Sasuke spent the next three hours at the hospital with Karin, trying his best to act like a real boyfriend. Once she was given food and water and medicine to help her sleep, he left for his house, glancing at the clock on his way out.

"Ten o'clock..." he thought, shoving his hands in his pockets. "I wonder if I have enough time to stop at Sakura's before I get home. Her house is on the way, after all..." He studied his feet as they moved forward along the road. Several scenarios ran through his mind, and he searched for the one that he thought would make her the most jealous.

Sasuke reached Sakura's house and rang the doorbell. A tired Sakura answered, rubbing her eyes. "Sasuke? What are you doing here?" she asked.

Sasuke smirked at her. "Just thought I'd tell you I have a girlfriend."

Sakura stared at him. "You woke me up for THAT?" She promptly slammed the door in his face.

Sasuke scratched the back of his head. As much as he hated to admit it, that was exactly how it would probably go. "Nah...I'll wait until tomorrow...and when Naruto's not with her..." He frowned. "But they spend all their time together nowadays...I'm surprised nobody's figured it out yet..." He shook his head and shrugged, forming a plan as he walked the rest of the way home.

The next morning Sasuke was up bright and early, even going as far as setting his alarm the night before. He headed to his bathroom for a shower, taking the time to fix his hair afterwards. After deciding he looked even better than usual, Sasuke got dressed and practically ran out the door. He jogged all the way to Sakura's house, and was almost there when he turned a corner and ran straight into Karin.

"What are you doing here? Finally get out of the hospital?" Sasuke asked with a scowl, forgetting that he was supposed to be her boyfriend.

"Sasuke, you silly-willy!" Karin cooed, pinching his cheek. Sasuke went red. "I was coming to see you, of course! Wow...you look so nice! What are you doing up so early?"

Sasuke shrugged nervously. "Uh...going to see you," he thought up.

Karin grinned. "Aw, that's so sweet of you!" She wrapped her arms around him in a tight hug, and Sasuke looked down at her unpleasantly. "So Sasuke, I was thinking we should do something special for our first date!"

Sasuke contorted his face into what he thought might look similar to a smile, and managed a quick, "Of course."

"I knew you'd agree!" Karin cried, standing on her toes to try and kiss him. Sasuke noticed and quickly grabbed her shoulders, holding her back. She frowned. "What's wrong, Sasuke-kun?"

A thousand excuses flew through Sasuke's mind. "Uh...I didn't brush my teeth this morning," he lied. Sasuke grit his teeth and mentally reprimanded himself. Out of anything he could have said...

Karin blinked at him. "That IS kind of gross...but I don't mind!" She leaned in again, and Sasuke stopped her quickly.

"Er...I'm hungry! Aren't you hungry? Let's go get something to eat!" Sasuke cried suddenly, grabbing her hand and pulling her in a random direction.

"Sasuke, it's too early! Nothing's open yet!" Karin complained, abandoning her attempts to kiss him.

Sasuke grinned. It may not have happened exactly the way he'd planned it, but... "Well, why don't we go see one of my friends, then? That'll pass the time!"

"But I don't wanna go see your friends!" Karin tried to pull away.

"Of course you do! It would make me happy." He looked at her innocently. "Don't you want me to be happy, Karin?"

Karin looked at him with a wistful sigh. "Of course I do, Sasuke!"

Sasuke's innocent look was immediately replaced with a demanding glare. "Good. Then we're going to Sakura's."

Karin frowned as he led her towards the house. "Her? Why do we have to see HER?"

"She's closest. And she wakes up the earliest," Sasuke lied.

"Hmph. Well...I guess that makes sense..." Karin said with a frown.

They reached the house and Sasuke rang the doorbell. After a moment he heard footsteps, and the door was wrenched open. "Naruto! I told you not to wake me up so early!" Sakura eyes widened. "Sasuke..." she said nervously. "What are you doing here?" She spotted Karin. "Oh...hi," she said, a bit more relieved.

"We just thought we'd stop by to say hi," Sasuke said, flashing her a smile. Sakura blinked at him like he had two heads.

"Why are you smiling at me like that?" she asked.

The grin was wiped from Sasuke's face. "Uh...no reason. Anyway, I just thought I'd say hi to you, and I brought my GIRLFRIEND Karin along!" He pulled Karin to him and wrapped his arm around her, trying to keep from frowning. "Make this look convincing, Uchiha..."

Karin sighed happily and leaned against him.

Sakura raised an eyebrow. "You have a girlfriend now?" She thought she had a pretty good idea of what was going on.

Sasuke nodded. "Yup. Does that...bother you in any way?"

Sakura's eyebrow went higher. Now she KNEW what was going on. She smirked at him. "No...why?"

A small frown flitted across Sasuke's face for a moment before he returned to normal. "Just wondering." He pulled Karin even more tightly against himself, even running a hand through her hair. "But yeah, we're dating. Happily."

"Mmmhmm..." Sakura said, crossing her arms.

Sasuke frowned. "What? Don't believe me?"

Sakura smirked at him and shook her head.

Sasuke glared. "Why not?"

She shrugged and looked away. "I just don't."

Sasuke's frown deepened, and Karin looked at Sakura angrily. "What, does he have to convince you now?" Karin said angrily.

The edge of Sakura's mouth twitched upwards slightly. "Kiss."

"WHAT?" Sasuke's eyes bugged out of his head.

"I said: kiss. Then I'll believe you."

