A/N: It's a bit late, but I hope you still enjoy!

Rich Boy, Poor Heart II

Chapter Sixteen

000

CONTINUING JULY 23

"Sakura, I'm sorry, I"—

Sasuke began blurting out words as he took his body off of hers. She shook her head frantically.

"N…no…I…you…" She couldn't say anything straight.

And then he hugged her. He gave her an innocent, lust-less hug. He rested his chin on top of her head and breathed in the sweet scent of peaches.

"I'm really sorry," He told her. Sakura quickly resisted the urge to cry, and hugged him back tightly.

"Happy birthday," She whispered before standing on her tip toes and giving him a soft kiss on the lips. It was short, as expected, but he still enjoyed the moment thoroughly.

"…Can I go back to sleep now?" Sakura asked. He smirked.

"Yeah, yeah. I should go back now too"—

"No. Can you stay?" She asked, smiling. He ruffled her hair.

"Of course," Sasuke replied as they both plopped down onto her bed and fell asleep.

000

"Ah…see? I told you he would be here."

"Itachi-chan, anyone could have guessed that."

"Mom, then why were you shouting 'oh no, where's Sasu-chan' all around the hallways?"

"…Anyway! We should wake them up now, shouldn't we?"

Sasuke lifted up his head lazily.

"I'm already awake," He muttered groggily before Mikoto ran up and hugged him tightly.

"Happy birthday, Sasu-chan!" She squealed with joy. Sasuke was surprised when he felt his shoulder become wet.

"Mom…?" He said.

She backed up, rubbed her eyes and sniffed.

"Sorry Sasu-chan…it's just…I suddenly remembered your birthday when you turned five…so adorable…" Mikoto sighed dreamily.

"And this birthday, you're so…you're really becoming a man!" She exclaimed, glancing over at Sakura who was still asleep and cuddling against Sasuke's chest.

"Now you have a girlfriend…" She continued. "And she definitely loves you for who you are…that was always one of my biggest wishes for you, Sasu-chan," Mikoto said happily.

"How come you never act like this on my birthdays?" Itachi asked, smirking. Mikoto rolled her eyes.

"Yes, yes, Ita-chan. I know Rain-chan loves you very much," She said, giggling.

"Nn…" Sakura stirred. Mikoto smiled as Sasuke patted her head.

"Good morning, Sasuke-kun…" She yawned, looking up at him. She paused when she saw Mikoto and Itachi standing in the room.

"…Good morning," Sakura finally spoke. Mikoto beamed.

"Ita-chan! Let's leave them alone for now!" She said, grabbing the said man's arm.

"Hn…well, happy birthday, little brother," Itachi said before he was hurriedly dragged out of the room.

"I almost forgot it was your birthday, Sasuke-kun!" Sakura said, grinning. He rolled his eyes.

"You said happy birthday to me just a few hours ago," He pointed out, poking her cheek. She stuck her tongue out at him cutely.

"I can't wait until your party!" She said cheerfully as she stood up and out of his arms.

"Hn…" Sasuke replied. She pouted.

"You're excited too, right?" The pink-haired girl demanded. Sasuke smirked.

"I'd rather spend the whole day with you," He told her, causing her to blush deeply.

"B…baka! You're so cheesy!" She stammered.

"It's just true," The Uchiha shrugged, standing up and stretching his arms. She grabbed his arm.

"Okay, we're going downstairs now!" Sakura told him, dragging him out of her room.

000

"Happy birthday, teme!" Naruto yelled once Sakura and Sasuke had made it downstairs. The blond embraced Sasuke tightly, causing the Uchiha to grimace and shove him away.

After many other birthday greetings, breakfast was finally started.

"So…today, I invited Gaara, Temari, Kankuro, Kiba and Chouji. Am I missing anyone?" Mikoto asked, pressing a finger to her lips after scribbling into her note pad.

"Zaku and Kin!" Sakura said. Sasuke gave her a slightly dark look.

"What? They're both good people! And they gave us ways to contact them, so why not?" Sakura asked, pouting. Mikoto looked over at Sasuke.

"…Fine," Sasuke finally said.

"Okay…so, Zaku and Kin…" Mikoto mumbled, writing again. "It's such short notice…I hope they can make it," She murmured.

Knock, knock!

"Ur'llgeshit!" Naruto yelled through a mouthful of eggs as he staggered up out of his chair.

He returned back shortly with a red head, a blonde woman and a man with strange tattoos all over his face.

The room suddenly brightened with happiness.

"Gaara-kun!" Sakura shouted cheerfully.

"Hey. Sakura," Gaara replied back, nodding in acknowledgement.

