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Song of the day- Terminal Frost by Pink Floyd
I own nothing but the plot
"Akira…Akira…AKIRA!" Sakura cradled the phone between her ear and her shoulder as she hoisted a fairly large cardboard box into the living room. "I am fine. No, I have not been mugged. No, I have not talked to strangers. And no, I have most certainly not taken the date rape drug!" She sighed placing the box on the hardwood floor before grasping the phone in her hand once more and continued her work.
"I know. I worry too much, but that's only because you are my little sister and I love you. You have meet up with Ino, right? Have you been making friends?" The voice on the other line said.
Sakura smiled and rolled her eyes at her brothers over protective, worrisome behavior. No matter how old she is or how far she travels, that's one thing that'll never change. "Ino and I meet up yesterday, and I even met some of her friends, which answers your second question. So how's everything in Sauna? How are your practices? How's my four?"
Akira chuckled and Sakura could hear the sounds of a pencil scratching against paper over the other line. Must be doing homework… "And I thought I was the one playing twenty questions. It's starting to get cooler here, which is always a blessing. Practices are killer! The coach is insane and makes us run for miles. And your four are still depressed about you leaving. I can't get them out of our house. They still think its okay to come over and hang out, even though you are living in a different village!"
"That sounds like them. I will have to call Gaara-kun later to check on them all. Well, I have to go, still some more unpacking to do." Sakura laughed as she picked up yet another box from her front lawn and lugged this one into her kitchen.
"You know, say the word and I will take a plane there…I just miss you…you're the only family I have left. It's just us." Sakura could hear the sadness in his voice and paused her work for a moment as she was brought back into her old memories.
"Yea…you know okaa-san and otou-san would want us to be happy right? And that what we are doing. Otou-san always said that he knew you were going to grow up to be a great basketball player. And okaa-san always said you were going to turn out to be a "fine young man" as she always called you." Smiling happily she remembered the times after dinner when her father and brother would go out and shoot hoops, and when her mom would fix Akira's hair all the time saying that he was so handsome.
"Yea, and I always remembered when otou-san would tell you that you would make a great wife. Or when okaa-san would have you help her with her baking recipes because without you, she would burn everything." Sakura laughed at this remembering one time when she was younger when she came home from school to see her mother in the kitchen with a frantic look on her face and smoke flying out of the over at an alarming rate.
"…I miss 'em. But at least we still have each other." Sakura slowly popped down on the couch slowly before bringing her knees up to her chest and hugging them to herself.
"…Always." He said with a smile in his voice, before sighing to himself. "I have to go, but I promise to call you tomorrow afternoon to see how your first day of school went okay?"
"Gotcha, bye nee-san." Sakura said before pushing the end call button on her phone. She looked around her living room…she made a mental note to spend next weekend working on painting the white walls to match the furniture.
Until then, she really needs to get a move on to get all of her belongings into the house. Lying down on the couch, she opted for taking a short rest. Closing her eyes, she reminded herself to get up in five minutes to get back to work.
Fluttering her eyes open, one could only imagine Sakura's surprise when she saw her coffee table, television, and other furnishings around her living room that she distinctly remembered that she left on her front lawn. Bolting up quickly from her lying position, Sakura roamed her eyes around the room, looking for an answer.
"Hey, you really shouldn't just keep your door open like that. A rapist or someone could have walked in." Sakura's head snapped to the source of the voice. Behind the couch, leaning on the door jam that lead into the kitchen was Sasuke.
Sakura grumbled under her breath before mumbling, "I think I would be safer with the rapist." Sasuke raised an eyebrow at this before Sakura stood up and folded her arms across her chest. "What are you doing here anyway?"
"I was on my way to Naruto's house, and I have to pass your on the way there. Your welcome for bringing in everything for you before it got soaked." He said as he walked back into the kitchen. Sakura was confused at this as she walked over to the window near the now closed door to see fat raindrops hitting the grassy ground and sidewalk.
Sakura huffed as she followed into the direction she saw Sasuke walk off in. She could smell the aroma of sweet honey and cinnamon coming from the kitchen. She gave Sasuke a strange look before sitting down at her island barstool next to him and in front of the tea that he had made.
They sat in an awkward silence for a moment, quietly sipping their hot drink. "I'm sorry." Sakura's head whipped to look at him as he mumbled into his mug before taking another drink.
"…For what?" She asked quizzically, returning to stare at the black marble countertop. Sasuke rolled his eyes before placing his mug down and swiveling in the chair to look at her face.
"For yesterday. I was an asshole, I know." Sakura gave him a side-glance before taking in a huge breath of air and sighing.
"Your right, you were." She said closing her eyes tiredly, and leaning her head on her hand. They spent the next five minutes with Sasuke staring at Sakura, and Sakura in a peaceful dreamland, eyes closed, appearing asleep. "Thank you." Sakura opened her eyes once more and gave him an annoyed look.
"For what?" He asked confused at what she meant.
"For…bringing my stuff in." She said before shaking her head and looking the other way stubbornly. Sasuke smirked at this and chuckled lightly. Sakura looked back over at him, before smiling cautiously back at him.
"Sakura-chan!" They heard a voice yell before the noise of bare feet padding into the room. The girl stopped before the two of them and her silvery eyes widened in surprise.
"Hinata-chan." Sakura said before sliding off the chair and walking over to her rain coated friends. "What's up?"
"Uh, I was o-on my way to Narutu-kun's house when the rain started. I didn't mean to interrupt a-anything." Hinata started stuttering as her eyes glanced from Sasuke to Sakura.
Sasuke hopped off of the stool before walking past Hinata and to the door. "Dint worry Hinata, you didn't. I should get going anyway." He slipped on his converse and was out the door before either girl could say goodbye.
