Kitty-chan: Hey, here's the new chapter. Thank you guys who stayed this long. You make me so happy, and if there's something you don't like about the story, please don't hesitate to tell me. So . . . Yeah. Disclaimer please.

Zetsu: Kitty-chan does not own Naruto

Chapter 3

Sakura awoke feeling well rested. She smiled softly, snuggling deeper into her quilt. Everything was peaceful and quiet. A little too quiet. She cringed, squeezing her eyes shut before glancing at the clock. 10:52

She bolted out of bed, stumbling to her closet.

Oh, my gosh! I'm so late! she cried out.

Way to ruin the morning, Inner grumbled, waking up slowly.

Shut up! I've never been this late before! Ugh! What will my sensei think? she shouted.

She didn't bother putting on nice clothes, didn't bother with how her hair looked. She shoved on a pair of cargo pants, a t-shirt that was lying on top of her dresser, and rushed to the bathroom to make sure she smelled fresh and her teeth were clean. She bolted downstairs, put on a pair of tennis shoes, grabbed her backpack, and ran out the door without any breakfast.

Running to school sucked. She may have been a good runner, but she hated having to run to school. It always left her looking like a mess, and with her already shabby appearance, she didn't want to look any worse than usual.

Sakura slowed down once the school was in her sight. She stopped to straighten her outfit and make sure she wasn't all sweaty—she was, but she kept deodorant and a brush in her bag just for these occasions. After brushing her hair and making sure she looked presentable, she sped up her walk to the school.

It didn't take her much longer to enter the school, grab a check-in slip, and hurry to her third block class—she had already missed the other two. She knocked on the door and waited a few seconds longer until the teacher finally opened the door.

"Good morning, Miss Haruno. I'm glad you finally made it," the teacher griped sarcastically.

"Sorry . . . I woke up late," the pinkette mumbled, looking down at her feet in embarrassment. The teacher nodded, stepping aside and allowing the pinkette to enter the room.

Sakura walked to the back of the class and seated herself next to Konan. She felt a little more comfortable around the blue haired girl ever since their talk the previous night.

"Are you okay?" Konan asked her, giving her a worried glance. Sakura nodded.

"I just slept in. My alarm clock didn't go off," the pinkette answered quietly, giving her friend a small smile.

"Okay," the blue haired girl answered a little hesitantly before returning her attention to the teacher. Sakura looked around, noticing that Deidara, Tobi, and Sasori were missing.

"Where are the guys?" Sakura asked. Konan shrugged.

"I don't know. They haven't even showed up at school today . . . which kind of has me worried," her friend answered with a nervous chuckle.

"Konan. Haruno. Quiet down back there," the teacher snapped.

"Yes, Ebizou-sensei," they answered in unison.

~(^-^)~

Sasori was lying in bed, too tired to go to school, and too confused to really face Sakura. After Konan's call, he had sat up nearly the whole the night before thinking about what he needed to say to the pinkette. By the time morning rolled around and he had started to get ready for school, he still had no clue of what he should say. In desperation, he called the guys over.

He could never talk to Konan about this; there was no telling what she would go telling Sakura. And while he still couldn't trust the guys as well, he called them anyways. They weren't as close to Sakura as Konan.

A knock sounded on the door, only to be opened seconds later.

"Sasori, hmm!" Deidara called, followed by calls from his other friends.

"Deidara-senpai, do you think he's really here? What if it was a trick?" Tobi whined. "I wanna go back to school and see Sakura-chan. She's nice and pretty, and Sasori-senpai is mean," the boy added childishly, a squeal following his complaint.

"Quiet, Tobi. I'm sure Sasori-san is here," another voice assured in a bored tone. Itachi.

Sasori sighed, got up out of his bed and headed to the kitchen where he knew his company was waiting. He was still in his pajamas, and he looked like he had just rolled out of bed. The others couldn't help but to stare at him in shock.

"Whoa, Sasori. You look rough, hmm," Deidara commented after taking in Sasori's messier than usual red hair, the dark circles under his eyes, and rumpled pajamas.

Said redhead shot a glare at his blond friend and headed over to his coffee maker to fix himself a cup.

"Shut up, Deidara. Not all of us are worried about looking pretty," he grumbled.

"He got you pansy-ass," Hidan guffawed, slapping the blond on the back. Deidara scowled, crossing his arms across his chest.

"Don't worry, Deidara-senpai; they're just jealous," Tobi tried to cheer up the blond.

"Shut up, Tobi, hmm," Deidara yelled and hit the dark-haired boy on the head.

"Ouch!" Tobi cried, running to cower behind Itachi.

Deidara, Tobi, Hidan, and Itachi crowded the kitchen, waiting for Sasori. The redhead looked at each one carefully behind the rim of his coffee mug.

Deidara and Tobi were there because they were Sasori's best friends; Itachi because he was older and probably had more experience with girls; and Hidan because Pein had assigned the cursing trouble-maker to Itachi—Kakuzu had refused—so as to keep him from him from getting into too much trouble.

So besides Hidan, these were the best confidants Sasori could manage to get without turning to Konan or Pein—the latter was currently in too much trouble to be bothered.

"So what have we been called here for?" Itachi finally asked in order to grab Sasori's attention.

