sorry for the late update!

thanks for the reviews and thanks to those who read my fic, you inspire me. :) maybe 3 chapters more and i'll end this story because classes are going to start soon. aw! i'll update more faster! haha. reviews please!

Sasuke pulled Sakura away and eyed her with wide eyes. "Nice teme!!" Naruto cheered. Sasuke looked down. "You're drunk sak." He said softly. "We're going guys, Itachi's here. And…Drive naruto home." He told his friends who were staring at him and melting him to death. He pulled sakura and went out. "Sasuke, were are we going?" Sakura asked. "Teme! Congratulations!!" Naruto yelled some more, only to find himself being smacked by neji on his head making him yell, this time, in pain. "you're so noisy damn it! Go home!"

Meanwhile inside the car, sakura unconsciously fell asleep. Sasuke stayed quiet and kept his gaze down. He didn't know what to feel. He knows she was drunk but why would she do that? "My little bro, did something happen?" Itachi smirked, knowing sasuke doesn't to be called by him that way. He looked up and raised his brow at itachi. "Hey, what will I do?" He asked and continued. "If Sakura's mom saw sakura like this, she will panic." He looked back at the passenger seat where sakura's sleeping form was. "Are you sure her mom or dad's at home?" Itachi asked back. "I don't know."

Itachi drove to sakura's house and stopped by in front of the gate. Sasuke went out of the car and rang the doorbell. A maid opened the gate and greeted sasuke. "Are sakura's parents here?" He asked the maid and she replied a no making sasuke sigh in relief. He signaled his brother who was still inside the car so itachi turned of the engine of his car and went out. "I'll carry her." Itachi offered to sasuke but sasuke cursed him instead. "I can do it. You might do something unpleasant to her." He said seriously though he was only exaggerating. The older uchiha laughed at this. "Idiot."

They carried sakura to her room and asked the maids to take care of her and make sure they wont inform her mom that she got drunk, not now.

BETTER THIS WAY

Chapter five- hints

"sasuke.. I'm sorry about last night." She looked away, seemed to be embarrassed.

They were at the hyuuga's mansion with their usual and forever friends. naruto and shino were playing billiards, chouji and kiba were eating, tenten and hinata were reading magazines while ino, shikamaru and neji were chatting.

She thought he didn't hear her because his eyes were closed and she assumed that he was sleeping. She sighed but suddenly he opened his eyes and just looked at her, eyes half-closed. "I heard it from the girls. I am so embarrassed. I promise I won't drink again." She looked very worried and nearly crying to him. "It's ok." He gave her a reassuring smile and abruptly, her face lit up.

A few feet away from them, ino glared at her two friends. She took the chance and asked her boyfriend and neji a question out of the blue. "tell me honestly, does sasuke love sakura?" She didn't hesitate and just asked it straight to the point. Shikamaru and neji exchanged looks for a second before shikamaru spoke. "what makes you say that? Of course he does, as a friend." Shikamaru questioned his girlfriend as if he's innocent. "I've been wanting to ask this for so long. Sakura is the only blind one not to notice." She glared suspiciously at the two boys. "You know sasuke, ino." Neji said. "Yes and you know him more than I do so probably, you know something." The two boys did not answer. "Don't worry, I wont say a word to sakura. But let me tell you, tell sasuke that he should tell her as soon as possible. Trust me! Or he will regret it." Ino stood up and went to where hinata and tenten were leaving shikamaru and neji speechless.

Ino and sakura went outside the hyuuga's garden to freshen up themselves. "Hey sakura.." She called while looking up the sky, a habit that she got from shikamaru. "hm?" She asked back while admiring the beauty of the roses. "Just because you made a mistake doesn't mean you're a mistake yourself." She started and kept her gaze at the bright sky. "I don't understand you." Sakura replied noticing her friend's sudden change in mood and to think of it, she didn't start the conversation about fashion or hot guys. "When you had it, why didn't you take it?" This time, she let go of the sky for awhile and stared at sakura seriously. "had what?" Sakura went closer to where ino was. "A chance. You know it's what you want. We kept on telling you but you chose not to believe in yourself. You were scared of the truth sakura." Sakura frowned at this. "why are you telling me this?"

"don't you regret it?" Ino raised a brow while sakura smiled at her. "It's too late already ino. It's what I chose. Whether it's right or wrong, I have to deal with it and take whatever consequences. I don't have a reason to regret it. Life goes on and you see, I'm happy like this." She smiled at her other best friend but Ino just gave her a worried look. "do you know something I don't? I really don't get you." The pink-haired girl eyed the blonde one with suspicion. "nah." Ino answered and smiled, finally. "Come on girl, there's no need to be dwelling in the past. What matters most is the present, right?"

"yeah, yeah. But I'm telling you. If anything happens, don't tell me we did not warn you?" Ino fixed the headband that was on sakura's head. "whatever."

"hey sakura, Ino, let's go." Sasuke called out, telling them that they'll be going. The two girls followed and went back inside. Next, they went out again and said their goodbyes to each other as they parted ways.

"suke, if I say I love you.. I mean more than a friend, will you get mad at me?" She started while they were walking home. He looked at her and remained silent. They stopped by the park and sat at the two vacant swings. She didn't even bother to ask back though she wanted to know what his answer's going to be. She used her feet to swing the swing slightly and looked down. Later on, she got bored of looking down and scanned the whole place instead, looking for kids playing but there weren't any and the silence was deafening. She turned to sasuke to see what he's doing but he just sat next to her, staring straight and silent.