"Ah, Sakura-chan, you haven't met Temari or Kankuro yet, have you?" Mikoto asked, pointing at the two as she said their names.

"No, I haven't," Sakura replied, suddenly growing quite shy. Mikoto beamed at her.

"Hey, I'm Temari! Nice to meet you, Sakura!" The blonde greeted, patting Sakura on the head.

"Nice to meet you too, Temari-san!" The pink-haired girl replied. Temari grimaced.

"Eh, just because we've met doesn't mean you have to be so formal! Call me Temari-chan," Temari said, grinning.

"Ah…Temari-chan! Okay!" Sakura chirped back.

"Yo. I'm Kankuro, Gaara and Temari's brother," The man with the strange tattoos said.

"Nice to meet you, Kankuro-kun," Sakura replied, smiling warmly. He grinned.

"Wow. It's nice to have a cute girl add that suffix to my name," Kankuro said, causing some of the others to laugh. Sasuke scowled at him, but he didn't seem to notice.

"You know, Gaara talks about you a lot. It's kind of suspicious, right?" Kankuro said. Gaara glared lightly at him.

"Not really," The red head muttered back. Temari wrapped an arm around him.

"You don't have to be so shy, little brother! You seemed to be in a pretty good mood when you heard you could see Sakura-chan again!" She said loudly. Gaara sighed.

"Temari, you are imagining things. Also, Sakura already has a boyfriend," He pointed out.

"Ehh? Really? You never said that!" The blonde burst out.

"Who is it?" She demanded.

Gaara glanced up and then pointed at Sasuke, who was sitting down with his arms crossed.

"Oh…so cute…" Temari muttered. Quickly, she turned back to Gaara.

"A…ah! It's okay, little bro! There are tons of other girls"—

"I never said I liked Sakura," Gaara told her.

"Ah. So you don't like her?" She asked. He paused.

"I never said that either," He finally replied, causing everyone to begin talking.

"Whoa, Gaara likes Sakura-chan?" Naruto shouted.

"But Sakura likes Sasuke, don't you, Sakura?" Ino asked, nudging the girl a little too roughly. Sakura looked at Gaara, who was staring at her quite intently.

"Well…yes…" The pink-haired girl replied as Sasuke eyed her suspiciously.

"Then why are you hesitating, Sakura?" Ino whined, frowning.

"Ah, Ino, don't pester her so much. We all know she likes Sasuke the most," Rain pointed out.

Knock, knock!

"I…I'll go get that!" Sakura quickly said, hurrying off to the front door.

'Such an…awkward situation…'

She walked slowly and the knocking started up again, growing louder.

Sakura sighed heavily as she opened the door, but quickly screamed when something jumped out at her and caused her to topple onto the floor.

Everyone else rushed in at the sound of her scream, with Sasuke, Sai and Gaara leading.

"Akamaru! What did I tell you about pouncing on people?" A familiar voice shouted. It was then that Sakura realized it was a dog that had tackled her down.

The dog licked at her face happily. Sakura giggled as she patted his head.

"Kiba-kun!" Sakura greeted as Kiba pulled Akamaru off of her. He grinned.

"Sorry about that!" He said, helping her up. He wasn't aware of the glares he was receiving then.

"It's okay! But it's amazing! Akamaru's grown so much!" Sakura exclaimed in awe, looking over at the big dog.

"Yeah, he eats too much," Kiba said, putting his hands into his pockets.

"Any who, you look pretty different. Still really cute though," He told her, ruffling her pink hair. She blushed lightly.

"Same goes for you!" She replied, beaming. Ino rolled her eyes when she saw the expressions on the faces of Sasuke, Gaara and Sai.

'Sakura…could you be anymore of a flirt? It's amazing though, how you don't even notice.'

Ino smirked lightly.

"Oh, hey guys! Didn't notice you there," Kiba said, waving.

"I challenge you!" Naruto yelled instantly, going into a fighting stance. The other followed suit.

"Oh yeah? At what?" He demanded.

"Later, tonight! Drinking contest!" The blond shouted, eyes burning. Kiba smirked.

"Well, you're being bold. Don't you know what you're going up against?" He asked.

"Ask yourself that!" Naruto replied, sticking his tongue out. Kiba scowled.

"Why you…" He said before pouncing on him. The two battled in an unserious matter, merely tugging at each other or punching lightly as everyone else merely watched and laughed.

Knock knock!

Sasuke frowned. He had a feeling he knew who it was.

Before he could answer the door himself, Sakura was already there, opening it.

Everyone watched as strong arms quickly wrapped around the pink-haired girl.

