Fancy Footwork
Chapter 18: Home Sweet Home
The future evaluation surveys raised a huge fuss among students. Everyone knew that the higher a student's rankings, the higher the chance of him or her getting into a desired university. As a result, while everyone was busy chattering furiously and worrying and worrying and worrying because they hadn't bothered studying throughout high school, Sasuke was sitting on top of Sakura's desk with his legs folded in a lotus position. It was just after second period and he had come to escape again during the 15-minute break.
"What're you writing down on your survey, Sasuke-kun?" Sakura asked. Consistently wavering between 1st and 3rd place in the grade since freshman year had left the two of them with very little to contribute to the nervous blabbering filling the room. Sasuke yawned.
"There's a really good business school in New York City," he replied, rubbing the back of his neck. The group of freshman girls trailing after Sasuke had taken to hovering outside his classroom in between classes, tittering and peering in through the cracked door. So he slipped past them to escape to the classroom next door where he sulked quietly while Sakura poked fun at his misery just a little bit.
Recently, there had been some rumors swirling around that the student council president looked innocent but was capable of destroying people. This could probably be attributed to an incident a few weeks ago involving Naruto accidentally running into the girls' bathroom and Sakura punching him in the face for it. Sakura didn't mind (and didn't bother to dispel such rumors since they were mostly true) and it seemed to be behind what was keeping annoying fangirls from giggling outside her classroom too.
"You?" Sasuke grunted out his question. Sakura had already filled out her form and tucked it neatly inside her bag so it wouldn't be wrinkled by Sasuke's butt.
"Pre-med at Konoha University," she easily replied without any hesitation. And while the classroom was filled with anxious chatter, Sasuke nodded serenely in response and they both went back to dozing off a little. In fact, it was just their little back corner of the room that was calm in the midst of all the chaos and panic emanating from students suddenly worrying about their futures.
Sakura knew for a fact that Hinata planned to go to nursing school and with her respectable ranking in the top 20 students at Konoha High, her future was more than secured. Naruto (joking about being the emperor of Japan aside) wanted to open up his own successful ramen stand so he honestly didn't care about anything other than graduating safely. Sai had plans to attend a prestigious art school in Tokyo which also didn't require much academic prowess so much as talent. Sakura stretched her arms high over her head while she checked the round white clock on the wall. Their next class was due to start in less than two minutes. So she poked Sasuke's arm to get his attention.
"Get your butt off my desk, Sasuke-kun," she said. Sasuke scowled, stared the clock, and then scowled again before he hopped to his feet.
"Don't frown too much. Girls like that love the brooding and mysterious look," she called after him as he shoved his hands into his pockets and headed back to his own classroom.
"Hey, Sakura-chan," Naruto suddenly said. Sakura turned around to see her friend grinning brightly.
"Do you have plans for this weekend?" he asked.
"I don't think so. Why?"
"Let's go ice skating! If you come, then that asshole will definitely come!" Naruto insisted, pointing in the direction of Sasuke's classroom. Sakura blinked a few times before she noticed Hinata peering over the top of her book at her. Lately, Hinata and Naruto had turned into some sort of well-oiled machine with Naruto agreeing with everything Hinata said and Hinata giving puppy-dog eyes to push Naruto's agendas along. Sakura figured that she would have hated that had she not loved Naruto and Hinata to death.
"Ice skating?" she repeated slowly, rolling the word over her tongue. She hadn't been to an ice skating rink in several years and her ability not to fall over was minimal at best. But one look at Hinata's pleading eyes and Sakura caved.
"Sure. That sounds fun," Sakura agreed with a little sigh.
When Sasuke returned during the next break during classes, he saw Naruto eying him with excitement. Seating himself on top of Sakura's desk, he nudged her shoulder. She was turned around, watching Sai drawing in one of his sketchbooks. She glanced over at him and raised a hand in greeting before she turned back to Sai.
"What's the idiot planning?" Sasuke demanded.
"He wants me to convince you to hang out with us this weekend," Sakura replied, ignoring the way that Naruto's expression fell when he realized that she had betrayed him immediately. Sasuke's eyebrows knit together as he seemed to mull over the possibilities. Sakura knew that Sasuke hated loud, crowded places (probably why he hated high school so much) but she also knew that he would never miss an opportunity to see Naruto falling on his ass. After a minute, Sasuke let out a heavy sigh.
"Fine," he grumbled, ignoring Naruto's cheer.
When lunch period finally rolled around, Sakura watched Sasuke slink into the classroom with a small lunchbox hugged against his chest. There were a few high-pitched squeals from girls that had spotted him in the hallway but he slammed the door shut behind him. Hinata, Naruto, Sai and Sakura had pushed their desks together to form a square. Sakura gestured to an empty chair they had pulled up between her and Sai. When Sasuke collapsed into the offered seat, Naruto snorted loudly around a mouthful of ramen.
"Painful being popular, Sasuke?" Naruto laughed, exposing everyone to the half-chewed mass of noodles in his mouth. Sakura cringed while Sasuke aimed a sharp kick at Naruto's shin under the tables.
