The Social Scene

Chapter 10

So when your hope's on fire
But you know your desire
Don't hold a glass over the flame
Don't let your heart grow cold
I will call you by name
I will share your road

- Mumford & Sons

It was rare to see Sasuke out and about on the streets of Tokyo before noon, but here he was, bright and early at 9am. The weather was turning chilly as the last remnants of summer had vanished and autumn was creeping closer. Nevertheless, the streets of Shibuya were still busy with the hustle of daily activity whipping past him in a blur. He was on his way to meet Naruto for breakfast, and even though Sasuke despised Naruto's hyperactivity this early in the morning, Sasuke desperately needed to talk to his best friend and had organized the whole thing.

"Sa-su-ke~!" a person called out to him just as he was about to step onto the large road crossing.

He turned around, recognising the whiny voice to be none other than Karin.

He raised his brow as he saw her running towards him in her Manolo Blahnik high heels, waving to him as she tried to catch up.

"Sasuke, wait up!" she cried.

However, Sasuke didn't feel like being a gold-hearted saint today, and he turned around and kept walking. Unfortunately for him, as he was mid-way across the road, Karin caught up, out of breath and pouting in dissatisfaction.

"Gee, Sasuke, didn't you hear me?"

He had heard her alright. 'I just chose not to stop.'

"Hn," he actually replied, continuing to walk briskly to his destination.

"You didn't answer any of my calls last night after the party. Is Sasuke ignoring sweet Karin?" she asked in third-person, gazing up at the black-haired boy with desperate doe-eyes.

Sasuke completely ignored her question and stopped dead in his tracks right in the middle of the busy street, blocking the path for a few pedestrians. He turned towards Karin with an icy glare and spat out, "I'm meeting someone right now, Karin, and I'm in a hurry."

She innocently glanced up at him before turning away and continuing walking. Sasuke thought that he had finally gotten rid of her, but nothing was ever so simple with Karin. She turned over her shoulder and said, "Come on then, we can walk and talk."

Sasuke rolled his eyes in disbelief. She was impossible. "Hn," he murmured, clearly annoyed. Despite how Sasuke had completely humiliated Karin in front of both Sakura and Gaara last night at the magazine launch party and had continued not to speak to him for the rest of the night, she was now acting like it had never happened and was continuing with her infuriating stalker-ex ways. Nevertheless, he kept walking by her side, ignoring her attempt at eye contact. For a few paces they walked in complete silence, with only the sound of traffic and pedestrians around them, but Karin broke their tranquillity.

"So do you like her?"

The question had seemingly come out of nowhere and startled Sasuke. It was barely perceptible but at Karin's bluntness, he had frozen for a moment and his blood flow, his heartbeat, his thoughts, had all slowed down.

Feigning ignorance and obliviousness, he mumbled out, "Who?" as if he hadn't the faintest idea of what Karin was talking about.

The red-head sighed in a frustrated manner, pushing up her glasses. "Don't make me spell it out for you. This is painful for me too."

'Too'? Was it painful for Sasuke? At that current moment, he felt nothing except for a numbness which had taken over his body at Karin's first question.

When Sasuke stayed silent, Karin gave out another little dejected huff. "It seems you're stupider than I thought, Sasuke Uchiha. I was referring to Sakura. Sa-ku-ra!" she spelt out, drawing out the syllables as if she was talking to her senile aunt.

At the mention of that name, Sasuke retained the feeling in his body again, and suddenly, something did feel quite painful.

"So...?" Karin expectantly asked. "Do you like her?" Inside, Karin was simmering with rage. It was obvious to herself that she was jealous of this Sakura girl. Upon meeting her at the party yesterday, Karin discovered a lot about her new competitor. Sakura was a beautiful girl, smart as well. But compared to Karin's inherited wealth and established family, Sakura had nothing on her.

Without another perceptible thought, Sasuke, in a sharp and slightly bitter tone, ground out, "No".

"Liar."

Karin's response was immediate. Even though her voice was cold and laced with jealousy, she didn't regret it, despite how Sasuke aimed a deathly glare at her. She wouldn't have normally used that tone to Sasuke, but envy had its claws firmly wrapped around her tongue. It felt like Karin was no longer in control.

