Chapter Four

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Intuitive

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Normal P.O.V.:

•

The group was enveloped in silence after he spoke. The plain dislike and anger in his voice was even obvious to Naruto. The only thing that puzzled Sasuke was why this guy was so angry. Then he thought back to what Sakura had said.

"This place is our secret haven." She turned and captured his gaze. "No one outside of our group can know about this place."

At that point, Naruto, Sakura, Hinata and Tenten all had the same thought.

'He thinks Sasuke came uninvited…'

Deciding to take initiative, Naruto hopped out of the water and went to greet his friends.

"Hey, guys," he said cheerfully. "This is Sasuke." Said boy simply nodded in acknowledgement.

His gray-brown eyes narrowed slightly before he glanced at Sakura and he relaxed. "I'm guessing," he said to her. "That this is the guy who's living with you guys for a while?"

She wondered how he knew, and who had told him, but she didn't ask. She only nodded.

"Sasuke, this is Aruta." The pinkette gave both men pointed looks that clearly warned them to be nice to each other. "The guy next to him is Chouji…"

Without missing a beat, Naruto jumped in and finished the introductions. By the time he finished, everyone was sweating and getting ready to get into the water.

Sasuke took this time to admire the bodies of the bikini-clad women in their group. He had to admit, Hinata had the biggest rack, but Temari had the nicest body overall. Ino was hot, too; she had curves, but her chest was a little too small for his tastes. And don't even get him started on Tenten. She had that athletic type of body, though it wasn't that bad…

The guys had just started warming up to him, especially Kiba, Naruto and Kankuro. He had the vague feeling that they were the party animals of the group, and was just relieved that he'd made some friends.

Naruto was excited, too. He finally had found someone that he could really connect with! It was almost like they were best friends already.

The Inuzuka was smug; now he had someone to talk girls with, someone with real, vast experience.

It seemed that the only one who hadn't really made an effort to get to know Sasuke was Aruta.

'Speaking of,' the Uchiha glanced around and found that he was nowhere to be found. 'Where did he go?'

Shikamaru noticed his seeking gaze and sighed. 'Troublesome.'

"They're gone." He drawled uninterestedly. "They'll be back, though."

Sasuke was confused before he realized that Sakura wasn't with the rest of the girls. Suddenly, he remembered what Kin had said, about the pinkette being a slut…

He wondered if that had been completely made up and drifted off into the possibilities.

The rest of the guys watched their new friend as his eyes glazed over with a distant look. They exchanged meaningful glances, wondering what was going on in the Uchiha's head.

•

Sakura's P.O.V.:

•

As soon as he met my gaze, I knew Aruta was battling between being angry and sympathetic. He knew about my childhood with Sasuke, and all of the rejection I suffered on a regular basis. Right after Naruto had finished introducing our friends, we snuck away to the cavern behind the waterfall.

That was where we usually went when we wanted to be alone. Sometimes we'd even bring the group in and we'd all explore the many tunnels that connected the caverns; one of them even led to the cliff above the waterfall. Our group as a whole had had lots of great memories, but I like to think ours are the best.

I tried giving him a small smile as he stopped staring into space and turned to me.

He sighed. "Why would you bring him here, Sakura?" he asked in a defeated voice. Apparently, the smile softened him up.

•

Sasuke's P.O.V.:

•

The guys were all laughing and telling stories about their most memorable hook-ups and make-out sessions. So far, it was pretty funny.

Apparently, Kiba had been caught in his girlfriend's bedroom at 3am, and her dad had chased him out of the house with an Aluminum Baseball bat. But that wasn't the best part; he didn't have the chance to even get dressed before he'd come busting in, screaming like a banshee, so he had run for his life in nothing but boxers.

Kiba grinned and laughed throatily. "I swear," he said "I've never been so scared in my life!"

This earned a laugh from everyone, even Gaara was smiling faintly.

Kankuro snorted. "Why am I not surprised that a dog like you got caught in a compromising position like that?" he chuckled and shook his head.

"Hey, I almost got away with it," the other boy grinned.

"Oh yeah?" Shikamaru raised his head to glance at him. "What did you tell him? 'Oh, don't worry; I was just helping her with the human anatomy'?"

We burst into laughter again and were getting glances from the girls, when Kiba suddenly took a turn for the unexpected.

"I still remember the first time I hooked up with Sakura." He said in a dreamy voice.

I felt myself tense and physically willed myself to relax. I discreetly listened as he described it, though most of them knew from experience.

"Remember when she practically mauled Naruto in front of everyone?" Kankuro asked.

As they all made sounds of agreement and dwelled in the memory, I remembered what Kin had said, yet again.

"Sooo, Sasuke," Naruto's voice snapped me out of my reverie. "I bet you and Sakura are pretty close." The blond waggled his eyebrows. "I mean you are living with her, right?"