"Shut up, moron," Sasuke muttered sullenly as he opened up his bento. He promptly began picking out the sweet omelet Mikoto had included on top of the sticky white rice. Though his mother knew he hated sweet things, she never seemed to remember the fact when it came to making omelets. Hinata had packed a joint bento for her and Naruto. Now that he had finished off the instant bowl of ramen he had brought from home, Naruto began enthusiastically digging into the homemade lunch from his girlfriend. Sai had gone downstairs to buy some bread filled with sweet red bean. And Sakura had gone along with Sai to buy sweet melonpan*.
Sakura blinked a couple times when Sasuke suddenly plopped the lid of his bento down in front of her and piled the omelet slices on top of it.
"You doing okay?" he suddenly asked in a low voice. Sakura hesitated for a moment to answer and she could feel her other friends' eyes on her too.
"I'm good," she finally replied, reaching out to pat his shoulder once. Naruto's eyebrows knit together as he looked between her and Sasuke. But Hinata lightly touched his elbow, shaking her head, and Naruto evidently decided to let it drop.
"So, on Saturday, Naruto-kun and I were thinking about going ice skating and then getting lunch," Hinata suddenly announced. Grateful for the distraction, Sakura quickly looked away from Sasuke to agree with her plan. After they had agreed on what to eat (Naruto's declaration of ramen was easily dismissed), the door to the classroom slid open.
"Kaichou?"
Sakura's head automatically snapped up when she heard Udon's nasally voice. He was hovering nervously in the doorway, paperwork hugged tightly to his chest. His gaze darted nervously around the room, like he expected one of the seniors to get up and hit him with a shovel. She waved him inside, brushing crumbs off her lap. He half-ran, half-tripped over to her before he handed her the thick stack of papers.
"I stopped by the staff room and Sarutobi-sensei gave me this. He says that he likes your plan and that the budget seems reasonable," the boy explained as Sakura skimmed through the pages of the report she had submitted earlier that morning. She was surprised that the principal had managed to read through it so quickly. But his blue stamp of approval on the front was good enough for the student council to proceed with planning.
"Thank you, Udon-kun," she said with a smile, making the younger boy blush a little.
"Sasuke-kun!"
"Holy shit," Sasuke sighed as he ducked his head under his arm hide his face. The classroom door slid open again to reveal a girl with flaming red hair. Though the left side was silky and straight, the right was spiky and short, earning a fair share of strange looks from people in the room. When her eyes landed on Sasuke, they immediately lit up.
"Sasuke-kun! There you are!" she exclaimed in such a loud voice that Sakura had a hard time not cringing. Naruto, however, with his back turned to her, seemed perfectly fine making silent gagging faces and rolling his eyes.
"Karin, this isn't your class," Naruto groaned, clamping his hands over his ears. The girl paused for a moment to look at Naruto.
"Shut up," she snapped and Naruto gaped at Hinata, like he couldn't believe how rude Karin was. But Karin simply tossed her hair over her shoulder and ignored Naruto's wounded expression.
"We've been looking everywhere for you, Sasuke-kun. Why don't you want to eat lunch with us?" Karin asked in a voice dripping with honey again. And Sasuke did his best to make it look like he had actually died. Sakura struggled not to laugh at the look of utter misery etched on his face.
"Um, Uzumaki-san, right?" Sakura began when Sasuke began staring at her with wide eyes that silently pleaded for help. Though she looked annoyed at being interrupted, Karin turned to Sakura. Her eyes narrowed before she realized who had been the one to speak.
"Oh! Kaichou! Good timing. I'm going on a goukon with a couple friends on Friday. You're pretty so you should come," Karin declared with her hands on her hips.
"Seriously, be quiet, Karin. Sakura-chan would never want to go on a crappy goukon with you," Naruto snickered. Sai nodded solemnly as he calmly chewed on his bread.
"Don't get all arrogant just because you have a girlfriend now, Naruto! You're still a pathetic loser! And I wasn't talking to you!" Karin roared, stunning Naruto into silence.
"You're the worst cousin ever," Naruto sulked as he put his head down on the desk and left Hinata to pat his back soothingly. Sakura, who had been watching this exchange while tapping her chin, started when Karin looked back to her.
"Um, thank you, Uzumaki-san, but I think I'll have to pass," Sakura slowly said. Karin frowned.
"Look, I promise that the guys won't be ugly or anything. And they said they're paying for the food too," Karin insisted. When Sakura looked to Sasuke for support, he silently shook his head. So it was shy little Udon who cleared his throat and spoke.
"Kaichou can't because she already has a super-cool older boyfriend," Udon announced. And it just happened that at the moment, the classroom fell oddly silent and everyone in the room managed to hear him. The "EHHHH?" that rose in the room was embarrassing and slightly insulting. Even though Sakura blushed at all the attention, she also scowled.
"So? What? I can't have a boyfriend?" she huffed to no one in particular before she grabbed a slice of the omelet Sasuke had dumped on her and shoved it into her mouth. Chewing viciously, she avoided all the shocked stares until everyone seemed to get over the initial surprise and went back to eating their lunches.
