Chapter 18: Stupefied

Sasuke's nostrils flared up at the sweet smell that entered them, walking towards his front door that had been knocked on only moments before. He sniffed the surrounding air continually as he slipped his door open, only to grunt irritatingly at the woman who stood in front of him.

"Sakura, what are you doing here?" By the tone of his voice, he was clearly exasperated. He looked down at the plate of treats in her hand. "You're not planning to force feed me brownies like you tried with the apples, are you?"

The girl vaguely recalled that time in the past. She shuddered, putting on the sweetest face Sasuke had ever seen, he thought he might vomit.

"Actually, Sasuke; I felt bad for what I did and I decided... that I might make you something nice." She added and bowed, holding out the plate of brownies. She looked up at the boy with glossed over eyes.

He let out a sound that was a mixture of a sigh and a grunt, slowly and hesitantly stepping aside to let Sakura in. He was almost about to complain that this was against his will. Sasuke himself didn't understand why he was letting this girl in her house in the first place, considering for a moment that Naruto had made him go soft. Damn, whatever happened to saying 'I'll never talk to you?'

As Sakura clicked her high-heels in small steps towards his kitchen, the brunette noted that she was wearing a rather, er, short pink miniskirt with tight leggings (it was November, she must've been cold), and a pink and mesh top with a rather plunging cowl neckline. She spun around after putting the plate on the counter, sauntering back towards Sasuke and grabbing his wrist.

"Come on, I want you to taste them! I made them just for you!" God, her sweetness was killing him.

"Let go. I'm not hungry. Have you seen Naruto?"

She scowled, not letting go of his wrist and forcefully dragging him towards the kitchen. Although she was irritated about having Naruto brought into the conversation, she once again spoke with innocence.

"Oh, Sasuke, you're so silly! I made them just for you!"

"Sakura-"

"Please? Pretty please?"

He shouldn't be giving into this, he shouldn't be pleasing somebody he didn't even like. Somebody who he hated. Damn Naruto. His shirt sayings definitely weren't working to keep the damn kindness away. He'd be nice to her for now... for Naruto.

She scooted the plate closer to him and he obliged, taking a treat from the plate and devouring it in two bites.

"These are actually not half bad." He said surprised, popping a second one into his mouth.

"I'm so glad you like them!" She crooned, clasping her hands together.

The Uchiha rolled his eyes, chewing his brownie fully and swallowing. Taking a third, he flicked the plate away and started walking away from the pink-haired girl to sit on the couch.

"So what did you really come here for?" He inhaled the chocolatey confection.

To his dismay, she came to sit next to him on the couch. He tried scooting over. She just followed.

"Can't I just bring you something to eat as an apology?"

"That is the sorriest excuse for an excuse I ever heard." He made another attempt at scooting away. "What's the real reason?"

Sakura took a glance at the clock on the wall. Just a few minutes...

"Excuse me, Sasuke; may I use your bathroom?"

Sasuke bared his teeth in annoyance that she ignored his question. He pointed in the vague direction of his bathroom. She smiled and stood, making sure to sway her hips dramatically on the way.

"Goddamnit Sakura - what the hell is taking you so long?!" The Uchiha was furious and impatient; she had been in the bathroom almost fifteen minutes. He'd gotten up from his seat on the couch, pounding on the door with his fists.

"I want you out of my damn house... now..." It's kind of hot in here...

Sakura emerged as if on cue, watching Sasuke stumble as he no longer had a door to lean on.

"I apologize, I wasn't feeling too well."

"Yeah, well I'm tired'a... wai-...waiting for you..." The Uchiha wiped the sweat from his brow, steadying himself on the wall beside the door.

"SASUKE!"

She knew that voice. Sakura whipped her head around to see Naruto burst through the doorway and run fullspeed towards her. She shoved Sasuke hard on the chest, causing him to fall backwards onto the floor. She heard a very faint cracking sound as his head hit the wooden floorboards.

