Querencia

Chapter Nine

Just read, enjoy, have a good laugh or two. Have a tear slip here and there. Get mad at cliffhangers or late updates, and review. Even if it's just a one word review~

Fall was slowly making its arrival in Konoha. While it was still unbearably hot in the middle of the day and late afternoon, it was fairly chilly early in the morning. Even with the the cold winds hitting his face, his body still burned at the thought at what had happened yesterday.

After it had happened, Sasuke took it upon himself to leave the room. It was time for cold shower. His train of thought was a jumbled mess. He couldn't even think straight. He kissed her. Sakura was going to kill him. Sasuke was sure that he had taken her first kiss from her, unwillingly too. While a small part of him rejoiced at that thought, a bigger part of him couldn't believe how stupid he was. Who the hell leans in closer to someone that's already less than a centimeter away?

Sasuke groaned, internally smacking himself.

Trying to shove that situation aside, he took out his phone and began playing on one of the apps as he waited for Sakura.

There weren't that many students littering the campus yet, it was still early, just the way that he prefered. Looking around, Sasuke figured he could get used to this. The area in front of Sakura's morning lecture was nicely groomed, home to a couple of trees and some potted plants. There was a fountain at the entrance of the building, making it very tranquil.

A buzz from his phone took his attention away from his surroundings. It was a message from Sakura. Ignoring the little jump that his heart did at the sight of her name on his screen, he opened it up.

"I'm not even in lecture yet and I'm already dying…"

He snorted. Leave it to Sakura to be overly dramatic about an 8am lecture. Sure, they were kind of brutal but they weren't necessarily that bad in his opinion. He would have gladly traded any of his afternoon classes for a morning one. Unfortunately, none of his classes were offered in the morning.

As he caught sight of some pink out of corner of his eye, he didn't bother to send a reply back and pocketed his phone.

Sakura didn't even notice him. She appeared to be sleepwalking, eyes opening every other step. She didn't even bother to put a lot of effort into her appearance either. She was in an slightly oversized hoodie and leggings, with her pastel locks thrown into a messy bun on top of her head. She still looked adorable though.

She would have bumped into him if he hadn't called out her name. Smirking, he teased, "Still sleeping sleepyhead?"

She raised her head and gave him a tired look. But at the sight of the coffee in her hand, she began to make grabby hands at it. "Oh my gosh! Can I please have some?"

Deciding to tease her a little longer, Sasuke held the coffee up over his head. With his other hand, he blocked her incoming hands. Smirking, he asked, "Who said that this was for you?"

"Oh come on, Sasuke." Sakura pouted, rubbing the sleep out of her eyes. "I'm the one here with the morning lecture!"

"And?"

"And, I need the caffeine. Come on, sharing is caring."

Messing with her bun, he flicked her on the forehead. "I bought it for you anyways, dummy." Sasuke handed the coffee into her waiting hands, lips turning upward.

Sakura took a sip of the coffee and sighed happily as she cradled the cup to her chest. "You're the best, Sasuke."

"Obviously."

"Oh, stop." Sakura laughed. Shaking her head, she said, "Maybe I shouldn't have said that. It just inflates your already huge ego even more."

"But it's true."

Smacking him on the shoulder, she glared at him teasingly. She leaned forward and rested her forehead on his chest.

Usually on any other day, Sasuke didn't really mind when Sakura would do this from time to time. Granted, Sasuke didn't really mind anything that Sakura did. It didn't bother him because it was Sakura.

But after what had happened, not more than 24 hours ago, Sasuke could feel his ears burning at their extremely close proximity. With her head resting right under his nose, he caught the strawberry scent of her shampoo, making his heart beat a little faster. Squeezing his eyes shut, he tried to block off the feelings. But it was no use as he began to feel the tingling feeling of the kiss from the night before.

This was seriously driving him insane.

.

They had decided to get lunch after his class.

Sasuke was the first to get out of his seat the moment it was time to go. A couple of his classmates had bid him goodbye but he didn't say anything in return, just a simple nod. Stepping out his building, he found her waiting for him at the bottom of the steps, sitting on a bench. Sakura looked up from her phone at the same time that he had called out her name.

Waving at him, she gather all of things before walking towards him a smile. "To lunch we go. I hope you're hungry because I am."

"Hn."

Sakura had traded out her outfit earlier that day with a simple, floral romper. Her hair was no longer in a messy bun, but loose waves falling over her shoulders.

As they walked across campus to uptown Konoha, Sakura wasted no time before launching into stories about her day thus far, doing most of the talking for him. Sasuke would respond every now and then to let her know that he was still following along.

She was completely out of breath by the time they reached Ichiraku, cheeks flushed. Turning to him, she asked breathlessly, "So, how was your day?"

"Kind of whatever." He shrugged before pulling out a seat for her.

"Of course, ever so nonchalant you are Uchiha." Sakura laughed. Skimming through the lunch menu, she asked, "Is Naruto in any of your classes?"

"One today. A couple tomorrow."

Sakura nodded, biting her finger as she continued to look at the menu. Smiling a little bit, she looked up at him, "I'm surprised he didn't tag along. This is like his favorite restaurant in the world."

