The Social Scene

Chapter 5

See, the life I've had
Can make a good man bad
So for once in my life
Let me get what I want

- The Smiths

Great. How the hell did Sakura end up late so many times in the week? However, this time, instead of being late for a job, she was late for one of her lectures at the university.

Still in her run-down, typically lower-class Jap apartment, she shoved text books by the dozen into her over-sized tote bag, throwing in her purse and her mobile as well. Her abode wasn't exactly the most glamorous of places, as most of her money went towards her tuition fees, but she made it her own little Mecca, by pulling up the moulding carpet from the last owner to reveal hard-wood floor, and sprinkling Mexican and Persian throw rugs here and there. There were black and white posters of the Beatles and an air of Parisian blasé about the whole affair. It was a clash of different cultures and she collected little knick-knacks from flea markets or dainty boutiques which sold heart-warming, vintage-esque pieces in the shape of empty perfume bottles, or framed photographs of Twiggy. She was obsessed with this archaic little apartment of hers.

"Crap," she spoke aloud to herself, rummaging through a pile of abandoned clothes on her floor. "Where the fuck is my iPod?" She sucked in her breath in aggravation. She just couldn't leave the house without it – it was an unhealthy obsession of hers. Saying that, she finally managed to rescue it from the insides of an empty vase in a Victorian style – how it managed to get there was a complete mystery to her.

But nevertheless, she could finally leave her apartment. As she was out of the door, running through the apartment complex, she plugged in her iPod and turned on a good tune in the hopes of putting her in a better mood. However, she was so absorbed in her music, that she didn't even notice a certain Uchiha coincidentally fall in step with her as she rounded a street corner.

She felt someone shadowing her, so close that she could smell the Lagerfeld and the Versace. She knew exactly who it was.

"So now you've resorted to following me?" she said, the aggravation clear in her tone, as she whipped quickly around to face him.

"We're heading in the same direction," he replied nonchalantly, walking around her to carry on forward.

She gave a suspicious look aimed at his back, but didn't contemplate further on it, as she was already late as it was. Instead, she decided to walk next to him, keeping up with his long strides.

"So, where are you heading?" she asked, trying to extract any information from him.

Vaguely, he replied, "Just, you know, near the university."

"Right," she went along with his painstakingly obvious rouse with scepticism. She was still a firm believer that no good could ever come from an Uchiha. Thus, she had a distinct feeling that he was now stalking her, and that he had some sort of motive for doing so.

They turned onto a particularly busy street with plenty of pedestrians, pollution and impatient drivers. They were steadily walking closer and closer to their destination, and Sakura was starting to get itchy with Sasuke's ominous presence as she tried to make her legs move faster.

"You have a lecture, right?" he asked with an all-knowing tone.

"Yes," she spat out, eyeing him from the corner of her eyes dubiously. "And I'm really late for it. Sorry to cut our conversation short, Uchiha, but I need to hurry." They were just across the street from the university building now and Sakura was about to cross the road, when she felt a tug at her wrist.

"Wait, Sakura," he said.

"No, Sasuke, I'm really late and I need to go," she pleaded, trying to tug her wrist out of his firm grasp with no avail.

"I won't let you go until you promise me a date."

So this was his motive? His words made her stop trying to escape his grip and fully face him, wide-eyed with a mix of incredulity and suspicion. The words of the red-headed chef still resonated in her mind, telling her to be careful with Sasuke. Speaking of the red-headed chef, who had popped up in a numerous amount of Sakura's fleeting thoughts, she still didn't know his name - so, she had decidedly started calling him HAGWAP (Hot Arrogant Guy With A Point).

But something stopped her from saying no to Sasuke's offer. "If I agree, will you just let go of me and let me go to my lecture, which I'm already..." she glanced at her wristwatch before gasping with horror. "Shit, I'm later than I thought! Now I really need to go, Sasuke!" She tried tugging at her arm again, but he only held on tighter.

"Dinner at the new restaurant that opened up near the Shibuya crossing at 7 - that's all I'm asking," he offered with a smirk, knowing he was so close to tasting victory.

"Oh my god, you are so infuriating!" she whined, throwing her head back for emphasis. She saw the look in his eyes which meant that he wasn't kidding when he said he'd only let her go if she agreed on the date. "Fine!" she gave up, obviously unwillingly.

He smiled at her and winked, as he slowly let go of the firm hold on her wrist. She yanked her arm back, running across the road, looking back over her shoulder one last time, before she wretched the door to the university building open, shouting behind her, "But you're paying!"

.&.

3 and a half hours straight of university lectures and 34 minutes of that time being yelled at by her old, senile lecturer at her tardiness was hardly worth the date which Sakura had promised Sasuke just to get there in the first place. Walking out of the lecture hall, pulling her tote strap higher onto her shoulder, she almost immediately noticed a flash of crimson burning in her peripheral vision. Could it be who she thought it was?

Although he had his back to her, staring at a pin board with some menial notices tacked up, she had a sneaking suspicion that it was the mysterious HAGWAP chef from the brunch a few days ago. She cautiously stepped closer, trying to crane her neck to see if it was his familiar face. However, suddenly, his baritone voice rung around the empty hallway.

"I had a feeling I'd see you again." He hadn't even turned around and the question ran through Sakura's confused mind – how the hell did he know it was her?

As enigmatic as ever, Sakura couldn't help but to grit her teeth as she tried hard not to yell out in frustration.

"... Because you followed me to my lecture?" she asked jokingly, trying subtly to gorge any information as to why he was here from him.