"What did you just call me?" Sasuke threateningly asked, stopping his pace. The two of them were now stood in the middle of the sidewalk in a face-to-face conflict, uncaring that they were blocking the pedestrian path.

"You heard me," Karin spat out, equalling Sasuke's force. "You're a goddamn liar, and you know it. You couldn't keep your eyes off of that girl last night and I saw the way you tensed when she was near that Gaara kid."

"I don't trust him. That's all," he replied tersely, trying to make an excuse for the accusations thrown at him.

"No, Sasuke, it's obvious you're jealous."

"Jealousy is for the weak," he gritted out, growing more and more aggravated by Karin's words.

"Jealousy is for those who are in love," she corrected him, eliciting an unreadable expression from the man before her. "The only person I know who has as much jealousy stored up inside them right now... is me."

Sasuke was shocked that this was all coming from Karin. He hadn't expected her to admit so much to him.

"Even if I did... l-like her," he stumbled on the 'l' word and found he didn't have the courage to say the one he had originally intended, "it's obvious that it's unrequited. She's completely uninterested."

Karin scoffed and raised a neat eyebrow. "No matter the age, the race, the size of a person, so long as they have oestrogen in their bodies, they will always feel a little attraction to you once they meet you, Sasuke Uchiha. And Sakura is no exception."

He had to admit, her speech was a little endearing. Even during the prime of their relationship, they had never just talked like they were doing now. Karin was even helping him with other girls. He had never seen such a selfless Karin.

Nevertheless, a part of him just couldn't bring himself to believe Karin's words, especially since he couldn't help replaying the events of the night before over and over in his mind.

.&.

Flashback 12 hours

Sasuke's careful eyes perused the party slowly, but nothing seemed to hold his attention for very long. It always slid back to the one girl who seemed to have completely forgotten his presence. Nevertheless, he wasn't about to give up so easily. Naruto's voice resonated in his head, reminding him that he had to make Sakura fall in love with him or else he would have to give Sakura up completely to somebody like Naruto... or that Gaara punk. This thought had Sasuke grinding his teeth in an attempt to disguise his rage. But not only was Sakura on the line here, but his pride was also on a knife's edge. He had never lost a bet to Naruto and he wasn't about to start.

He spotted Sakura across the room, laughing and genially conversing with an aged man with Gaara lingering at her side. Gaara's eyes were fixed to Sakura the whole time and he laughed when she laughed, as if it were all rehearsed.

Sasuke could hear fragments of their conversation, but managed to clearly pick up a section which piqued his curiosity.

"You've had that camera around your neck for the entire night, Gaara," the old man started, a genial smile hidden in the wrinkles of his face, "Why not put it to good use? You have a perfectly good subject right next to you."

Sakura's face was obviously flustered at being put in the spotlight, despite how it had happened continuously throughout the evening.

She nervously laughed, whilst sneakily throwing a threatening glare to Gaara. "Th-That's not necessary!" she squeaked, waving her hands in refusal.

"Oh nonsense!" the man replied good-heartedly. "I'm sure everyone would like to see your partnership in action," he said, referring to the 'photographer and muse' label which the duo of Gaara and Sakura had acquired over the evening.

With a small, sadistic smirk, Gaara inclined his head towards Sakura with a hinting rise of the brow. "Dare to?" he challenged.

Sakura, despite it being in her stubborn personality to never decline a challenge, shook her head furiously. She muttered below her breath that she had never posed in front of other people before, adding that it had only ever been the two of them on their shoots.

Sasuke, catching this low murmur, narrowed his eyes. Their obvious intimacy was unnerving and Sasuke found it hard to suppress what felt like an inferno eating away at his gut.

"Come on!" Gaara urged at Sakura's quick refusal. "These photos could make it in for the next issue," he tried to coax. "And plus, the lighting's good. A photographer can't refuse good lighting."

Sakura didn't need much more persuading before she nodded her head in approval, albeit a little hesitantly. "Just stand and smile, right?"

She went to stand in front of a screen with the magazine name and its sponsors repeatedly printed on it, normally used for the paparazzi. Gaara took his place a few strides away from her, hunched down slightly on bent knees and positioned his camera up to his face. He was about to click the shutter button, but his finger hesitated. He straightened up, whilst Sakura's plastered smile faltered and was replaced with a frown of confusion.