"He had a date or something with Hinata."

"Now that makes sense," she smiled. "They're such a cute couple."

"Hn."

.

Ichiraku had gotten busier as lunch time rolled by and it was now late afternoon. With the both of them done for the day, they had taken their sweet time with the food. Sakura continued sharing more stories about her classes, or her roommates, or just random things in general. Someone on the outside looking in might have thought that she was annoying him with her constant chatter, but it didn't. Sasuke actually enjoyed it. He liked it; the fact that he was the first person she would share her stories with.

Taking one last sip of his drink, Sasuke stood up to go find their waitress. She disappeared some time after she brought them their food. Just as Sakura was pulling out her wallet to pay, Sasuke shot her a glare. "No."

Raising her hands up in defense, she sputtered, "Okay, mister. Jeez, you looked like you were about to kill me if I paid…"

"Maybe," he smirked.

Sakura rolled her eyes and waved him away. "Oh, just go find the waitress and pay already, Uchiha."

As Sasuke left their table to pay, Sakura pulled out her phone to check if anything important had happened in the past couple of hours. She found a couple from Naruto, crying that he couldn't go to his beloved restaurant with them, which she couldn't help but laugh at. Thank goodness Hinata appeared in his life or else he would be living off of ramen for the rest of time because she actually took him out to places with real food. After sending him an apologetic text, Sakura opened up a few texts from Ino. Seeing that it was just the latest gossip around campus, she put away her phone, she'll read those again later.

The moment she looked up and away from her phone, she was surprised to see someone sitting in Sasuke's seat. Not to mention, it wasn't someone that she knew. Raising an eyebrow at him, she asked, "Do I know you?..."

Shrugging his shoulders, he gave her a smile, "Probably not."

Sakura nodded her head slowly, "Okay..., then why are you sitting here?"

"Because I wanted to get to know you."

"Okay…why?"

"I just figured someone as attractive as you would be fitted enough to be with someone as extremely attractive as me." He winked at her, much to Sakura's disgust.

Attractive was putting it nicely, especially when she had a Sasuke for most of her life, this random guy's looks were above average at most. He had nice hair and warm brown eyes. His features weren't exactly stellar. Sure, he looked better than most guys she had seen on campus but in comparison to her insanely attractive best friend… She'll take a Sasuke instead.

"I'm sorry but I'm not really interested," Sakura declined politely as she could.

The guy threw his head back and laughed, "Keyword really. That means you're still interested."

Internally rolling her eyes, she forced a smile onto a face, "Fine. I take that back. I'm not interested at all."

"Oh come on, don't lie." He laughed. "I know you're interested. I mean, what's not to like?"

Everything, Sakura thought annoyingly. Patting his arm, she bit out, "Sorry, but I'm really, really, really am not interested."

When she went to withdraw her hand, he quickly snatched it back and pulled her forward, causing her seat to screech loudly across the tiled floors. With how busy it was at that hour, no one took notice. "Don't try the play it hard card. It doesn't work on me, cutie."

"Does the I'm taken card work?" Sakura retorted hotly as she tried to yank her hand out of his grasp.

"Taken?" He scoffed. "By who? I don't see a boyfriend around."

"It could be a girlfriend you know."

He gave her a doubtful look, "Sure."

"I'm serious, let me go." Sakura struggled.

"If you agree to go out with me."

"You're so full of yourself, you asshole."

"Don't you love it though? -"

"What are you doing?" Pale fingers took hold of his grasp on Sakura's arm. "I believe she said that she was taken."

Sakura felt a huge breath of relief come upon her at the sight of Sasuke coming to her defense, who was currently glaring daggers into the guy's skull. When she felt the guy's hold on her hand slacken and his eyes widen by a fraction, she knew it was over. Leave it to Sasuke to save the day. Her knight in shining armor.

.

Huffing, Sakura crossed her arms in front of her chest as she leaned back in the seat. "See, times like this, I wished I had a boyfriend to scare away all those assholes."

They left Ichiraku not long after the guy stumbled away mumbling some incoherent words of an apology. They had made it back to campus and were now sitting in Sasuke's car, heading back to his apartment.

Going unnoticed by Sakura's eyes, Sasuke's grip on the steering wheel tightened. She didn't how much her words were affecting him; making him all nervous. The heat wasn't even on in the car and he could feel himself sweating a little more with each passing second.

Boyfriend.

Just the mere word had his neck burning. And then connecting it with what had happened last night, he was sure his heart was about to jump out of his chest.

Then with some courage that he pulled straight from the sky, he coughed, and asked, "How about we go out then?"

{A/N}: Hope your guys' weekend is kicking off better than mine. Got into a car accident this morning on the way to classes... so let's just say I've had better days. This year is not going all too well for me to be very honest.

Anyways, hope you guys liked the chapter. Leave me a review to read~

Thank you to: memyselfandI98, Larshapeach, Emily da great, ReinaMoon, Dropsofchocolate, MademoiselleRED, Shannon Rei D. Sumner, FlowSoreto, jrenamae1, ILoveSxS, leiyn, Jeshimashe, Ally, LuminaJu, and a guest anon.