"Oh… well, I guess you can't then," Karin finally said just as the door slid open again. Sasuke, who had just begun to lift his head, immediately ducked back down. But it was just Ino that peered into the classroom. She looked at Naruto slumped over as if dead and Sasuke trying his best to look like he wasn't there and she raised an eyebrow at Sakura who shrugged.
"Sarutobi-sensei's asking for you, Sakura," Ino said. When Sakura nodded and stood, Sasuke grabbed onto the back of her blouse.
"Take me with you," he hissed. Casting one cautious glance at Karin, Sakura put her hands on Sasuke's shoulders and marched him out of the classroom along with her with Udon trailing behind them. She sent Udon back to his own class before she headed to the staff room.
As she had half-expected, the principal asked her to perform again during the upcoming cultural festival. So she agreed, chatted for a few minutes, and then helped Sasuke sneak to the student council office where Karin would never think to search. As she sat sorting through some new paperwork, Sasuke sat on the corner of her desk, rifling through the ones she had already finished. He eyed the red 'REJECTED' stamp on some of them and snickered.
"Do you think if I stamped that girl's face with this she'd leave me alone?" Sasuke asked. Sakura tried her best not to smile at how utterly miserable he looked.
Eventually, lunch period ended and they went off to their separate classrooms. Once classes were over, Sakura was back in the student council office. With summer break looming near, all the sports teams were suddenly sending in requests for all the equipment and money they needed for training. She wanted to strangle Naruto when she found the basketball club's request especially since she had reminded him and Sasuke about a billion times to submit it a couple days early so she wouldn't be drowning in work. As she sat swimming through a pile of papers, her cell phone rang. She had purposely set a few numbers to a different ringtone so she wouldn't be jumping out of her seat for every single noise her phone made.
"Hello?" she asked without checking the caller ID.
"Sakura, I need to stay after class to talk to my professor about my exam. Do you mind if I have one of the others come pick you up instead?" Itachi inquired.
"No, of course not. Good luck with your exam," she replied. He apologized before he said he needed to get back to class and she hung up the phone.
"What's wrong, Kaichou?" Inari asked as he picked up a stack of papers from her desk.
"Nothing," Sakura quickly said, shoving her phone into her pocket and getting back to work. Half an hour later, there was a soft knock on the door. But before anyone could answer, it burst open and Deidara charged inside.
"I'm going to borrow this, yeah. See you shrimps later," Deidara said, took Sakura by the arm, and dragged her out. She barely had time to grab her schoolbag before she had to run to keep up with Deidara's steps.
"We need to haul some serious ass. If we're late, Sasori's going to whoop my butt, yeah," Deidara told her over his shoulder as they sprinted out of the school and past the front gates. His motorcycle was waiting outside. Sakura automatically caught the extra helmet Deidara threw at her. When she didn't put it on, Deidara flipped up the visor of his own helmet to raise an eyebrow at her.
"You're not mad at me?" she asked in a small voice. When Deidara didn't answer, she felt like crying. She hadn't meant to overstep her boundaries and now one of her closest friends was angry with her for being such a busybody.
"Shut up, My-chan. You know you're my girl," Deidara sighed as he reached out and pulled her into a tight hug. Sakura could have sobbed for how relief washed over her. A low sigh rumbled out of Deidara's chest as he patted the top of her head.
"What're you doing? Get your sleazy hands off her. She's taken," Sasuke interrupted in an unusually grumpy voice. Deidara didn't release her but only looked over at Sasuke to stick out his tongue.
"Don't get jealous, Baby Sasu-chan. Just because My-chan lets me feel her boobs doesn't mean she loves Itachi any less, yeah," Deidara leered, pulling Sakura closer so her breasts were mashed firmly against his stomach. As Sasuke stood slack-jawed, Sakura took the opportunity to pinch Deidara's side. Hard. Shrugging, Deidara released her and took a step back.
"Deidara-san!" Sakura chastised. Deidara poked her cheek.
"And now that we're close enough for you to nag me and stuff, don't call me that. From now on, you're My-chan and I'm Dei-chan," he insisted, tweaking the tip of her nose. Sakura's mouth twisted up into a pout as she looked up into his grin. With a little sigh, Sakura let him pull her into another hug that sent Sasuke into another fit of teeth-grinding.
"What's up, Sasuke-kun? Did you need something?" Sakura asked as she wormed her way out of Deidara's arms.
"Just wanted to make sure everything was alright. Didn't want you to walk alone or something," Sasuke grunted, shoving his hands deep into his pockets. Sakura ignored Deidara's snicker over her shoulder.
"Oh. Thanks. That's really nice of you. But I'm heading to dance practice right now so you should head home. I'll see you tomorrow, okay?" Sakura said before she put the helmet on and climbed onto the motorcycle. She wrapped her arms around Deidara's waist while he revved the engine. Sakura knew Sasuke wouldn't be able to hear anything else she said so she lifted a hand in greeting before Deidara sped off down the street towards KU.