Sasuke watched the whole exchange with unblinking eyes. He was almost worried that if he dared to blink, the two of them would disappear into thin air and Sakura would be out of his life forever.

Gaara quickly walked over to Sakura, inspecting her like an artist would to a work of art. Once he was in a close proximity, close enough so that Sakura could feel the tips of the hair of her arms brush against his shirt, he looked down at her with a roguish smirk. His figure loomed over hers and she had to crane her neck to see his face. Without blinking, he licked the tip of his thumb and, with a casual nonchalance, brought his thumb up to her left eyebrow and smoothed out the loose hairs there. Her face brightened as she felt the slight wetness of his languid movement just above her eye. He shot her a last lazy smirk before walking back to his position a few paces in front of her.

Without blinking, Sasuke watched the scene with growing anger. But for some unknown reason, he just couldn't seem to peel his eyes away, no matter how strong his rage felt.

Gaara picked up his camera again, smiling at her encouragingly to pose again. However, Sakura felt immobilised and all she could do was to stand there dumbly with a large stroke of pink painted over her cheeks and her doe eyes wide with shock. Nevertheless, Gaara took the picture, and a few more extra shots for luck, perhaps finding Sakura's expression endearing and charming.

Sasuke's anger only heightened, although he didn't quite realise why he was feeling so worked up. One thing he knew for certain: when he first made this bet with Naruto, nowhere in their mutual agreement did it state anything about 3rd parties wrecking Sasuke's chances to win – namely, a red-headed, photographer 3rd party.

Gritting his teeth, Sasuke resolutely decided that he would walk out of there before he would do something which he would regret in the morning.

.&.

Present

Karin had left him without any further words, walking off in the opposite direction, hoping she had made the right choice in trying to guide Sasuke towards Sakura. Although it was probably the most selfless act she was going to do in her lifetime, she seemed to hate herself even more for doing it. But if she ever wanted Sasuke to at least admire her, in a respectable way, this was what she had to do – or so she decided. After all, Karin wasn't stupid. She knew when she had an impossibly slim chance of getting back together with Sasuke, and yesterday had only proved that. So instead of simply giving up on him, she wanted to leave him with a good impression, and not the obsessive bitch facade she had unknowingly adopted for the past few years.

Meanwhile, Sasuke was left gloomier then before he had talked to Karin, having been reminded of the night before. Nevertheless, it gave him a bigger incentive to rush to the cafe where he was meeting Naruto. He sped up his walk, arriving within ten minutes at the quant, yet modernised, coffeehouse, where he saw Naruto sitting at a corner table, pouring, what must have been, a gallon's worth of sugar into his cappuccino.

Noticing Sasuke from across the room, an involuntary grin spread its way across Naruto's face. "Sasuke!" he shouted rambunctiously, "Sorry I ordered without you, dude, I couldn't wait for my coffee fix." He chuckled apologetically.

How Naruto even needed caffeine in the morning really frightened Sasuke – after all, Naruto was already the most hyperactive person he knew. Naruto on caffeine should have been like a monkey on speed.

Already Naruto was talking at 97 miles per hour, even before Sasuke had sat down. Ignoring most of his useless banter, he called over a waitress and ordered an espresso. On second thought, he ordered two more, unable to think he could survive this conversation with Naruto without strong coffee.

"So you called me this morning and it sounded pretty urgent. What did you want to talk about?" Naruto asked, taking a sip from his cup.

Running a tired hand through his hair, he kept his eyes on the table. He hated how he had to admit this, but he knew somewhere in the back of his mind that this was inevitable. Speaking in a low murmur, he broke the news which had plagued him all morning to Naruto. "I'm out of the bet."

This update is a bit late... lol, just a bit...

Hoping you're all enjoying the story so far. I really do want to finish it, but the writing process has been so slow, half from writer's block, and half because I just honestly don't have the time anymore. Maybe when I (hopefully) go to university next year, I'll just end up with loads of free time because I'll only be in uni for a few hours a week, I'll have time to write more stories?

On a completely unrelated note, have you noticed that in real life, the world's richest men and their heirs are all so ugly and old? Why can't it be like the movies / fanfictions where the richest man has a really hot son / is really hot himself? ):