The second he left, Hinata jumped all over Sakura asking questions. "Come with me." Sakura rolled her eyes, grabbed Hinata's hand, and led her over to the couch where the got comfortable.
"Why was he here? Did he do a-anything? What were you talking about before I walked in?" Hinata rattled off questions, while Sakura waited for her to run out of breath.
As Hinata took a dry heave, Sakura started answering her questions before she could ask another. "He was also on his way to Naruto's and saw that my door was open…I kind of fell asleep on the couch and left some of the furniture on the front lawn. He moved it on for me. Surprisingly…he didn't do anything. Really, I don't even know what we were talking about before you came in."
Hinata's eyes widened slightly. "He didn't try anything? This is Sasuke Uchiha we are talking about, right?"
Rolling her eyes, Sakura nodded, and scrunched her eyebrows in thought. "Something was different about him compared to yesterday. He even apologized for being an ass yesterday, and I know Ino-pig always says that he's horrible, but I always thought he might have a little good in him and he cant be that bad, but something's up."
"Hmm…I'll talk to Naruto-kun to see if anything's going on. But speaking of Ino-chan, you got lucky. She was going to come with me to Naruto's but bailed out last minute. If she saw that, I think some heads would be torn right now." Sakura cringed and silently agreed.
"Hey man, did you stop by…whoa you are soaked!" Naruto exclaimed as he watched Sasuke shake the water out of his hair.
Sasuke scoffed slinking out of his jacket and lying it down on a chair in the living room. "No shit Sherlock. Get me a towel, would ya."
Naruto smirked while leaning back on the arm of the couch. "A please would be nice." Receiving a dirty look from his best friend, he smirked and walked into the back. Sitting down, Sasuke rubbed his forehead, trying to fight off a headache.
Returning with a towel for the youngest Uchiha, Naruto plopped down in a recliner across from Sasuke. "So you stopped by Sakura's right? How'd your plan at "wooing" her go?"
"Awful." Sasuke said, shaking his now slightly damp hair out of his face. "Do you know how far I had to turn down my "Player Meter"? I…apologized to her for yesterday." He shuddered at the mere thought of not just apologizing to Sakura, but to anyone.
Naruto's eyes widened while leaning foreword in the chair. "Man your taking it too far down if you apologized. She's going to know something's up. Look, I bet against you, yes, but at the same time I am trying to help you win."
Scoffing, Sasuke narrowed his eyes at his friend. "Yea, thanks for placing a fifty against me man. I can feel the love."
Naruto rolled his eyes in exasperation before closing his eyes and sighing. "You're hopeless in the ways of love, and I am talking about how you act around girls." Naruto leaned his head in his hand as his elbow was propped up on the arm of the chair. "Sakura-chan is…how to put it…the classy kind of girl. You need to be kind to her, in public, and when it is just the two of you. She wants the kind of guy that will always protect her and be there for her…so I guess your screwed." Naruto started laughing while thinking of the prospect of Sasuke being the "classy kind of guy".
Sighing Sasuke leaned back so he was lying on the couch with his one knee propped up and his arms behind his head. "Okay, that will be to hard. I will just deal with it my own way. I have the Uchiha charm, you know?" He said smugly.
"Oh yes, the infamous charm of all the teme's!" Naruto exclaimed before being shoved of his seat and onto the floor, chuckles of laughter never subsiding.
"There is also Gai-sensei! He's just like a larger version of Lee-kun!" Tenten said laughing, almost tumbling of her spot on Sakura's barstool. After Hinata showed up, they called the other two girls over to hang out for a couple of hours. They were currently sitting in Sakura's kitchen talking about the teachers and what Sakura might expect.
"Don't forget Kurenai-sensei. If you ever need to talk to a teacher, go to her. She's so nice and cool." Hinata said smiling.
"Wow, I hope that the teachers, and especially the students, like me." Sakura said worriedly, opening up the fridge, and grabbing a bottled water, tossing one Ino's way.
Swiftly watching it, Ino rolled her eyes at her friend. "Don't worry forehead, your to nice for anyone not to. But do watch out for the bitchy girls. The nicer you are, the larger a target you become to them."
"Especially Ami and her fake satellite friends. They orbit around her like she is the sun itself." Tenten scowled thinking of the few girls that think they are all that.
Sakura chuckled watching the look of distaste cross each of her friends face. "I will watch out for them. Don't you worry."
"But I know what you are really curious about…" Ino said smirking at Sakura while wiggling her eyebrows suggestively. Scrunching her eyebrows together, Sakura looked at her with caution, and confusion in her eye before it hit her.
"Boys." The two girls said the word together, but with Ino, there was more enthusiasm. "So many cute boys, so little time to tell you of them all! Oh! I know! I will go get last years year book!" She said, excitement in her eyes as she jumped of her seat and out the door while the other girls sat there, laughing at their friend's behavior.
"Anyone else want to lock the door before she gets back?" Tenten asked joking.
"Second." Hinata chuckled while raising her hand in agreement.
I know this chapter is not long, but its all I can think of for a filler. I wanted to include Sakura's relationship with her Sauna friends a little more, so there it was! I was originally planning on re-writing this chapter so that Ino was the one that Sakura woke up to but I really didn't want to get rid of the quote "I would feel safer with the rapist." I don't know why but I thought that was hilarious! Haha! Sorry for the long wait yet again! I got caught up in my reading and had gotten to into the manga "Moe Kare"! TOTALLY RECOMMEND IT! Made me cry quite a lot! Thank you for waiting! Sorry I didn't get back to any of your replies but I really do appreciate the feedback and criticism!