Sakura knew Deidara really wasn't mad because his back was slouched. Everything about him was relaxed and easy as he turned corners, switched lanes and drove a little too much over the speed limit. And she had hitched enough rides on his bike by now that she was able to keep her eyes open during the entire trip. So she enjoyed watching cars whip past and streetlights blur together in one smudged line. The smell of the clean spring air filled her nose and mouth each time she took a breath. When Deidara pulled into his usual spot in the parking lot at KU, Sakura was almost reluctant to hop off the bike. She tossed the helmet back at him, running her fingers through her tangled hair. They chatted idly about pointless things like the weather and what they had eaten for lunch until they headed up to the third floor. As soon as Deidara opened the glass door, he was hit in the face with a towel.
"Oops, sorry, Deidara," Kisame said. Deidara hurled the towel back at him.
"What the hell? Why are you trying to kill me, yeah?" Deidara snapped.
"…Maybe if you're an existence that can be terminated with a towel, you're just not meant for this world, Deidara," Sasori quietly remarked. It took everyone a moment to realize that Sasori was joking. At least, Sakura hoped he was joking. And she could tell that Deidara wanted to stay annoyed at Kisame but Sasori's statement had left him in a state of shock. Kisame noticed too because he pointed and laughed.
"Shut up," Deidara grumped out. Kisame clapped him on the back.
"Go get changed, Squirrely. Sasori-senpai's teaching you dimestopping today," Kisame announced.
Practice went by quickly. Since Sasori was the master of all things popping (and of all things candy), he had mostly been the one to teach her everything she knew about it. Dimestopping involved a lot of smooth movements mixed with sudden stops that looked incredibly awkward if not done correctly. While they were busy working on Sakura's timing, Kisame and Deidara immersed themselves in new choreography for a couple of songs they had picked out a few days ago. Though they claimed to be working, whenever Sakura looked over, one of them was on the floor while the other laughed at him.
At 6, Deidara and Kisame announced that they would die without food. While they began cheering about having pork cutlet for dinner, Sakura hesitated. She knew that Itachi's final would have ended about an hour ago and she wondered how things had gone. Despite Deidara's puppy dog eyes and Kisame's pouting, she politely declined their invitation.
"I want to go see if Itachi-kun's alive after his exam. I'm thinking about making hambagu steak* for dinner," Sakura explained when Kisame looked genuinely heartbroken at her gentle rejection. Sasori raised his eyebrows at her.
"You're making dinner for him? How cozy," Sasori remarked.
"Yeah, My-chan. Next thing you know, you're going to be staying over at his place," Deidara remarked with a little snort of laughter. Blushing faintly, Sakura let out a nervous giggle.
"Well, I sort of am at the moment."
The sound of Sasori crunching straight through his lollipop echoed awkwardly in the studio. After a moment of complete precarious quiet, Sasori reached into his bag to pluck our a magazine that he began rolling tightly in his hands to make the perfect slapping weapon. Kisame, however, was quick to break the silence. Clapping his hands together, he began doing his celebratory jig that included a lot of hopping and jerky arm movements.
"Congratulations! Name your kids after me, okay?" Kisame instructed in a sing-song voice, his gaze darting nervously between Sasori preparing for battle and Deidara who seemed to have lost the ability to speak altogether. While Sakura yanked the magazine from Sasori's hands, Kisame cautiously poked Deidara in the side, earning a smack to the side of his head.
"Does this have anything to do with that weird phone guy, My-chan?" Deidara suddenly demanded. When Sakura nodded, Kisame's teasing broke off with an awkward cough. She could tell that they were dying to ask a million questions. (Well, Kisame and Deidara were. She couldn't quite decipher the blankness of Sasori's face without guessing. He could be thinking about how he needed to do his laundry for all she knew.) It was Kisame that loudly cleared his throat.
"Well, have a nice dinner then, Kitten," he said in order to smooth over the awkward silence. Despite Deidara's sputtering protests, Sasori dragged him out with Kisame putting his hands on Sakura's shoulders to lead her downstairs.
Deidara offered her a ride on his motorcycle but she politely declined and instead walked the 10 minutes to Itachi's apartment. The windows were completely dark so she wondered if he had collapsed at school from sheer exhaustion. To her immense relief, when she knocked on the door, it only took a few seconds for him to answer. Sakura had never seen Itachi look so disheveled until she had started living with him. He opened the door wearing a black wifebeater and loose grey pajama pants. He offered her a tired smile before he shuffled inside.
"I'm home," she politely said more out of habit than anything. But Itachi's feet suddenly stopped.
"Welcome home," Itachi softly replied as he turned to look at her. She stopped too, eyeing his surprised expression with equal confusion.
"What? I'm home?" Sakura repeated questioningly. A little gasp left her when Itachi suddenly took a few long strides toward her and enveloped her in a tight hug. The thud of her schoolbag falling to the floor sounded incredibly quiet in comparison to Itachi's soft sigh in her ear.
"Welcome home," Itachi replied again with such fervency that she felt her heart skip a beat for just a moment. As the heat of a blush crept up from the back of her neck to her cheeks, Sakura quickly pushed away from him and pretended to be absorbed in looking through the refrigerator to check that she had all the ingredients for dinner. She fumbled around the kitchen as she tied an apron around her waist and scrubbed her hands in the sink. When she snuck a peek at Itachi over her shoulder, she found him lying on the couch, his arms thrown over his eyes.