I shrugged. It's not like I know her that well; it has been years since I've last seen her.

Someone's elbow nudged me in my side and I turned to see Kiba grinning at me.

"C'mon Sauce-Kay," he taunted. "There's gotta be something you're not telling us."

I opened my mouth to reply with a snappy remark about his distortion of my name, but something caught our attentions.

A scream.

More importantly, Sakura's high-pitched scream.

I was looking in all directions, waiting for her to start running towards us. Then there was another scream, closer, but it still sounded far away.

I turned to Naruto. "What the hell is going on?" I asked with narrowed eyes –but he wasn't paying attention to me.

He was gazing up with a grin on his face, as was everyone else. Looking to the top of the waterfall, I saw the reason why she was screaming. It was that Aruta guy.

He held her around her waist and was dragging her toward the edge while she screamed. I could just barely hear him teasing her and laughing. The rest of them thought it was funny, too, and began shouting out taunts or jokes to the couple.

Suddenly, they tipped over the edge, their intertwined bodies racing towards the end of the waterfall.

"Woooooooooo, go Sakura!"

•

Normal P.O.V.:

•

They sat in the jeep, driving home, just the two of them. Hinata had asked for a ride with Naruto; it seemed that she'd taken Sakura's advice.

Surprisingly, it wasn't awkward without the shy girl's company. There was a comfortable atmosphere within the car, where they both sat quietly, listening to music.

"So," Sakura decided to try and break the silence. "Was it worth your while?"

The passenger gave her a questioning look.

"It wasn't a complete waste of time, right?" she clarified, giving him an amused smile that he couldn't help but return with a smirk.

"Hn, it was… entertaining."

She raised an eyebrow, his signature expression. "I don't know… you seemed to be enjoying yourself more than you let on."

It was true. She had noticed the many smirks and even the occasional chuckle. For an Uchiha male, that meant they were having quite the memorable time.

Sakura glanced over at him and found yet another smirk on his face. This had to be a new record! More than five smirks in one day.

This put a smile on her face. Maybe Sasuke would love it here, even if he's away from his family, friends and fame.

•

Why did she keep smiling at him?

Ever since they'd returned from the waterfall, a certain pinkette couldn't keep a smile from creeping onto her face each time she saw him.

Was he making a funny face? No, that was impossible. He made sure to refrain from showing any kind of emotion or expression since he got to Hawaii.

She couldn't possibly be fangirl-ing him, she left that to Kin and the twins. She had Aruta anyway…

• • • • • • • • •

Sasuke awoke Saturday morning to a quiet house, a first since he's moved in. He lazily rose from his bed, scratching his bare chest before opening his door and walking down the hall, to the bathroom.

As his hand made contact with the doorknob, it thrust open and a warm, damp body made contact with his.

His eyes widened slightly at the soft, lean figure that was pressed against his, coupled with a head of wavy pink hair and deep green eyes that were staring up at him, surprise evident in their depths.

Suddenly, Sakura flashed a grin and stepped back a little.

"I didn't know you were still home, Sasuke," she said casually. "Why didn't you go out with everyone else?"

He shrugged. "Why didn't you?" he shot back.

She shrugged her delicate shoulders, slipping past him and towards her room. "I'll be in my room if you need me." She called over her shoulder.

It was only as she walked further down the hall that he realized something.

She was in her underwear.

•

Sasuke's P.O.V.:

•

I spent my twenty minute shower thinking about what had just happened, and ended up being more confused than when I'd first started.

'What's with her?'

I swear this girl is going to drive me crazy! I haven't seen her in a while, but it still felt like she'd changed overnight. I mean, how do you go through a change that drastic. She went from being a spoilt, annoying, semi-attractive little girl to a laidback, well-liked beauty. She'd developed quite nicely, he had to admit, but he had to wonder if she flashed herself around so easily around everyone.

'That doesn't sound like the Sakura I know…' Then again, he barely knew her anymore.

Pulling on a pair of sweatpants and a white t-shirt, I trudged to her room and knocked lightly. A soft 'come in' was heard and I turned the knob slowly.

I felt my eyebrows furrow as I walked into the empty room, though I was pretty sure that Sakura was in here–

"Ouch!"

My gaze snapped towards the closet, where the cry had sounded.

"Sakura?"

I heard shuffling from my spot near the doorway before a pink head poked out and I met a pair of green eyes.

She smiled at me before jerking her head towards the bed.

"Make yourself comfortable," she said before returning into the closet. "I'll be out in a second!"

So I did as she'd suggested and planted myself on her soft, plush bed. I could still hear her shuffling around within the closet and couldn't withhold a small chuckle as I heard her stumble and swear quietly.

"You better not be laughing at me, Uchiha." She walked out of the closet and stood near her dresser, shuffling through the drawers.

I smirked. "And if I am?"