"Sakura-chan!" An unpleasantly familiar voice shouted out. Sakura giggled softly.

"Hello, Zaku-kun!" She said, causing Sasuke to narrow his eyes and cross his arms.

After what seemed like days to the Uchiha, Zaku let go of the girl and stepped inside the summer home.

"Oh, yo, Uchiha!" He called out, waving. Sasuke merely nodded, glaring lightly.

"Oh, hello Zaku-san! It's good you were able to make it!" Mikoto said as she walked into the living room.

"It's good to see you, Uchiha-san," Zaku said, smiling. Sakura blinked in confusion.

"Ano…where's Kin-chan?" The pink-haired girl asked. Zaku looked away for a while before looking back.

"Kin? We broke up weeks ago," He replied casually, crossing his arms behind his head. Naruto rose an eyebrow.

"Seriously?" He asked. Zaku shrugged.

"Yeah. We just never really saw eye to eye, you know?" He pointed out, shrugging again carelessly.

"And she didn't want to come over…?" Sakura asked, frowning slightly. Zaku patted her shoulder.

"You know, Sakura-chan…" He started. Sakura sighed.

"Kin-chan never really liked me," She mumbled sadly. Zaku beamed.

"It's okay though. We don't need her here!" He said cheerfully. She smiled back reluctantly and said nothing.

000

"Iko-chan! How's Sasu-chan's giant cookie coming along?" Mikoto called out as she entered the kitchen.

Iko bent down to peer into the oven.

"It's great! Almost done!" She replied, taking in the sweet scent of freshly baking cookies.

"Wah! That smells good!" Sakura said as she walked in, closing her eyes. Mikoto beamed.

"Is everything ready outside?" She asked the pink-haired girl.

"Yes!" Sakura replied back.

"Except…Sasuke-kun doesn't really want to come out of his room," Sakura added. The Uchiha woman huffed and rolled her eyes.

"Sasu-chan never really liked parties," She sighed.

"Not even his own," She added, crossing her arms.

"Sakura-chan, would you mind persuading Sasu-chan into coming down here already?" Mikoto asked, looking very annoyed. Sakura noted that she looked a bit terrifying like that.

She nodded quickly and jogged over to his room.

"Sasuke-kun? Sasuke-kun," She called out, knocking on his door. The door opened seconds later, revealing the annoyed looking Uchiha.

"My mom told you to get me, right?" Sasuke asked, sighing. Sakura giggled lightly.

"Yup. I think you should though. It's your birthday party, after all," She told him.

"Like I said, I'd rather spend my day with you," He said, causing her to blush.

"Sasuke-kun…c'mon," Sakura urged, now tugging on his hand. He glanced at her reluctantly.

"Pretty please?" Sakura asked, pouting at him. Sasuke sighed heavily.

"Fine," He muttered, allowing her to drag him downstairs and into the backyard.

"Finally, teme! We all thought you would never show up!" Naruto complained as he walked away from the punch bowl.

"Sasu-chan! You actually came down!" Mikoto squealed as she ran over and hugged her son.

"Hn…" Sasuke said back, frowning.

"Sasuke, brighten up. It's your birthday," Fugaku advised strictly.

"Yeah, and look at this thing me and Mikoto-sama had to bake for you!" Iko said loudly as she walked in, holding the giant cookie and bringing it to the table.

Sasuke sighed as Iko placed it down on the table.

"That looks good," Someone behind Sasuke commented. He and Sakura turned around to see Chouji standing there with his usual bag of barbeque flavored chips.

"Ah! Chouji-kun, when did you get here?" Sakura asked.

"Just a few minutes ago," Iko answered for him, smiling happily.

"Ah man. That does look good," Kiba said as he sniffed loudly. Sasuke grimaced at him while Sakura giggled.

"Sit down, sit down!" Mikoto called out to her son, hitting the chair in front of the giant cookie.

Sasuke grabbed Sakura's hand before walking towards the chair quite grumpily.

"Okay everyone! On three! One, two…three!"

A cheerful chorus of 'Happy Birthday' broke out and when that was done, everyone instantly went for the cookie.

"Wow! This is amazing!" Ino said as she took a big bite out of her cookie piece, causing Shikamaru to smirk.

"You guys need to make something like this for my birthday," Ten Ten commented before shoving a piece into Neji's mouth and laughing.

"I'd be able to eat this all day…" Rain sighed happily.

After everyone ate at least five pieces each, the whole group split up, some staying by the table, some turning up the music and dancing, and others just walking around.

Sasuke sat down in his seat, watching as Naruto and Kiba argued about who could dance the best. He glanced over to look at Sakura, who was getting another drink with Hinata.