The soft sizzle of patties in the frying pan filled the apartment. The wooden spatula scraped along the bottom of the pan to make sure that nothing burned. When the minced garlic began cooking as well, the buttery fragrance rose in the air. Sakura was so engrossed in her task that when the doorbell rang, she actually jumped. One quick glance at Itachi confirmed that he was out cold so she wiped her hands on the edge of the apron and tip-toed to the door to look through the peephole. Part of her wasn't surprised to see Sasuke sullenly standing in the hall, his hands jammed so deep into his pockets that Sakura was sure he was digging for gold in there. His normally spiky hair hung limply in his eyes and flopped over the collar of his white t-shirt, still damp from a shower.
"Sasuke-kun?" Sakura said as she opened the door and stuck her head out. She nervously glanced back to make sure she hadn't woken Itachi. Sasuke grunted in response. His dark duffel bag hung from his right shoulder and he was in a slightly damp t-shirt and blue track pants, signs that he had probably come straight from basketball practice.
"Mom wanted me to bring these," Sasuke explained, shoving a plastic bag into Sakura's hands. She nudged the handles aside to reveal clear containers filled with various side dishes. Sakura stared down at the food for a moment, acutely aware of Sasuke's nervous fidgeting just next to her. She pursed her lips as she calculated the amount of ground beef she had bought for dinner.
"Come in. You must be hungry," Sakura finally said, taking Sasuke's wrist and pulling him inside the apartment. With a little yelp, she ran back to the stove to flip the burgers to stop them from burning to a crisp. She rolled out another disk of meat and placed it in the pan. Sasuke dropped his duffel bag in the foyer and then stood awkwardly near the refrigerator.
"Sit down, Sasuke-kun. You're making me nervous," she giggled, pointing to the round kitchen room table. Sasuke glanced over at his older brother splayed out on the sofa and let out a derisive snort.
"And father tells me I should be more dignified like Nii-san," Sasuke muttered while he dropped into an empty chair.
"Did you just get out of basketball practice? It's almost 7," Sakura commented as she popped the rice cooker open. Steam rose in her face and she sputtered as she fluffed the sticky white rice.
"Naruto and I were doing drills with the freshmen until pretty late. When I got home my mom kicked me out with that," he yawned in response, pointing at the plastic bag he had brought over. Evidently a little more relaxed, he propped his chin up in his hand and watched her move around the kitchen stirring and flipping and poking. Sakura added a dash of salt to the gravy she was making to go on top of the hambagu steak. She stirred once, hit the spoon against the edge of the pot to get excess sauce off, and then popped it into her mouth to taste. She hummed approvingly at the savory flavor.
"You like cooking?" Sasuke suddenly inquired. Shrugging, she tossed the spoon in the sink.
"I like eating," she corrected him.
"And you call Ino a pig," he snorted in response. They suddenly grew quiet while Sakura rose on her tiptoes to reach for clean plates from the cupboard. Sasuke stood and nudged her aside to get the plates for her instead.
"What's up with you and Yamanaka anyway? Are you still mad at her?" Sasuke asked as he leaned against the counter to watch Sakura scoop out rice onto each plate and top it with the steaming patty. When she drizzled gravy over each one, Sasuke's stomach let out a tiny growl.
"I'm not mad at her. It's just that I never see her anymore and even if I did, I wouldn't know what to talk to her about. Maybe I'm a bad friend for saying this but I feel like once I got away from Ino-chan, I was more…. More…" Sakura struggled to find the right words. It definitely wasn't that she blamed Ino for anything. Ino had been her first real friend, the girl who had protected her from bullies and shared secrets and stayed up on weekends with her to read from gossipy magazines.
"No offense, Sakura, but Ino kind of treated you like crap," Sasuke told her. Sakura scowled.
"No she didn't," Sakura snapped, shoving a plate into each of his hands.
"Yes she did. She made you do all her work and was copying your homework all the time and she pretty much treated you like a sidekick," he pointed out while placing the plates on the table. Sakura's hand froze while reaching for glasses.
"That's…not true," she slowly said even as she remembered all the times Ino had shoved all her work onto her. Especially last year, Ino had taken all the effort to be voted as class representative only to decide she didn't want the position anymore when she realized that it required extra responsibilities and meetings afterschool. But she had known Ino forever. Wasn't that what friendship was all about? Helping each other out?
"She treated you like she was better than you, Sakura. That's not fair. Besides, all the guys think you're hotter than her now," Sasuke added, rolling his eyes. Sakura blinked a few times.
"What was that last part?"
Sasuke seated himself at the table as if he hadn't said something strange. Sakura set the glasses down and began filling them with cool water. The fragrance of cooked meat and onions and garlic rose in the air in a heavenly aroma.
"I was talking to Shikamaru and he said that you looked different. Naruto thinks your boobs got bigger but I told him he was being stupid," Sasuke clarified when her eyes began sizzling into the side of his face. Sakura let out an outraged squeal as she crossed her arms over her chest.
"What the heck! Just when Dei-chan and Sasori-san get over their weird obsession, you three start this nonsense! No! Quit looking at my boobs and stop talking about them!" Sakura hissed.