"Get out of here, you idiot! You're ruining my plan!"

"You're...plan?" Sasuke grabbed his throat, his voice already faltering. "You dr'gged me... din't you?"

The blonde rushed to Sasuke's side, picking up his head and cradling it gently in his arms. He looked up at the cherry blossom and scowled viciously, bearing his teeth.

"Get out of this house. You are nothing but a bitch - a dirty whore, a fucking skank, a lying piece of shit that deserves nothing to do with us. I'm sorry I ever tried to stay friends with you."

His words were precise and hoarsely spoken, cutting into Sakura like knives. His blue eyes spoke of nothing but disgust, burning into her skull.

"Yeah! Get.. hell outta my house you.. you... yeah s'what I said."

"You're nothing but an annoyance, Naruto! I'll have Sasuke, and there's nothing you can do to stop me!"

Tears were pouring from her eyes despite her attempt to seem strong. She kicked Naruto hard in the chest from his position next to Sasuke, sending him back a few feet. She then attempted to dive on top of him, Naruto catching her by the wrists as she fought to harm the blonde. They struggled, fighting for dominance in the situation. Sakura managed to get in a hard slap to Naruto's face.

"Don't... Naruto..."

Sasuke was failing, his senses were dulling as he reached out and grabbed Sakura's ankle, pulling her with all of the strength he had left. She yelped as she hit the hardwood floor, landing next to the one who pulled her. Even in his dazed state Sasuke was able to pull his body up along with Sakura by her collar.

He punched her in the face as hard as he could.

"You're so... g'damn... fake bitch... all fake..."

He stumbled, coughing violently as Naruto watched the girl stand.

"You don't know anything! You two should just go on being fucking GAY with each other, see if I care! I'm tired of acting nice and leaving you messages and trying to get you to love me, if you want to get a cock up your ass, THAT'S FINE WITH ME!"

And Sakura stormed out, teardrops falling in time with her footsteps. Sasuke cringed at the noise as Sakura slammed the door shut behind her.

"Sasuke!!" Naruto shook himself out of the shock, rushing over to Sasuke's side and once again holding his head gingerly in his lap. He noticed that the Uchiha was bleeding at the back of his head.

Oh shit! "Sasuke, can you hear me? Sasuke!"

"Nn... yeah?"

"Don't fall asleep, Sasuke. Try to stay awake." Naruto was trembling; he knew that falling asleep when one had a head injury was bad news. Even if it was only minor, as in this case. Sasuke managed a chuckle from deep within his chest.

"I'm... drugs..." His eyelids fluttered, he smirked. "I can't... stay 'wake..."

Tears from Naruto's eyes splashed onto the brunette's face.

"I'm sorry Sasuke. I'm sorry for what I said." He spoke in a voice that was so small.

"Hey."

"...Yeah?"

"Don't.. w'ry 'bout it... I - I still..."

"Sasuke?" He shook the boy in his arms, scared out of his mind. Somehow, he felt as if Sasuke wasn't going to wake up after this. Tears traveled down his cheeks in abundance now, clouding his vision. "Sasuke!!"

"I.. still..."

He shook him again, but with no answer. Naruto laid his head on the brunette's chest, and with that, he was out like a light.

"He'll be fine. Don't worry, Naruto."

Kakashi took his hand from Sasuke's forehead, who had been put into his bed after he had passed out. Naruto paced nervously around the room, thinking whether or not he should have called a real doctor.

"When will he wake up?"

"Well... I'm not sure. I know from study that these kinds of drugs can last 12 hours, but it might be longer with the head injury he has. Although," he gently tilted Sasuke's head to the side to inspect the wound, "it's not that serious."

Sitting at the foot of the bed, Kakashi looked at Naruto very seriously with his one visible eye. "You're very lucky you came back in time before Sakura could do anything."

The blonde shuddered at the thought.

"Do you think she'll try again?"

"From what she said according to you, I don't think so. What perfect timing from Kiba, you should thank him, you know."

