Chapter 8

"That's right, Forehead, chill!" Ino's laughter echoed in her ear as they continued to dance recklessly towards the alert beat.

Sakura only closed her eyes tiredly wishing she would be anywhere but here while Ino seemed to have the time of her life jumping carelessly as 'The Faders' 's song 'No sleep tonight' played throughout the room making everyone want to join the fun and forget about any problems of any kind they had before.

Of course, with a few exceptions.

She sighed again, groaning silently as Ino pushed a drink across her lips.

"What's that?" she immediately asked suspiciously glancing down at the funny-colored drink with one of those tiny and cute umbrellas and a slice of lemon on the edge of the glass.

Ino laughed. "Drink it and thank me later. Without this you'd be back to cutting yourself in the ladies room, so please, do everybody here a favor and drink this shit up."

"I don't usually drink, Pig." She stated doubtfully.

"Make an exception tonight, for me. I am making one for you, too."

Raising an eyebrow, Sakura questioned "And what's that supposed to mean?"

"It means that if it weren't for your dirty games with Suigetsu, and please let me add the fact that this chapter is not entirely discussed, you still have to clear things up for me, especially the part with 'I-had-sex-with-Sui-but-I-really-love-Sasu-cakes', I'd be in the darkest corner of this room with my Shikamaru-kun having some old-fashioned fun."

"Oh, then I beg your pardon, ma'am, but talking to you about my sex-life in public isn't something I look forward to, and neither was disturbing you and the birthday-boy, but you said it yourself, we're not best friends for nothing so…"

"Yeah, get it, get it. I was just dramatizing it all." Ino laughed it all off.

"You'd better." Sakura smiled. "Do you think he's mad though?"

The blonde was truly confused. "Who? Sasuke? 'Mad' is not big enough for him!"

Sakura sighed shaking her head. "No, not him. Shikamaru."

"Neah, don't worry, he's fine. He seems to be having a blast with Chouji."

They both turned their attention towards the place where Shikamaru and Chouji were dancing like crazy with drinks look-alike to the one Ino wanted to give Sakura.

"You still want me to drink this?" Sakura cried eyeing the glass Ino was holding cautiously.

"After seeing them, nope, not really, but it would make my day if I managed to take that annoying sad look off your face, so, yes, please and thank you, drink this!" She replied so quickly Sakura had difficulty following.

But after seeing Ino's begging puppy-dog eyes, she decided to give it a shot. She took the drink out of the blonde's hands and brought it to her mouth smelling it warily. She closed the distance between it and her lips and took a deep zip. Her face changed quickly from lack of attention to amazement, then to disgust and then finally to a pleasant smile.

"Not bad, Pig. What is it?" she cheered.

"Blowjob." She stated flatly.

"Woaaah, Ino, you drunk much?" Sakura asked nervously.

"No, stupid, that's the name of the freaking cocktail."

"Blowjob?"

"Yes."

"No shit."

"I know."

"Talk about lack of inspiration." Sakura commented.

"If I was you, my dearest and closest friend, I'd stop talking and start drinking, duck-butt hottie's starring, and man, is he admiring your ass."

"Oh, fuck." Sakura cried.

"Oh, but honey, lucky for you, I'm sure he's thinking the same thing." Ino winked.

"Pig, I'm serious! Where is he?" the girl asked alarmed.

"Don't look, but right now he's leaning against the bar holding what I'm guessing would be 'Sex on the beach' while his eyes continue to linger on your figure."

"Is every cocktail in history inspired by something sexual?" she sighed.

"Isn't everything?"

"No. To me it isn't."

"Don't fool me, Forehead. We're both thinking the same thing."

"And that would be?"

Just as Ino wanted to open her mouth to answer the 'oh-so-obvious' question, 'Leave your hat on' started playing form the boxers.

"Uuuu, now this is a song for naughtiness!" Ino giggled.

"Piiiiiig." Sakura grumbled.

"Don't insult me, not just yet. Just drink that blowjob up, 'cause, sadly for you, smexy Uchiha decided to walk towards you."

"Whaaa-? Ino, no, please don't let this happen, I mean what will I say? 'Suigetsu and I-'"

But Ino already cut her off. "Shut it, Billboard-Brow, first of all, he doesn't know anything about you and Shark-boy, only that you danced like two horny teenagers against one another, and second, stay chill, you're the one who's making him come to you, not the other way around. This means he has something to say, not you. Plus, you're the totally cool and awesome super-strong bitch, he's just the gay-emo-chick with a tremendously big ego, you got this in the bag."

They both smiled. "Thank you, Ino."

But she didn't have time to answer, Sasuke was already behind them.

"Yamanaka. Do you mind?" he questioned flatly.

"No, not at all." Ino smiled. "I'll go see what Shika's up to. See you around, Sakura!" she winked as she turned her back leaving a very depressed Sakura behind.

She didn't turn to face him though; she waited for what she had expected in the first place: Sasuke's breath against her ear.

"Dance?"

'With you, no.'

"Why not?" she questioned tiredly turning around to face him just as the song changed again. This time, Beyonce's 'Why don't you love me' fitted perfectly.

They both took the time to analyze from up-close one another. Sakura admitted that he was just as breathtaking-handsome as before just as well as Sasuke had to hand it to his Inner that the girl looked 'freaking-fucking-ohmigod-amazingly-too-good-to-be-true'. And damn, he hated when he had to confess that his Inner was right.

