Chapter 7

Sasuke was sitting around in a tree, in the clearing where he and Naruto usually trained at this time of day. He was still fuming about being left like cold turkey in the village while Naruto went off on a mission. Sure, the mission was completely a waste of time…but it got him out of the village! And how stupid for Naruto and Hinata to be completing the mission together. They were never together! For anything! It was Naruto, Sakura, and himself, or Hinata and the animal freaks, bug boy Shino and dog boy Kiba. This was totally bogus.

Why would he need the Byakugan anyway? Might as well have Neji. He was a better ninja. Or better yet the sharingan which completely trumped all others! Come on, now!

Suddenly, in his mind's eye, he could see it. Naruto would come to his senses… (wait…would that really happen? Sasuke thought. He went back to his complaining train of thoughts.) Anyway, Naruto would realize that training against the sharingan was useless because pretty much no one besides Sasuke had it in the world (the other person was very unlikely to be faught) and he would want to train against the byakugan! Which meant training with Hinata. Which meant no more training with Sasuke. Which meant Hinata was stealing Sasuke's best friend. And that did not sit too well with the dark haired boy. Naruto was his training partner, dang it, and that was final!

Sasuke narrowed his eye in deep concentration, the gears of his mind going into hyperactive mode. He had never ever dreamt of a scheme of this … character. It would definitely work…or at least cause some severe disruption, and Naruto would have to train out his anger. (Yes, haha! Which is exactly what Sasuke wanted). Sasuke grinned maliciously. Heh, heh, heh…. This is going to be…really fun.

Another ninja boy was alone hanging out in a tree, but it was his normal tree…as this was an activity you could sometimes find him doing. Kiba was hanging out in his same tree, again, though this time without a mission. He had heard from Ino (who else?) that Hinata had gone on a mission with Naruto. How completely objectable! He'd actually found out late, too—Naruto and Hinata had been gone for a few days. Finally, Akamaru was better, and the puppy (well not so puppy anymore) was lounging on the ground beneath Kiba's tree.

"Isn't that so unfair, Akamaru?" Kiba asked his cream colored dog.

The dog looked at him with its black eyes. About Hinata? he asked.

"Yeah," Kiba muttered, hanging upside down now. He put his hands in Akamaru's thick fun. "Why would the Hokage randomly deploy them two on a mission? Why not me and Shino?"

I suspect it's nothing, Akamaru said. She might have been the first Shinobi that the respectable Hokage saw. You know that everyone supposes the Hokage to be quite… unpredictable at times.

"Why are you so proper and kind?" Kiba joked with his best friend. Akamaru gave a bark of satisfaction. His master was in a seemingly better mood, though he still looked the same on the outside. Dogs were very in tune to their master's feelings, you know. He knew Kiba was disturbed about Hinata, his long time team mate. Akamaru deduced that there were some affection feelings involved in this situation. Akamaru himself had not been involved with those things. He had been so busy with missions with Kiba's squad that he hadn't really thought about finding a nice female dog. He hadn't minded at all, though. He would be ready whenever Kiba was.

Kiba suddenly noticed Sakura walking down the path. He quickly began doing crunches (still hanging upside down on the tree) while Akamaru continued to laze about.

"Hi, Kiba," Sakura greeted him.

He stopped, and flipped down from the tree. He smiled and nodded at Sakura. "What's up?" he asked.

"Not much, actually," Sakura said, sounding regretful. "I get the rest of the day off…" she started muttering incoherently (probably anger towards her mentor for leaving her off work). Kiba gave a dry cough.

Sakura giggled self consciously. "Oh…sorry… I got carried away there…"

"You sure did," Kiba agreed ardently. Sakura gave him a look, and he grinned.

"Are you going on any missions soon?" Sakura asked.

Kiba shrugged. "Nothing in the extremely near future," he replied. "As in today."

"Sucks," Sakura offered. Kiba didn't respond. Sakura took his leave and continued walking.

"Later," Kiba called after her.

Sakura waved. "Bye!"

She walked aimlessly through the village, not wanting to go home just yet (it made her feel like the day was over, even though she still had a few hours yet.) She chatted with Kurenai-sensei who had surprised her at the grocery store. Why Sakura was at the grocery store, she did not know. She was just walking aimlessly, like mentioned before. Suddenly, Sakura spotted a familiar dark haired brooding boy.

"Hey, Sasuke," Sakura greeted him. She expected to be ignored, but instead, he raised a palm in greeting.