"So they did get bigger. Huh," Sasuke calmly said and Sakura knocked her fist lightly against his forehead. To her immense surprise, Sasuke looked at her and then stuck his tongue out at her. She tried to stay mad at him but it was immensely difficult when she realized that this was probably the first time Uchiha Sasuke had done so since…. Well, since forever.
"Pervert," Sakura sighed before she walked over to the living room where Itachi had managed to sleep peacefully through all the noise. Sakura lightly shook his arm.
"Dinner's ready," she said in a soft voice. It took a moment but she caught a glimpse of his right eye opening in the space between his arms. He blinked slowly and it took a few seconds for his gaze to focus on her.
"And Sasuke-kun's here. Come on," Sakura added. With a low groan, Itachi sat up like it was the most irritating and pointless task in the world. He then looked over at Sakura, looped his arm around her waist, and then curled up on his side with a satisfied exhale, squishing Sakura between him and the back of the sofa. Sakura would have been embarrassed beyond belief had Sasuke not been busy sniffing his food, completely missing out on the exchange altogether.
"I'm hungry. Please don't harass me when I'm hungry. I get very grumpy when I'm hungry. Have you forgotten this?" Sakura reminded Itachi in a voice slightly muffled by his arm. After another moment, Itachi sat up, releasing his hold on her. Smoothing her hair back down, Sakura quickly hopped to her feet and joined Sasuke at the table before he noticed anything had happened at all. It took a minute for Itachi to sit down to Sakura's right, running a hand through his dark hair.
"When did you get here, Sasuke?" Itachi asked.
"A little while ago. Man, you were dead, Nii-san," Sasuke said.
"I wish," Itachi muttered. He then added a soft "Itadakimasu" before digging into his warm meal. Sasuke did the same, taking a giant bite of meat slathered liberally with Sakura's special ketchup gravy. Only Sakura didn't eat, watching the brothers eagerly for their reactions.
"Holy… Nii-san, please marry her so we can eat like this forever," Sasuke sighed around his second mouthful of food, his eyes rolling back just a little. Even though he looked like he was having trouble keeping his eyes open, Itachi nodded in agreement as he chewed. With a satisfied smile, Sakura then dug into her own meal, pleasantly surprised by how well the dish had turned out despite one side of the meat being a little burnt. Halfway through the meal, Sakura cracked open the side dishes from Mikoto that included pickled vegetables that everyone eagerly gobbled down.
Immediately after dinner, Itachi drifted back to the sofa where he collapsed once more into deep sleep.
"Wow. Tough day today," Sasuke observed while helping Sakura clear the table.
"He had a big exam. I think it counted for something like 60% of his grade for the semester," Sakura explained. She beamed when Sasuke knocked her hands aside and dunked his hands in the warm water to start scrubbing the dishes clean. Naruto called him a sourpuss behind his back a lot (and too his face too, actually) but Sakura knew Mikoto had at least managed to beat good manners into his stubborn head. When Sasuke caught her smile, he scowled harder.
"So you're staying here for a while then?" he asked. Sakura hoisted herself up on the counter next to him to watch him work.
"I guess. Fugaku-san says it'd be best for me to stay away from home until all this is sorted it. I kind of need more clothes though. I didn't think I'd be here for this long," she mused mostly to herself. The faucet turned off with a faint squeak.
"Let's go," Sasuke declared.
"Hm?" she hummed, not really paying attention.
"Father said you shouldn't go there alone so I'll walk you. Come on, before it gets too late," Sasuke explained, tilting his head toward the door. Sakura hesitated for a moment. But Itachi was sound asleep and she desperately needed some more clean underwear and there was also some leftover food in the refrigerator that she needed to dispose of before it grew legs and walked out by itself. She took a moment to locate Itachi's keys and slipped them into her pocket before Sasuke picked up his duffel bag and left the apartment with her.
The sun had already set and the streetlights had already flickered on as the made their way down the quiet street. Sakura found herself stealing glances at Sasuke until a frown twisted his lips.
"What?" he demanded.
"Am I your best friend, Sasuke-kun?" she suddenly asked. Though he tried not to be, Sasuke was always surrounded by people who definitely liked him more than he liked them. Sure he was close with Shikamaru (mostly because Shikamaru was always too busy nodding off to pester him) and Naruto (because Naruto was beyond caring if Sasuke occasionally shoved him into a bush or a wall). But sometimes it was hard to tell who Sasuke was simply tolerating and who he actually liked.
"Since Naruto has recently become intolerably annoying since getting a girlfriend, I'm bumping you up to first," Sasuke admitted. Sakura laughed.
"Well…. Thank you? I think…" she replied. The subway ride to Sakura's apartment was filled with Sakura's bright chatter. She got the feeling that Sasuke was actually listening even though he seemed busy staring out the windows. So she held onto one of the cool metal poles and let her body sway with the train as a soft woman's voice occasionally announced which stop was coming up next.
"What do you think, Sasuke-kun?" Sakura inquired just to test him. His dark eyebrows lifted just a little.