He suddenly remembered when Naruto had spiked the drinks last year. Then, he froze.

"Dobe, you didn't spike the"—

It was too late. Everyone knew that Hinata and Sakura were extremely light drinkers and they had already drunk three full cups of punch each.

"Naruto, Kiba, you two both suck at dancing so stop freaking arguing!" Hinata yelled out, putting her hands on her hips. Naruto laughed nervously.

"I guess it wasn't such a great idea to spike the drinks again this year huh…" He muttered.

"S…Sakura! Keep you shirt on!" Ino cried out, causing Sasuke to look towards them instead.

"But it's so hot…" Sakura whined, trying to wiggle out of Ino's grip.

"Sasuke, can you…?" Ino asked, trying her best to keep Sakura's hands together.

"Just take her to her room or something. She'll knock out in a few minutes, I swear," The blonde said when she saw Sasuke's hesitant expression.

Sasuke scooped the pink-haired girl in her arms who began to wiggle like a fish out of water.

He walked passed Hinata, who was raging on about how dense and annoying Naruto was, and also by Sai, who eyed him quite carefully.

"Have fun, little brother," Itachi teased as he walked passed him. Sasuke turned around to glare at him before entering the house.

It was troublesome getting Sakura up the stairs. She was squirming around nonstop and she was constantly kicking her legs around.

"Sakura, stop this," Sasuke told her once they were half way up the stairs. Sakura whined.

"I wanna stay down there and dance with Naruto and Kiba and eat cookies and"—

"You can do all that stuff later," He replied hastily.

"What are you going to do to me, Sasuke-kun?" The pink-haired girl asked suspiciously. Sasuke sighed.

"I'm just going to keep you from trouble and"—

"You're just jealous I'm looking at other guys," Sakura interrupted, rolling her eyes. Sasuke glared at her lightly.

He was now carrying her to his room. He kicked the door open and put her down before closing the door.

"Sakura, just lie down there. Ino said you'd fall asleep any minute now…" Sasuke began muttering.

"Sasuke-kun, it's so hot in here…" Sakura whispered, reaching down to take off her shirt again. He cringed before grabbing her arms.

He guided her over to his bed and put her down there.

To his surprise, she spun around and fell with him on top of the bed.

"Sakura, what're you"—

Sasuke widened his eyes slightly when she tried taking off her shirt once again.

He opened his mouth to protest, but her lips quickly pressed onto his.

It took Sasuke a lot of his self control to push her off of him. He glared at her, and flipped them over, so that he was on top of her.

She reached over to take off his shirt now, but he grabbed her wrists and pinned them to her sides. She blinked in confusion, before smiling.

"That's hot, Sasuke-kun," She told him, causing him to shudder slightly.

"Sakura, I'm not going to do anything to you," Sasuke told her. She pouted.

"And why not?" She asked. He sighed.

"You're drunk. I'm not going to take advantage of you like this," He explained.

"So…if I wasn't drunk, would you do something to me?" Sakura asked. He frowned.

"No. I know you wouldn't want it," The Uchiha replied. She moaned and he flinched.

"But I want it right now…" Sakura whined. He lowered his head down to whisper into her ear.

"You're drunk. Stop acting like this," Sasuke hissed. He could feel how hot her face was now.

"You're turned on. I'm turned on. So why not?" Sakura asked, ignoring his protests. He blushed before she smirked happily.

"I won't take advantage of you. That's it," Sasuke snapped. Her eyes were now half-lidded.

"I…love you, Sasuke-kun," She whispered before her eyes closed completely. Sasuke watched her for a few minutes, listening to her steady breathing. He sighed and rolled off of her.

"It's going to be hard when you two have to part," A voice behind him said. Sasuke turned around calmly to see Itachi leaning against the door frame.

"Don't remind me," Sasuke told him, sighing. Itachi crossed his arms.

"It's true. You'll be miles apart again. She'll be sad…bored," Itachi continued.

"She can stay here," Sasuke said, though he knew there was no point. His older brother frowned.

"You know that's not good for her. And you also know it's not possible for you to go over there," He pointed out.

"Maybe if I"—

"Sasuke, we have to do what's best for the company right now. It's already in trouble because of the Gane family," Itachi explained. Sasuke gritted his teeth.

"Damn, why are you being so negative to me right now?" He demanded.

"They are just simple thoughts, little brother," Itachi replied. Sasuke looked over at the sleeping girl on his bed.

"I love her. I can't let her go," He whispered.

"The days are limited, Sasuke. Make use of them," Itachi told him before leaving the room.

END JULY 23

A/N: Thanks for reading!