Sasuke's eye twitched. This was NOT going the way he'd planned. But he couldn't back out now...or Sakura would know he was only trying to make her jealous. And his pride would be completely crushed.

He turned slowly towards a grinning Karin, who was already leaning in. Sasuke shut his eyes unpleasantly and puckered his lips. "Pretend it's Sakura, pretend it's Sakura..." he thought frantically.

He had intended for it to be a light peck on the lips, but apparently Karin had other plans. Sasuke's eyes jerked open when he felt something wet against his lips, and he gasped in surprise, which he soon realized was a HUGE mistake. He waved his arms around in circles frantically, but Karin grabbed his face and held him to her.

Finally she released him with a loud smacking sound, and Sasuke fled from the room and into the nearest bathroom, where a puking noise could be heard. Both girls stared in his direction humorously.

"Poor Sasuke, that was probably his first REAL kiss," Karin said with a smile. "I bet I made him nervous!"

Sakura hid her grin. "You sure did."

Sasuke came out frowning and wiping his mouth on his sleeve. "We're leaving," he said bluntly, grabbing Karin's wrist and pulling her out the door without another word. Sakura watched them go with a small smile on her face.

"Just wait until I tell Naruto about this."

As soon as they were out of Sakura's view, Sasuke stopped and turned to face a joyous Karin.

"Where are we going next, Sasuke!" she cried.

"Nowhere!" he exclaimed, releasing her hand. "We are going nowhere together!"

Karin's looked up at him sadly. "W-why not?"

Sasuke glared at her. "I don't like you! I never liked you! I like Sakura, and I just used you to make her jealous, okay?! So please, just GO AWAY!"

Karin stared at him. Her lip slowly began to tremble, and Sasuke quickly changed his expression. "Look, I'm sorry Karin, I've just had a bad couple days. I didn't mean to make you cr..."

"I'm not crying!" Karin shouted angrily. "I can't believe you used me! You...you...ASSHOLE!"

At this point all Sasuke could do was sigh and wait for the pain to come.

And come it did. But not exactly in the place he had expected.

Sasuke let out a high pitched squeak and fell to the ground as Karin walked away with a satisfied smile.

He stuck his hands between his legs and hissed, lying there for a few minutes. Finally, he found the strength to get up and limp over to a nearby bench, collapsing on it with a grunt and leaning his head back so he could stare up at the sky.

A soft humming came from somewhere nearby, and Sasuke sat up and looked around, spotting Naruto walking nearby. Naruto doubled back after passing a bloomed flower, staring at it for a second. After a moment, he smiled, bending over and picking it up. "Sakura'll like this. And it's perfect to give to her before our date at the carnival today!" Naruto frowned for a moment. "Too bad we'll have to act like we're just friends the entire time..." He kicked a pebble. "I just wish we could tell everyone...but I want Sakura to be happy too, and she doesn't want anyone to know just yet..."

Sasuke watched him silently, but Naruto didn't seem to notice him, and continued on his way towards Sakura's house. Sasuke frowned. "Date at the carnival, eh?" He looked down at his knees in thought. "I should follow them and ruin it. Yeah." He complimented himself on his brilliance, getting up and creeping after Naruto silently. When Naruto reached Sakura's house, Sasuke hid at his usual place. Earlier when he had seen her, Sakura had been in her pajamas. But now she was all ready to go, it seemed, and Sasuke saw her grin and take the flower from Naruto, quickly pulling him inside.

He waited for a few minutes, and eventually they both came back out. Sasuke frowned when he saw Sakura trying to fix her now messed up hair. Eventually Naruto and Sakura were on their way, with Sasuke trailing them carefully.

"I can't believe I didn't know about this thing," Sasuke thought as they arrived at the carnival. Luckily, he had brought his wallet, and was able to get in behind the couple. "So this is where everyone's been this morning...I thought maybe nobody was up yet..."

Almost immediately, Naruto and Sakura were lost in the crowd. Sasuke looked for them frantically, to no avail, but he could hear a familiar voice calling out from nearby.

"Free love potion! It works, I swear! Take it!" Sasuke spotted Rock Lee on the side of the road, waving something in his hand at random people, who just shook their heads and ignored him.

"Love potion..." Sasuke thought. He approached Rock Lee suspiciously. "What's this about a love potion?"

"Sasuke!" Rock Lee cried. He shoved the potion into Sasuke's hands. "You have to take this from me!"

"Why don't you want it, if it works?" Sasuke asked.

Rock Lee's eyes widened. "I just wanted to test it...for laughs, you know? I found it in a garbage can yesterday. I only took a drop of it. Just a drop. But when I looked up at Gai-sensei..." Hearts replaced Rock Lee's eyes.

"Lee..." Sasuke said nervously, shoving the boy lightly. Lee came out of his trance.

"See? See what it does? I didn't read the directions until afterwards! You fall in love with the first person you look at! For a whole day!" Lee shuddered. "I have to avoid sensei today...or else I might..." He gulped. "I mean...I...gah!" He grabbed his head in frustration. "I kissed Gai-sensei, Sasuke! KISSED HIM! I can hardly believe it myself, but I did it!" Rock Lee's face went green.

Sasuke looked at him strangely. "Well...can I have it?"

Lee nodded quickly. "Of course! Take it! I never want to see it again!"

Sasuke shrugged and looked at the bottle, slowly walking away.

"THANK YOU!" Lee called after him.

Sasuke was too immersed in his own thoughts to reply.

(A/N: Don't worry, it'll ALL go wrong, LOL.)