Much to Sakura's relief, he turned around, and his face was revealed to be certainly HAGWAP. It infuriated her that she still didn't know his name, yet she had thought about him continuously over the last few nights, trying so hard to figure out the riddle in his words. Whenever she saw Sasuke around, whether it be passing in the street like earlier that day, or whether he popped up onto her phone screen with a new text, she would always think of the red-head and his wise words to look out for Sasuke.

He shook his head at her earlier question with a small smile playing on the curves on his lips. He had slight dimples, Sakura noticed with amusement.

"I'm here to propose a new project to one of the lecturers. He was my old 'Sensei', if you'd like. I had no idea you study in this building."

"Project?" Sakura repeated curiously, raising an eyebrow.

He smirked and held out a large, A2 folder in his hands. "A photography project. I want a chance to exhibit my work and have it acknowledged from all the professionals... you know, maybe make a permanent living out of it. But to do this, I need to get Sensei's approval."

"Photography?" she asked, her puzzlement becoming far more severe. "But I thought you were a chef?"

"Only part-time. I mean, who would be able to live off a career in photography? The only other thing I deem myself to be good at is cooking, but what's the use of making a full-time thing out of it when you don't even enjoy it?" he asked philosophically, tipping his head to the side with a serious glint in his eye, silently asking her to just try and contradict his point.

She shrugged ambiguously, before gesturing towards his folder. "Can I take a peek?" she asked modestly with a cheeky smile.

"Yeah... sure," he agreed uncertainly, carefully propping his folder on a table nearby and zipping it open. It wasn't that he was reluctant to share his work... it was just that he was nervous of her opinions. He had gotten mixed reviews about his work, but he didn't let it bother him. But when faced with the possibility that this girl, whom he had only met once before, was judging his work, something just made him extremely intimidated and scared of her critique. Nevertheless, he pulled out a large portfolio and handed it to her. "Some of the work is just experimental..." he added modestly.

She flicked through the book and found that she was turned speechless. His work was absolutely beautiful. Although she didn't know much about photography, she could tell this could get him far.

"The compilation tells a story," he informed, but Sakura didn't ask what exact story it was supposed to tell. She could feel it in his voice that it was one surrounded by mystery, changing its narrative depending on the individual.

"Wow, this is absolutely gorgeous," she breathily replied, still stunned to see it all. And there seemed to be an absolutely beautiful model in most of the photos, representing all these deep, symbolic ideas. "Christ, she's beautiful," she commented, pointing to his model in a particular breath-taking photo, where she stood atop a tree branch looking down at the camera lens.

"Well, yeah..." he vaguely replied. "But she's a handful. She walked out on me this morning, refusing to pose for my camera anymore."

"You're kidding!" she replied incredulously.

"Nope. I need to find a new muse soon or else my photography project will be on hiatus..."

She flicked her eyes away from the portfolio momentarily in order to look into his eyes. "Good luck with that," she said genuinely, shutting the book after. "Anyways, it's getting pretty late, I should probably get going."

At the right time, one of the doors to a room opened, and out popped the head of a young lecturer. "Gaara, you can come in now," he said, before shutting the door again.

They smiled at each other at the more-or-less perfect timing.

"So you're name's Gaara?" she asked, with a triumphant smile, finally finding out the name of HAGWAP. He simply nodded his head, before she added, "The introduction is a bit late, but I'm Sakura."

He masked his smile as he found the rather fitting name quite amusing and cute.

"You know what, Sakura," he asked with a scarily out-of-character grin on his face. She cocked her head a bit to the right, sceptical of what he would say. "I've just come up with this crazy idea... Come and model for me."

Sakura was shocked into silence. Never in a million years had Sakura ever thought she was 'model material'. "Are you kidding?" she finally exclaimed, a horrified look on her face.

"I'm totally serious," he said.

"But I just... don't model! I can't model!"

"What are you talking about? Anybody can model," he tried to reason, failing unsuccessfully when Sakura simply shook her head.

"Anybody but me!"

He sighed, but was persistent enough not to give up. "Look, here's my number," he said, grabbing a pen from the inside of his jacket. When he tried patting himself down for a piece of paper, he simply grabbed her hand spontaneously and writ the digits of his mobile number onto her palm. "Please call me, at least just to meet up so I can take some test shots. It doesn't have to mean you'll model for me, just let me see how you photograph," he asked, sincerity clear in his voice.

Sakura bit her lip. She thought about how un-photogenic she was, but then if she rejected him, his project wouldn't be able to carry on. And he seemed like such an escape from... well, from reality. Her job, Sasuke, university... Gaara seemed to be the cure for all of that, even though they had started off on the wrong foot.

Finally, as Gaara waited patiently for an answer, she simply sighed in defeat and nodded her head slowly, unknowing of what she was getting herself into. "Fine..." she said, albeit hesitantly.

He let out a great sigh of relief, before thanking her with a victorious smirk on his face and entering the room, leaving her in the hallway, contemplating just what this photography hubbub could get her into. Her biggest concern, although she didn't know why, was Sasuke. So maybe she should just keep quiet about this deal around the Uchiha for now...

Aha! You guessed right! HAGWAP, aka. Hot Arrogant Guy With A Point, is Gaara! And the acronym is also a spin-off from HIG (Hot Intelligent Guy), for those of you who read Elle...

Also, how many times have I used an ellipsis at the end of my chapters? Should really find more effective and less (failing) suspenseful endings to use.

And did anyone spot the Generation X reference at the beginning? I was reading it at the time of writing, and I fell in love with the descriptions of Claire's apartment. Thus, the slightly plagiarized (admittedly!) words used. I'm not proud :/

Also, although you probably aren't interested in this, I changed the summary of this story, by adding that it's, not only, a SakuxSasu fic, but also a bit 'SakuxGaara-ish' as well. I should probably add that it's slightly SakuxNaruto too, but we all know who she ends up with in the end!