Naruto nodded. "You know, I wasn't planning on coming back after we fought. But I just couldn't let Sakura do something like that..."

"Because you love him? You know you would've come back eventually."

Naruto smiled brilliantly. "Kakashi-sensei, how do you know everything?"

"Those books I read aren't only porn, you know. They do have some plot to them."

The laughed together, then as if they were sharing thoughts, both turned to glance at the young man asleep in the bed. Kakashi didn't know everything, and they both were a little worried. Naruto sat next to Sasuke's head, brushing bangs out of lidded eyes. Even though he was drugged, he looked so serene sleeping there, and he even chuckled when he re-read the stupid sayings on his shirt.

"I think I should have a talk with Sakura."

Naruto raised an eyebrow. "What exactly are you going to say?"

"What do you think? I'm not going to let one of my old students get away with things like this. Besides, now that remember it, I want to ask her if she was the one who put Hana up to sleeping with Shikamaru."

"Geez," Naruto chuckled, "he's not that attractive, is he?"

Kakashi didn't follow suit with laughing. In fact, he was not amused at all. "I want to know what's gotten into the girls in our village lately."

"Good luck."

Kakashi stood, completely dumbfounded, in the center of Sakura's living room. He couldn't believe what he was hearing, he was positive he had to go home and clean out his ears. Sakura lounged calmly on her couch, periodically dabbing away the tears that fell from her eyes.

"Is that all you wanted to know?"

There was long pause.

"..Why would you do something like that?"

"Because Hana liked Shikamaru, and she deserved him more than Kiba did."

"And what exactly did you bribe Hana with to make her sleep with her own brother's boyfriend?" Kakashi was getting angry; he expected the young people in this village to grow up to be respectable human beings. Instead they drug each other and sleep with other people's boyfriends and girlfriends.

She just shrugged. "It wasn't hard. She was homophobic, anyway."

"You do all these horrible things, how can you be crying? You don't even deserve to be upset, honestly." Only this old man could stay calm while at the same time being insulting.

Sakura, on the other hand, grew enraged. "Because I love Sasuke! He was taken away from me!"

"You don't love anyone, Sakura! If you loved him you wouldn't have drugged him!"

"Kakashi-"

"He's gay, Sakura. No matter how much you love him, he'll never love you back."

She gave up arguing, burying her face in the arm of the couch. She sobbed louder than Kakashi had ever thought possible. She was confused, she was lonely, and it seemed that rendering men senseless was the only way she'd get attention. Kakashi didn't know what to do. He was still pissed at her, but at this age and this point in her life, there was no way to convince her that this wasn't the way to try and be loved.

"Why can't you just try finding a relationship the normal way?"

"Nobody wants to go out with me..."

"That's probably because they're afraid you'll rape them. Your reputation is well known, you know."

That just made her sob even louder, and Kakashi gave out an exasperated sigh. She was never going to be happy unless she had somebody pay attention to her.

"You know, I heard through the grapevine that the Hyuuga boy was making eyes at you." I'm tooootally making this up.

"Neji? Really?" She looked up, hope in her eyes.

"Yeah." No, I'm lying through my teeth.

"You think I should say something to him?"

"I think if you do, you should be nice, and not try to drug him, okay?" And make sure not to mention my name at all.

She ran to him, hugging the daylights out of him. Kakashi mentally slapped himself for making up something like that using someone as stubborn as Neji. He just hoped to god that the Hyuuga found her at least a little attractive, or he'd have a whole new problem on his hands.

"I promise."

She ran out the door, and Kakashi let out a long breath. Maybe he had done a good deed if things turned out right, and there was no harm done to Sasuke.

Perhaps some good will finally come of all this mess...

Author's Note: I'm sorry if Sasuke's 'drugged' actions weren't accurate, but I've never seen anyone under those circumstances so I just had to guess. xD And wow... how did Sakura get so evil? The plot bunnies made her so, I guess. :P

Stay tuned.