"Hello, Sakura," he said in his deep husky voice (it still sent shivers down Sakura's spine).

"Where are you headed?" she asked good-naturedly.

Funny you should ask Sasuke thought, inwardly grinning crazily. "I'm just about to head out for tea. Would you like to join me?"

There he said it. Someone should have recorded it. Sasuke had asked someone out, and that someone had been Sakura.

The pink haired girl didn't hide her surprise. Her mouth gaped open, pretty much to the ground. (Imagine her eyes changing into perfect white circles, and an angular anime mouth wide open). (Then return her back to normal.) "Why, Sasuke, I would," she smiled. "I'm just off work so—"

Great, great, Sasuke said. His plan was barreling into action. He didn't listen to Sakura's stupid ramblings. All he needed was her to be surprised—that made her more vulnerable. If something this drastic could change outside of her…something could change inside of her too. At least…that was the mindset Sasuke needed her in. For his plan. Heh, heh, heh…

They walked into the tea house, and sat down. Sasuke ordered for them, and they sat in silence for a while. Sasuke was always tense, ready for battle. It was just in his nature. Sakura just felt nervous. She wasn't sure why, even though she was on a "date" with Sasuke, which was a knock-you-over-backward big deal. A Sakura that she had previously known and been would have been dying with happiness right now. The Sakura at the present, was just content so share tea with a friend (she considered Sasuke a friend—whether the feelings were mutual, she could only hope.)

"So," Sasuke began, a bit awkwardly, but Sakura was relieved all the same. "Tell me. I haven't really been around you this much since the genin days."

Sakura felt a pleased at his inquiry. She figured she could tell him anything, and it would be safe (who was Sasuke going to have a heart-to-heart talk with? Not even she was having one right now. Sasuke just didn't have heart-to-heart conversations…) Sakura let herself ramble on, growing more and more pleased as she noticed Sasuke's dark eyes on her alone, listening intently. She spoke on, sipping tea in between, relaxing as she spoke. Well, it started out as relaxing. Then, it made Sakura's heart clench.

Sasuke didn't listen to a blasted word that foolish girl said. He unfortunately had to hear her words…He had to be on the constant alert for the N-word. It would come up… He had this blind faith that it would. So he waited patiently. It was something he knew he had to do to reach his goal. And once he had a goal he could do anything to reach it. Even listen to ramblings with absolutely no use to him.

Once he had heard the word "Naruto" he had to proceed quickly. But carefully. He didn't deny Sakura's fast wit and ability to perceive fine details. But he didn't overlook the fact that, if steered in the right direction (if she wasn't already set on it) she could neglect all other options, blindly following her will. He wanted to let out an evil chuckle but he knew she shouldn't. He was doing this for himself firstly…it just so happened it might help Naruto and Sakura as well. He hadn't really thought about that part but he would deal with it later.

He was sure to bring in some key words when talking about Naruto: dependable. Passionate. Brave. He hadn't really tried his hand at cooking elaborate things, but he felt as if it compared to putting icing on a cake. Even if it actually had turned out horrible (Naruto) you could put globs of icing (Sasuke's words) and make it look appealing. Very appealing. This time, Sasuke indulged himself. Heh, heh, heh…

After Sakura and Sasuke finished, the dark haired boy walked her to her house. She complied in a subdued manner. She thanked him robotically and fled to her room, shutting herself in it. She felt as if the whole house could not contain her raging emotions. At first Sakura had felt happy to be having tea with Sasuke. Then he had said some pretty disturbing (to Sakura) things. Somehow the conversation had steered toward Naruto. Sakura suspected it was her own fault. Sasuke hadn't talked much throughout the whole thing, if at all, until Naruto was mentioned…As much as what he said unsettled Sakura, she blamed his talkativeness on the fact that they were best friend (him and Naruto). But still…

Now, she was really regretting sending Naruto away that one day. What was she thinking? She knew the truth about her feelings now. Oh, how she regretting not understanding herself then! Why did she always have to make the wrong decision! She felt as sure as heck while she was sending Naruto away but now she was desperate to call him back, hug him, be close to him… She stayed on her bed, letting her thoughts swarm like armies of angry bees, then letting a hurricane of other thoughts wash them away, filling her mind, not wanting to drain out.

She was suddenly aware of wet spots on her pillow. Tears? She had been crying? She looked out her window. Save me, Naruto.