But he couldn't care less. He pushed his Inner's perverted thoughts in the back of his head as he put his hands around her dancing surprisingly good to the music.

"Nice dress." he mumbled.

"Thanks."

"Where did you get it?"

"Found it in the back of my wardrobe." She stated.

"Looks new."

"Haven't worn it much."

"You should."

"Maybe I will."

"Try green."

"Pardon?"

"Green. It would look good on you."

"I dunno…"

"It'd fit your eyes."

"Maybe."

"Were you drinking?"

"Blowjob."

"Excuse me?"

"I was drinking blowjob, I wasn't offering."

"Who assumed that?

"Just your eyes and grin."

"Got carried away."

"I could see. Have you been drinking, though? You seem extremely talkative."

"No, I was not drinking. And no, yet again, I'm not talkative, I'm just trying to make conversation since this song pisses me off."

"How come? It's got good lyrics and she has a nice voice."

"Her voice's fine, she's just complaining too much."

"About?"

"About not being loved."

"I think she's got a point."

"That being?"

"She wants to be loved so badly, she would do anything, but she just happened to fall in love with a jerk."

"I don't agree. The problem is she would do anything and that is what scares the guy."

"Interesting conclusion. Care to explain?"

"She's playing easy to get. She's easy to love and easy to need. She'd do anything. That's the problem."

"The guy wants a challenge?"

"Not just him, but everybody."

"So he doesn't like the girl because she'd do anything for him?"

"Pretty much, yes."

"Is he in such a need for a challenge that he is willing to risk it all and just push everything beside?"

"The song is from her point of view, not his. Why don't ask the people who wrote the song."

"I would but right now I'm asking you."

He only starred deeply into her eyes trying to catch a glimpse of emotion but he didn't manage to find anything. They were still dancing, what others would have seen from the exterior, rather closely, but now, both of them felt a protective halo that kept them from getting any closer, not something they had in mind, at least not after the previous discussion.

He felt the urge to just let go of al prohibitions and just tell her everything he had in mind. To just set his memories and emotions free and just be able to share the bond he one had with her yet again. But, not even knowing what, he just couldn't bring it to himself and tell her what he was truly feeling. How could he even think about it? To believe that she would understand and that she would listen or even care. Maybe she would, he didn't doubt her caring side towards the ones in need, but he didn't want to show any signs of weakness, and if he remembered correctly that was exactly the first thing he had to avoid in order to maintain the ice-cube imagine of himself that he made in the first place.

Never let your feeling or emotions show. A ninja must hide underneath a flawless mask unreadable for the eyes of your friend, the eyes of your foe.

But for once he felt the urge to cut the bullshit talk about being a proper ninja, for once, he felt this sudden rush to just take her somewhere she had never been before and express the side of him so few had seen. She was one of them, one of the people that had, in the past, seen him as he was rightfully supposed to be, but he hoped deep inside, that time managed to erase that image of himself out of her mind. He doubted it, of course, every little detail counted to her, that's why he was so nervous about not making another wrong step.

But even if he found the courage to tell her what he wanted to take off his chest, he couldn't guarantee it would have any sort of effect on her, or even worse, maybe she didn't care anymore, maybe his words would just fly past her like the wind trough the trees, something that he wished not thinking about.

He was the careless and ruthless one, not her. He was the one who usually didn't give a damn, the one who exteriorized himself from the surrounding world. But now, he didn't feel like it.

Maybe it was the drink, maybe it was the drinks, the drinks he had drunken before, but didn't tell her, although he was sure she could feel his strong alcoholic smell, it was hard not to.

Or maybe it was the way she danced with people other than him, or the way she danced with that son of a bitch Suigetsu, or the way he looked at her, the way he looked at her body, the way they kissed.

Or maybe it was the way she wore her hair, or the way her eyes burned, or the way she smiled whenever somebody would tell a good joke, or the way she would persuade her lips to take another zip from her glass.

Maybe it was her fucking dress, that red, short and very arousing piece of clothing, the one that would look better on the floor than on her.

And damn, he wished he could just see her face when he ripped it off.

And damn, he wanted to stop thinking like that.

This time he knew it wasn't the alcohol, he usually got like this each and every time he saw her giving others the sweet smiles, the gentle touches, the small hugs he used to receive once.

He used to be the center of all her attention and now he was the one who would have killed just to be next to her.

How everything changes.

You never know what you've got until it's gone.

He wanted it all back, he wanted the once cheerful and loving girl back in his life, the girl who used to comfort him whenever he felt the urge to have somebody to open to, the girl who brought him home-made dinner after his long and exhausting missions, the girl who always healed him after a long, bloody and sweaty fight with Naruto, the girl who always smiled when she saw him.

The girl who never received a 'thank you', but only a 'hn', the girl who never got back a smile, but only a grunt, the girl who never got back an answer, but only a question.

The girl who gave him everything but gained nothing in return.

He wanted to say 'I'm sorry' and 'Thank you' a thousand times. He wanted to beg for forgiveness and tell her he was wrong and he was a fool and he was a jerk and an ass and a good-for-nothing-son-of-bitch, a gay-Uchiha-whore, an unworthy so-called friend.

He would, indeed, hurt his pride in by doing so, but at least the other part of him, the small part that didn't consist of his ego, would be pleased. He would be actually smiling after telling her everything.