, and lastly, asking her for a date. Find out next chapter 

PLEASE REVIEW

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