"I hate cats. Get a dog. Dogs are smart and not evil….usually," he responded without looking at her. Sakura let a gleeful grin stretch her mouth as she poked him in the stomach. Rolling his eyes, Sasuke finally turned his gaze to her.
"Oh, so Prince Sasuke was listening to this lowly peasant?" she teased with a little too much satisfaction.
"Shut up, Sakura. This is the stop," Sasuke sighed. He walked a little ways behind her as she happily skipped down the darkened streets. The warm glow of streetlights paired with a second pair of familiar footfalls with her was more than enough to lift her spirits. She hopped up the stairs to her floor before unlocking the door and carefully peering inside. Since the door looked undisturbed, Sakura logically knew that there was probably nothing wrong. But it didn't stop her from feeling just a little worried nonetheless.
"Just hurry up, Sakura. I'm sleepy," Sasuke grumbled, flicking the light switch near the door. She frowned at him, silently reminding that he had been the one to suggest this in the first place. With Sasuke rendered quiet, Sakura emptied her refrigerator of anything that would spoil into a clear plastic bag. She left it by the door, intending to take it out with her when they left. But when she ducked into her bedroom to find a bag, she returned and found both Sasuke and the garbage bag gone. A minute later, he stepped back inside with a bored expression. Sakura would have thanked him had he not let out an obnoxious yawn that told her to hurry along.
Sakura had no idea how long she would have to remain at her boyfriend's house and desperately wanted to delay washing her clothes there (especially since that included her undergarments). She stuffed a large amount of underwear and bras and socks into the bottom of her bag before neatly stacking other clothing on top the crucial layer. Tired of listening to Sasuke sigh and shift from foot to foot, Sakura rushed to finish packing and met him at the front door just a few minutes later. Since it was easier for Sasuke to walk home from Sakura's place than to go all the way back to Itachi's apartment, she insisted that he only accompany her as far as the train station. She cheerfully waved before heading across Konoha on the 15-minute ride. It had taken about less than an hour and by the time she used Itachi's keys, Itachi was still snoozing peacefully on the sofa.
"Itachi-kun," Sakura softly said as she perched on the armrest by his head. He was scowling in his sleep. At the sound of her voice, he stirred a little and let out a small sigh before he cracked one eye open.
"You're back? Did you get everything you need?" he asked.
"Wait, you heard us? I thought you were out cold," Sakura said. Itachi yawned in response.
"Not exactly. I was half-asleep, half-awake," Itachi explained as he sat up. He stretched his arms over his head before he looked over at her. Warmth fluttered through her when he brushed her hair out of her face and rested his hand on her cheek.
"Have you lost weight again?" he said in more of an observation than a question. Sakura looked down at her legs. She hadn't particularly noticed much difference. So when she shrugged, she was a little surprised to see Itachi's eyebrows furrow.
"You should take good care of yourself, Sakura," he chastised her. Sakura gaped at him while he managed to stand and move to the kitchen to pour himself a glass of water. It was only when he finished gulping down the water that he finally noticed her staring at him. He raised an eyebrow at her.
"You have probably gotten collectively about 12 hours of sleep in the past week and you forget to eat because you're studying. And you're telling me to take better care of myself?" Sakura pointed out with a little huff. Itachi chuckled while setting his empty glass in the sink. He made his way back to the sofa and settled next to her. He reached into his pocket and then deposited something in her right hand.
"I had a copy made so you don't need to ring the doorbell like a stranger anymore," Itachi explained as Sakura held up the shiny silver key to the light. She swallowed hard. Sure, she was very much a novice when it came to relationships and the like, but she was rather certain that getting a key was a big step. Sakura shook her head, pushing the key back into his hands.
"I-I couldn't. I'm only staying here until everything gets sorted out," Sakura stammered out. But Itachi closed her fingers around the cool key and then closed his hands around hers.
"Sakura, like you just said, you're staying here for a little while. Until you leave, I want you to know that this is your home," he insisted.
"My home?" she asked, looking around.
"Our home," Itachi corrected himself with a little smile. He wrapped his arms around her waist and easily pulled her into his lap. Sakura braced herself for what was coming next, closing her eyes and waiting for the warm contact of his mouth on hers. She tried to swallow back the disappointment that filled her when his lips instead touched her left cheek. Before he could see her expression, Sakura quickly pulled on a smile.
"Alright?" he inquired.
"It's most definitely not alright. I'm confused, Hinata-chan. Is it weird to be confused?" Sakura grumbled against the straw stuck into her cup of soda. While she took a moment to gulp down some melon soda, she glanced over at Hinata. They were sitting at one of the white plastic tables located off the edge of the rink. As they sat in momentary silence, Naruto skated past and raised his arms in an enthusiastic wave, just barely avoiding colliding with a small child. Sasuke skated past, grabbed Naruto by the back of his jacket, and dragged him off to the other side, away from the girls.
"Well… I'd be confused too, I think," Hinata finally replied. Sakura made a strangled noise of frustration as she let her head fall to the table.
"I mean, Naruto-kun and I never talked about anything like that before," she added almost as an afterthought. Sakura's eyes widened when she saw Hinata's cheeks stay the same soft shade of peach as she spoke (and thought) about her boyfriend. Pointing a finger into her friend's face, Sakura bolted upright.
