Hey guys! New update! Thanks a lot to the people who reviewed! I appreciate it!
I don't think I have anymore to say up here…
"Is Sasuke-sama coming, Mama?" Shunsuke asked as he sat at the kitchen table and watched Sakura pull down three plates from the cabinet.
"He's got a lot to do tonight Shunsuke, we'll see." Sakura sighed. Her fingers gripped the plates tightly as she carried them to the table. Once she'd set them down, Shunsuke took the plates one by one from the stack and began placing them in front of three of the empty chairs.
"Woulda been nice if he said something…"
Sakura felt a blend of happiness that Shunsuke seemed to want Sasuke to come and also sadness because she wasn't sure if he'd be there or not. But her feelings were replaced by disappointment when Shunsuke continued. "If he doesn't want to come he should say so. If he does want to come he should say so. It's rude not to let people know if they should be expecting you-and nobody wants to be around a rude person."
Sakura set the glasses down on the table and looked at her son. "When Sasuke comes, can you do me a favor and act…your age…or sociable. Whichever one works best."
"If he comes," Shunsuke corrected arranging the glasses on the table. Sakura shot her son a look and the young child cast his eyes down on the table and began biting the inside of his mouth- remaining silent.
At seven o'clock exactly, there was a loud knock on the door.
"I wonder who that could be," Shunsuke sighed with a slight roll of his eyes. Sakura sternly cocked a brow at him and he sank into the chair.
"Sorry Mama," he sighed flatly.
"Can you answer the door for me?" Shunsuke looked at Sakura with eyes that pleaded not to make him. Sakura suppressed a sigh, gave her son a look reminding him of what she'd said earlier, then went to answer the door.
"Sasuke! I'm glad you made it!" She smiled and stepped aside to welcome him in. Sasuke nodded politely and stepped inside. Sakura led him into the kitchen where Shunsuke sat at the table engrossed in a "stain" on the glass.
Noticing that her son had no intention of looking up, Sakura smiled and appeared to sound cheerful. "Shunsuke look who's here."
Shunsuke looked towards the two adults and smiled politely. "Hello Sasuke-sama." He said quietly before turning back to the glass.
Sasuke nodded again, and Sakura gave him a light push to sit down. She put dinner on the table quickly in hopes to alleviate the awkward silence that had descended upon the kitchen.
"Ooh yum, tomatoes!" Shunsuke smiled as his plate was placed in front of him.
"Do you…like tomatoes?" Sasuke asked hesitantly.
Shunsuke nodded. "Yes sir, they're my favorite." He replied respectfully and kept his eyes on his plate.
Sakura waited for Sasuke to continue the conversation, but upon seeing that the older man wouldn't, Sakura jumped in. "You know Shunsuke, Sasuke loves tomatoes too!"
Sasuke shot Sakura a quick surprised look before looking back at Shunsuke. How had Sakura remembered such an insignificant thing about him?
"Really?" Shunsuke asked- directing the question really to Sakura rather than Sasuke.
"Mhmmm" Sakura nodded. "Don't you Sasuke?" She smiled and cocked her head pointedly.
"Hm? Yeah. I do." Sasuke nodded into his plate. He wasn't trying to be withdrawn, but Sakura's previous statement had admittedly and inexplicably left the Uchiha slightly flustered. He'd honestly thought that after leaving-twice for that matter-all memories of him departed with him. Besides, he'd never explicitly told Sakura this fact, so the fact that she knew it was rather shocking.
"Oh…" Shunsuke nodded. "….Cool."
It was awkwardly silent for a while and Sakura decided to speak. Yet again. "So Shunsuke, how was school today?"
Shunsuke's eyes lit up for a second and he perked up, but then he hunched back down in his chair. "It was fine."
"Well what happened?" Sakura smiled.
"Nothin'…me, Aito, Asuko, and Mamoru played ninja after class…that was it." Shunsuke muttered into his plate.
"What…did you four do?" Sasuke asked in order to terminate the pointed glare that Sakura was shooting him.
"Huh?"
"You and your friends?"
"…Played ninja." Shunsuke blinked. He gave Sasuke a quick look, questioning why the older man made him repeat himself.
Sakura noticed Sasuke's jaw tighten in discomfort and possibly embarrassment. "How's target training going?" she asked.
Shunsuke perked up again. "Ten outta ten," he grinned wiggling his eyebrows.
"Shunsuke's pretty accurate for his age."
"Pretty?" Shunsuke stressed pointedly.
"Very." Sakura corrected herself. "Even monkeys fall from trees, Shunsuke." She joked.
Shunsuke leaned forward and locked eyes with Sakura. "Guess it's good I'm a boy then, huh?" He joked back, brushing off the proverb Sakura used to keep his confidence from turning into arrogance. Sakura laughed back and rolled her eyes at her son.