The redhead looked down his feet, took a sip of his coffee, looked at Itachi and then back down at his feet again.

"I need some advice," he muttered.

Three gawked with raised brows; one stared with curiosity and slight amusement. They couldn't believe that the stubborn redhead would actually ask for advice on anything.

"On what, hmm?" Deidara finally asked, breaking the group of their shocked trance.

" . . . Sakura . . ." he mumbled hesitantly.

Hidan and Deidara could barely contain their laughter, and Tobi was just plain confused. But Itachi gave the redhead a thoughtful look.

Sasori glared at Hidan and Deidara—both of them were still laughing at their now fully embarrassed friend.

"What about Sakura do you need advice on?" Itachi asked, sighing at his other friends' discomforting behavior.

"Well . . . She's kind of mad at me because I did something horrible . . . but I don't see how it's that bad," Sasori explained, scratching the back of his head.

"What do you mean mad? Sakura is pissed at you, hmm," Deidara declared. "What did you do?" he asked.

Sasori hesitated. He was starting to regret inviting all of them over instead of just Itachi.

"Hurry up and tell us how you fucked up," Hidan snapped impatiently.

" . . .We were having an argument. She started talking about your damn brother, Itachi," Sasori started with a scowl. "I told her that she was stupid for liking someone who was a accomplice in her attack a little over a month ago, and that I didn't really care about who she had a crush on. She got really upset and started yelling. She kept coming up with all these . . . scenarios about this stupid project we were working on . . . She kept talking about how much better it would be if I were more like the guy we were researching . . . That's when I kissed her . . . I told her she was stupid for wanting me to be like someone so pigheaded . . . I was trying to prove a point, but . . . but she started crying . . ." Sasori explained quietly.

They were silent as he told them everything about what happened that night. Once he had finished, he refused to look up at the others. It was so embarrassing to be talking about this. Maybe he shouldn't hav—

"Aw, Puppet Boy got his first fucking kiss," Hidan sniggered, breaking the silence.

"Hidan," Itachi snapped before turning to Deidara and Tobi and saying, "You two take Hidan and go get us something to eat. I'm starving."

He handed Deidara the money and the three left without a word—in respect to their redheaded friend who most likely wanted to be alone after making such a confession.

"What happened exactly after you kissed her? What kind of reaction did she have?" Itachi questioned once the others were gone.

"I told you—she started crying . . . Well, not in front of me. She called me a jerk, ran inside, and then started crying," he answered quietly. His coffee didn't taste good anymore.

He poured the dark liquid down the drain and looked back up at Itachi.

"I don't know what to say to her," he confessed. "I mean, no matter how many times I think over it, I can't come up with anything to say to make her forgive me."

"All you can think about is how much you hurt her?" the Uchiha questioned—but it wasn't really a question, it was more of a statement.

"How do you know?" Sasori mumbled. Itachi almost smiled.

"Because—believe it or not—I've been in the same situation," he answered truthfully. "The difference is that I never fixed it. We may still be friends, but . . . we could've been more if I hadn't screwed up. Don't you remember?"

"Konan?" Sasori questioned. Those details were kind of hazy. Sasori had joined Akatsuki toward the end of that argument, when it was almost over and everything was going back to normal.

Itachi nodded.

"I felt bad when we first started fighting, but then eventually, I apologized. I didn't know what I was apologizing for, so it didn't really do any good, at least not the way I intended it to. We became friends again in the end, and she started dating Pein. I found out that while I was trying to figure out what I did wrong, he was comforting her, when I should have been. I was too late in the end and lost the girl I loved. Don't get me wrong, I'm happy for her and Pein, but sometimes I can't help thinking what it would've been like if I had been there for her," Itachi admitted and flashed a small, bittersweet smile.

Sasori was amazed at how much emotion the usually stoic Uchiha was showing.

"So is my situation like yours?" Sasori asked.

"Yeah . . . You could say that," Itachi answered, the emotionless mask returning to its proper place. The two were quiet for a while as Itachi tried to piece together his questions and explanations in a way that the Sasori would understand.

"How do you feel about Sakura?" he asked. The redhead shrugged.

"I don't know . . . I'm not sure how to explain it," the redhead answered.

"Try," Itachi demanded.

"Well . . . I feel different when I'm around her . . . I feel lighter—like I can truly be myself when I'm around her . . . It makes me happy when she's happy, and I feel terrible when she's upset . . . My chest hurts when I'm around her—sometimes it's a good hurt, sometimes . . . it's a bad hurt . . . Sometimes when she smiles, I don't know what to say, and when she cries, all I want to do is hold her and make her feel better. . . If I say that I feel awful for upsetting her like that, it is a major understatement. I just . . . I don't know what to do," Sasori answered, stumbling through the explanation as best he could. When he finished he looked up at Itachi with a sudden realization.

"I think . . . I'm in love with Sakura."

Kitty-chan: And there's the chapter. Thanks for sticking with me this far, guys. I didn't realize how crappy the original chapters were until I finally reread them.

Sakura: You failed.

Kitty-chan: I know . . . Anyways review guys! The more reviews means the happier I am.

Sasori: Conceited much?

Kitty-chan: Shut up!