She shot me a playful glare, and once again I was amused by how much she'd changed after all of these years. The old Sakura never would've had the nerve to even pretend to be angry with me.

I liked this new Sakura way better.

Suddenly, a soft hand made contact with my leg, and I found myself looking into a pair of emerald eyes. I raised an eyebrow at her eager expression.

"Wanna see something?" she asked with a bright smile.

Before I could even answer her, she pulled me off of her bed and onto one of the bean bags in front of her TV. She sat in the one beside me and scooted as close as she could before dropping a navy blue binder on my lap.

I met her gaze unsurely. What was this?

She flipped the cover open and I saw a picture of her, Naruto and Hinata –only, they looked different; younger.

This was probably a few years after they'd first moved here. Naruto had an arm over both of them, grinning at the camera like the Cheshire cat.

It was kinda creepy.

Hinata was red in the face, smiling shyly as she watched him and Sakura from the corner of her eye, and she still looked ready to faint.

It was kinda funny.

Then there was Sakura. She was smiling at Naruto, too, and had bunny ears placed behind his head.

It was kinda cute.

I looked up and met her gaze, smirking at her slightly embarrassed expression. She was blushing, but that grin was still shining on her face. "We were only ten," she said, laughing softly. "If you think Naruto's a goofball now, you should've seen him back then."

Then she grinned even wider. "You'd appreciate the new him a lot more."

I had a headache just thinking about how much of a handful he probably was.

"Shikamaru deemed him too troublesome to hang out with the first time they met in 7th grade," she continued, her face filled with a content nostalgia. "They became good friends after a while, though."

I smirked, knowing where this was going.

"Let me guess," I drawled lazily. "Ino had something to do with that, right?"

By the way she laughed and smiled at me, I'm guessing I was spot-on.
"Yeah, he saw us hanging out with Naruto and decided to stick around to 'make sure we didn't get into any trouble'."

I chuckled at her impression of Shikamaru, and then I realized that she was looking at me, analyzing me.

"What?"

She only shook her head with a subtle smile before standing up with me following suit. As we emerged from her bedroom, she turned back towards me and tilted her head.

It made her coral tresses spill halfway across her heart-shaped face and her lips curled slightly in what could almost be the female version of my own smirk.

It was appealing, but I quickly threw that thought out of my head. We were not gonna go there, though her earlier actions made it feel like she wanted to go there–

Suddenly, she let out a small laugh, earning a raised eyebrow on my part.

"You don't miss much, do you?" she asked in an amused tone.

I just smirked at the statement.

She had no idea just how much I really picked up on.

•

Normal P.O.V.:

•

They were at it again.

Sakura's group was going on another exotic expedition, only this time it was on one of Hawaii's less populated islands. Sasuke could feel himself sweating as they got out of the car and loaded onto the little two-person canoes that the guys owned.

As he'd learned while riding with Sakura and Hinata, Islanders don't really use air conditioning that often while driving. They preferred to just roll down the windows and let the fresh, warm air flow throughout their cars.

But a city-dweller like him?

The heat was making him quite uncomfortable, though he'd adjusted a little more in the two weeks that he'd been on the tropical island. When he'd first gotten off of the plane, he'd thought his was in hell.

It was that unbearable.

Suddenly, he was splashed with crystal blue, ocean water. His head snapped up and met the smug gaze of Aruta.

He didn't know what this kid's problem was, but their dislike for each other was mutual.

As they continued to stare each other down, Sakura and Ino buckled into their kayaks, shaking their heads at the two men.

"Play nice, boys." The pinkette called as they paddled off, effectively ending the glaring contest.

The honey haired boy was the first to snort before pushing off and climbing into one of the last kayaks at the shore. "Try not to drown, city boy," he called over his shoulder. "And try to keep up before I leave your weak ass."

Sakura heard his choice words and made sure to splash him extra hard before circling and taking off again, her laughter floating after her.

It was a good thing that he was focused on seething at Sasuke, or he would've seen Sakura wink at the Uchiha over his shoulder. Smirking, he decided that the other man was already angry enough, and provoking him any further might cause unnecessary conflicts within the group.

So, for once, Sasuke shut his mouth and merely hopped into his kayak and paddled towards the patiently waiting pinkette who rewarded him with a smile as she congratulated him on being such a fast learner before they continued on together, neither noticing the heated, grey(ish) glare pointed at the back of their heads.

.xxEndxx.

Soooo, you guys aren't gonna review?

Wow, that actually hurts I thought I'd get more than just six reviews on the last chapter, but I guess I was wrong. –tears-

Well, to those of you who DID review, thank you!

- I Love All Books Sakura-Sasuke

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Thank you guys, and thanks for pointing out my posting error. Everyone would've been so confu-sed if I hadn't fixed it.

And to the rest of you, please review! If you honestly don't like this story enough to review, then maybe I should just discontinue it…