"Do you practice a lot?" Sasuke asked a bit uncomfortably- feeling like he was intruding on the conversation.
"Yeah. I try to get fifteen in a row everyday." Shunsuke nodded.
"I usually take him into the forest on Saturday mornings to work with him…Feel free to join us whenever you want." Sakura smiled. Two sets of onyx eyes shot quickly towards her. Sakura ignored them and continued smiling on. She knew that it was pushing it, however, she was banking on the fact that Shunsuke was too respectful to say anything in front of Sasuke and also on the fact that Sasuke was too intent on building a relationship with Shunsuke to decline the offer right in front of him.
"Yeah," was all both males muttered and avoided eye contact. Dinner conversation had exceeded its maximum and it slowly declined for the remainder of the night. No one looked at one another-even Sakura kept her eyes distracted by various things in the kitchen.
Despite a tense ending to dinner, Sakura planned on inviting Sasuke to stay a little longer. However, the only thing running through the other two's heads was to end the awkwardness as soon as possible.
"Sasuke, why don't you come sit outside with us?"
"I need to head home now," Sasuke replied quickly- already getting up from the table. Shunsuke mirrored his actions.
"Yeah, 'sides I can't anyway Mama, I've gotta go to school tomorrow. I need to get to bed. I'm gonna take a bath now. Bye Sasuke-sama!" Shunsuke waved as he walked quickly into the bathroom and closed the door behind him. By the time Shunsuke had closed the door, Sasuke had already made his way to the front door and was closing it behind him. Sakura could have been happy to see Shunsuke and Sasuke working together for once-even if it was to get away from one another-but Sakura refused to let their relationship continue on as it was.
"Sasuke! Sasuke!" Sakura hissed, following him outside and lightly shutting the door.
"What?" Sasuke asked turning slightly around to face her.
"What are you doing?" Sasuke raised his left brow and Sakura went on. "You complained about not spending enough time with him and now look what you do!"
"…Sakura…I'm sorry…You were right, alright? I should have waited. Things right now are just too…awkward. Goodnight." Sasuke turned silently and continued down the path to his home. He was felt exhausted after admitting his dejection, and the only thing he wanted was to go home.
Sakura bit her lower lip and watched him leave, then rested her head on the door frame. Her entire body flooded with sympathy for Sasuke and his pain distressed her. Slowly, she closed her eyes and breathed deeply. What the hell was she going to do now?
"It's awful Naruto!" Sakura sighed as she sat at her friend's wooden table. She was on her way to work, but since she had extra time, she stopped by Naruto's apartment. "Sasuke's too proud and stoic to admit that what Shunsuke's doing is hurting him or to try to reach out to him. And Shunsuke's too overwhelmed and confused to know what to do!"
Naruto stood leaning against the counter, devouring a bowl of ramen. "Maybe you should stop with the 'family' stuff," Naruto suggested with a shrug.
"Hmm?"
"Like, ya know, you guys are doing a lot of stuff that's just the three of you. And it's no surprise that all of you find that awkward. And as long as Shunsuke is weirded out by it, it's gonna make it harder for Sasuke to reach him. Why don't you guys do group stuff?- Hey I know! Why don't we all go out for dinner this time? You, me, Shunsuke, Sasuke, and Kakashi-sensei? Shunsuke's used to spending time with the three of us and with more people there for him to turn to when he starts feeling weird, then it might not be so bad!"
Sakura nodded slowly. "Naruto, that's actually a pretty great idea! You think you'd wanna do it tomorrow night? I get off at three so I'll have plenty of time."
"Uhh, it's dinner, duh I can make it. Hey you want me to invite Sasuke for you? Might work better that way."
Sakura gave a short laugh and nodded. "Great! Well I'll go talk to Kakashi-sensei and you let me know what Sasuke says. See ya, and thanks again!" Sakura jumped from the table and quickly hurried to Kakashi-sensei's home before it was time for her shift to start.
"Well, Sasuke's in," Naruto smiled as he leaned against Sakura's desk and watched her leaf through some papers.
She looked up at him and smiled. "Really? That's great! Kakashi-sensei said he'll be there too. So uh…how'd Sasuke act when you asked him."
"Ah, you know that asshole," Naruto shrugged. "He bitched about not doing it, then I threatened to kick his ass and he was so afraid that he decided to come."
Sakura laughed, knowing Naruto was joking and shook her head. "Well I don't know how you did it, but I'm glad you did. I owe you one."
"Well think of an acceptable form of payment I'm sure," Naruto winked playfully and moved closer to his friend. Sakura attempted to glare at the blonde, but ended up laughing instead.
"Naruto, don't make me kill you, huh? I need you there tonight."
"That's funny, you're not the first woman to tell me that today." This time Sakura's glare was evident and Naruto jumped up and grinned.
"Gotta go, bye!" He called as he hurriedly leapt out of the open window and out of Sakura's range.