"you know what.." he spoke. She quickly looked to his way and listened to what he was going to say. "no matter how hard it is and no matter how painful it may be, even if I get crazy, I'll understand in all ways. And if I still can't understand and find the right reason, I'll never stop from looking." He smiled at the sky while tears slowly went down on Sakura's pink cheeks. "why are you crying? Did I say something wrong?" Sasuke panicked a little and immediately wiped her tears, his face wore a worried look. She smiled a bit at him. "Nothing. You really have a way in words sasu-kun."

"I hope you'll do the same too." Sasuke smiled back at her. "I don't know." She looked down again. What she said surprised sasuke a little. He frowned and looked away. "I have reasons on my own. And besides, I don't think I deserve someone like you." She smiled weakly, though he didn't see it.

It pained him. What she said hit him hard. "you're not the one who should say and conclude that. It should be me." He stood up and smiled at her. He stretched his hand and reached for hers. "ice cream?" He asked looking at the ice cream vendor. She grabbed his hand and stood up as well. "yes please."

"ice cream really removes all problems and worries! Yum!" She grinned and licked the ice cream and received a nod from her best friend. Hey sasuke, can you still remember when we were in first year, we got bored and created some corny and funny lines?" She laughed a bit. "we were laughing our heads of that time that we even got scold by the ibiki-sensei." He laughed with her. "can you still remember some of the lines?" Sasuke asked, still laughing slightly. "Hm. Let's see. I think I remember the first three lines we wrote." She switched to her thinking pose… with an ice cream on her other hand. "cute as always."

"Do you believe in love at first sight? Or you want me to pass again?" She said and laughed. He did too muttering a corny. "there's another one, here.. I hope I'm the letter T, so I'll always be next to U." They laughed again, nearly losing their grip to their ice creams. "And here's the last one I remembered, 'Am I bad shooter? Because I keep on missing you." She said again and grinned. "I cant believe you're that corny sasuke!" She teased. "Hey, you're the one that made most of the lines!" sasuke protested.

Sakura's the only one that can see this side of him and he was glad about it. Though he was hurt by their conversation awhile ago, sacrificing is nothing as long as he's protecting that smile of hers.

"I do remember the last thing we wrote.." He smiled. "Those lines are so funny right? Can you think of others besides that? I cant think of any anymore. Because all I ever think about is you!" She punched him playfully on his arms. "corny!" She yelled. "but you were laughing back then and is still laughing until now." They continued to laugh and tease each other. "hey, want to go to the beach?"

They went to the nearby beach to watch the sunset. They sat on the sand and stared at the wide ocean. She rested her head on his shoulder while he secured his hand around her, making her feel very safe, a feeling that she knows very well when she's with sasuke.

"sakura" He whispered. "are you going to leave me?" He asked and it made her laugh. She hugged his arms and snuggled closer. "that's a no-brainer question sasuke! Of course not! I love you…" He nearly smiled at this. "you are my bestest among my bestest friends!" She giggled. "there's no such thing as bestest sakura."

"there is in mine." She giggled some more and he kept silent. "why? Are you going to leave me?" she looked up at him. "I'll die first before that'll happen." He beamed. "hn." She grinned after saying this. Remembering the time when 'hn' was his favorite word to say. He merely say anything but hn. Back then, she would just laugh at him when she hears him say his signature word of his.

"Everytime I think about everything that happened to us, all of us, I can't help but be very happy." She rested her head again on his shoulder as they watch the sun setting slowly. "I cant forget the day when naruto stepped on a crap thrice on that day. That is what you call unlucky." They both laughed at the thought. "And can you still remember when hinata was still so shy that she'll often faint whenever naruto gets very close to her? I'm glad that she built up her courage." He nodded and added. "And shikamaru… He'll always say that Ino is a troublesome girl but what now? In the end, he ended up with her. And so is neji and tenten. Neji keeps on denying to death though he was already very obvious."

"And remembering those, I never thought that we've done a lot of things together suke."

"Will everything be the same if you're my boyfriend?" She asked. He doesn't need to be surprised by this. She always asks something like this but does it mean anything?

"what I'm doing is wrong.." he thought. "maybe no."

"hey, how about Karin? I needed to act as your girlfriend just to keep her away. She's a slut. Crap, I hate her."

"you can really be jealous at times sak." He laughed. "e? Who's the jealous one here? The reason why I don't have a boyfriend is because you wont even let a guy near me." He stared at her. "just kidding." She grinned and kissed him on the cheek. "but honestly sasu-kun, I'm really an avid fan of yours."

"I have to tell her."

"I know."

She punched him on his arm. "arrogant!" She shouted jokingly and stood up. She stretched her arms and felt the breeze of the air. The sky just got dark and it was getting cold. "And really, sometimes, thinking of the past makes me sad too." She breathed loud. "why?" He asked. "nothing."

"Is there something you're not telling me?" He stood up as well and eyed her suspiciously. "maybe." She teased and he tickled her making her laugh her lungs out. "spill it sak." He teased and tickled some more. "hahaha! Stop it sasuke! Hahaha!"

"I'm home!" sasuke opened the large door of their house and placed his bag on the chair. "hey my little brother sasuke!" Itachi greeted. "what do you want?" As usual, sasuke gets pissed by his oh-so-loving big brother. "can you help me out with something?" Itachi asked a favor.

"If it's something hard then no." sasuke answered.

"come on, it's nothing hard." Itachi smirked making sasuke become more annoyed.

"what?"

"I'm going to ask sakura to be my girlfriend."

to be continued..

Sorry, it's short. I suddenly ran out of ideas. aahh! hope i can make up in the next chapter.

Maybe you're wondering about what ino and sakura was talking about. :) you'll know in the next chapter.