That night Shunsuke came into Sakura's bedroom as she was putting laundry in the drawer.
"Mama, are we eating dinner tonight?" Shunsuke asked plopping down on the bed. He rolled on his back, picked up her pillow, and began tossing it up in the air.
"Yeah, we're leaving to go in a second. Kakashi-sensei had to do something for Lady Tsunade, so we'll be leaving when he's done."
"Ah yay we're goin out to eat with Kakashi-sensei? Nice! Uncle Naruto coming too?"
"Yep!" Sakura smiled closing the drawer.
Shunsuke rolled over on his stomach and sat up. "Anybody else coming?"
Sakura sighed, "Yes Shunsuke, Sasuke-sama's coming too. We were all on the same team and we haven't eaten together in years so we figured we would tonight."
Shunsuke was silent for a while. "When are we leaving?" There was a knocking on the door as Shunsuke finished up his sentence.
"If that's Naruto, then right now," Sakura smiled and ruffled her son's hair as she went to get the door.
Shunsuke was relatively chipper as the trio walked to the restaurant, but as soon as he saw Sasuke waiting at the table with Kakashi, his demeanor began to shift. Sakura took his hand and squeezed it tightly. When he looked at her she flashed him a reassuring smile and he gave her a slight smile back.
"Hey guys what's up!" Naruto shot his hand in the air as the three made their way to the table.
"Hello all," Kakashi's eye closed in a smile as he nodded back.
"Hey Kakashi-sensei, hey Sasuke." Sakura waved.
"Hey Shunsuke," Kakashi continued smiling as he looked at the young child walking a half step behind his mother.
"Hi Kakashi-sensei," Shunsuke stepped up to the older gentleman and gave him a quick tight hug. Pulling away, he shot a quick, nervous glance at Sasuke, "Hey Sasuke-sama."
"Hello Shunsuke," Sasuke replied for the first time that night.
"So is everyone ready to eat?" Sakura smiled as she sat down. She knew to avoid as many awkward pauses as possible. Sasuke, Shunsuke, and Kakashi nodded and Naruto shouted out an eager yes. The table for the barbeque was already heated and a hefty man placed slabs of raw meat on the sizzling grill.
As the meat cooked, the five uneasily conversed. The conversation tethered lightly among the adults, but most of it was directed towards Shunsuke and things like how his training at the Academy was going.
Towards the end of dinner, Shunsuke unconsciously opened up an opportunity for Sakura to once again get him and Sasuke to spend time together. "Next Saturday, the Academy's doin' a expedition. We're s'posed to showcase our progress."
"What time?" Kakashi asked stretching backward. One of his hands lightly rubbed his full stomach.
"Nine in the mornin'. The younger kids are going first and the older class is last."
"And tell them what else," Sakura smiled.
Shunsuke beamed. "I get to go with the older kids!"
"Whaaat no way!" Naruto roughly ruffled the young child's hair and Shunsuke laughed.
"Yeah," Shunsuke continued nodding. "I'm going with Iruka-sensei's class."
"The students about to test for genin?" Kakashi asked, quirking his visible brow at Sakura.
She gave a short, proud laugh and nodded. "I know, pretty unreal huh?"
"If he's that good why doesn't he go ahead and test for genin?" Sasuke asked.
"Looong story," Sakura spoke lowly and sighed, spinning her cup in her hands, "remind me to tell you later. But yeah we're still considering it. So!-is everybody coming?"
Naruto shrugged, "Yeah Grandma Tsunade's been screwing me over so I probably won't be on any missions. Y'know I wouldn't miss it Shunsuke." Naruto reached over and lightly pushed the giggling young boy's head.
Kakashi nodded. "I'll do my best to make it too."
After a few seconds of silence, Sakura spoke. "Sasuke?"
The look of confliction was portrayed by Sasuke's narrowed eyes and he opened his mouth slowly to speak.
"You should come Sasuke-sama." Shunsuke sighed, scratching the back of his neck and avoiding eye contact. Everyone looked at him in surprise and finally Sasuke spoke.
"…I'll be there."
A slow smile spread on Sakura and Naruto's face and Kakashi's eye closed in approval.
"Great!" Sakura beamed. As dinner wrapped up, Sakura dropped her hand below the table and gave her son a light, proud pinch. He looked at Sakura with a weak smile and deep in his eyes there was still that cynical look towards Sasuke. He made a discreet, pointed look at a table across the restaurant where ice cream was being served, then looked back at Sakura. A slow frown formed on her face. Maybe this wasn't getting any easier...
Hope I'm not moving too fast. This chapter was kinda long but it's because of the slower updates and also so we can move things along *wink wink.* The next chapter is already half way done and it provides a little more insight on how Shunsuke's feeling about this situation. Let's see if we can turn things around, shall we?
Review pretty please! Thanks =D
See ya soon! xoxoxoxoxo