"Ah! Tell me what happened!" Sakura demanded. It was only then that Hinata's face began to brighten to the cheery shade of bright red that Sakura recognized.
"We….We sort of…um…. You know…. Did the special hug that guys and girls do alone?" Hinata admitted in the quietest whisper that Sakura only managed to hear because she was leaning across the table. With her mouth hanging wide open, Sakura stared at Hinata. Her innocent little friend who had, just months ago, nearly fainted at holding hands with her boyfriend…. Shaking her head, Sakura let out a deep sigh.
"Yo. Looking cheerful, Sakura. You just get here?" Tenten greeted in her usual chipper voice. Konan trailed a little ways behind her. They all eyed each other with surprise (well, Hinata more with confusion because she clearly had no idea who these people were) before Tenten raised an eyebrow. She had a pair of skates slung over her right shoulder dangling from the long white laces. Her brown hair had started falling out of its usual buns and Konan had some snow on the side of her leg.
"What's wrong?" the brunette asked.
Sakura leapt out of her seat and latched on to Tenten's arm like she was about to fall off a cliff and die otherwise. To Tenten's right, Konan simply blinked slowly. After a moment, Konan patted the top of Sakura's head.
"Spill your troubles to us. You look ready to explode….or murder someone. I'd prefer the latter," Konan said as she took a seat.
"Yeah. We promise not to laugh no matter how embarrassing or weird," Tenten added with a smile. Encouraged by the three friendly faces, Sakura took a deep breath and spoke. She recounted her conversation with Itachi about how he was willing to wait for her. While at the time his words had been unimaginably sweet and understanding, they had become somewhat of a burden on her. And then she went on to babble about their weird encounter last night, how she had actually been waiting for a kiss and gotten something less than she had expected. As soon as she was finished talking, Sakura looked up at her friends' faces. Konan bit down on her lower lip to quiet herself. This worked for all of five seconds before she began giggling. And this apparently triggered Tenten who exploded into full-bellied guffaws that almost sounded unrealistic coming out of such a tiny body.
"Oh our baby's all grown up!" Tenten howled, beating her fist against the table.
"YOU PROMISED NOT TO LAUGH!" Sakura complained. Tenten only laughed harder until tears were streaming from her eyes. She held onto Hinata's shoulders, shaking the younger girl from the force of her guffaws. Konan covered her mouth with her hand to try to hide that she was still snickering just a little.
"The guy gives you a key but can't go all the way with you? It's like I'm reading a badly written fanfiction or something!" Tenten hooted.
"Seriously! Help me, you guys. What's wrong with me?" Sakura practically wailed, slapping her palms down on the table.
"Honey, it's not what's wrong with you. It's what's wrong….or very right…about this guy," Tenten managed to say between peals of laughter. When Sakura stared blankly at her, Tenten only started laughing so much that she no longer made any noise. She shook with silent howls that left her wheezing for breath. Sakura looked over at Hinata but Hinata shook her head to say that she had no idea either.
"Listen, Sakura, Itachi is a….what was the word you used earlier, Tenten? A wimp?" Konan began. Sakura had been taking a sip of her soda and promptly choked as carbonated beverage nearly went up her nose. Coughing, she looked over at Konan who was sitting looking quite innocent.
"In essence, Itachi tried to play the role of the good guy but instead put all this added pressure on you," Konan surmised. Sakura nodded furiously.
"And now all you can really think about around him is that, right?"
Sakura bobbed her head even harder this time.
"And this worries you because you don't want to do that with him?"
When Sakura hesitated, Tenten lightly shoved Konan's arm with hers.
"No, senpai. Sakura's freaking out because she wants to know what she should do to let Mr. Blockhead know that she's ready to….you know," Tenten explained. All four girls jumped when something rammed into the side of the ice rink just next to their table. They looked up to find Naruto leaning against the edge with his arms dangling over.
"Hey there Tenten-senpai. Ready to what?" he asked. Sasuke skidded to a stop right behind him. Sakura raised her eyebrows at him and Sasuke glared at her.
"Yo, moron, let's get some ramen. I'll buy," Sasuke sighed, clapping Naruto on the shoulder. As Naruto cheered, Sasuke took an extra moment to stare at Sakura to let her know him that she owed him big. Sasuke would mostly likely leave broke after Naruto ate his fill.
"Anyway, Sakura, with a guy like Itachi, you need to be subtle. If you try to bring up sex in front of him for real, he'd probably freak out," Tenten explained. This made Sakura narrow her eyes.
"Why? How was it for you and Hyuuga-senpai?" Sakura queried. Neji hardly seemed like the romantic type and she wondered what her friend even saw in him sometimes. His cruel sense of humor was admittedly hysterical but she couldn't ever imagine him buying flowers or saying anything mushy.
"Oh I jumped him one day. Kind of held him down and had my way," Tenten replied with a sheepish expression.
"So you raped him," Konan commented. It was Sakura's turn to explode with laughter at that. To her surprise, Tenten joined in for a bit.
"No. He was trying to ask my permission and stuff and was blabbing about doing it 'the right way' so I kind of hurried things along. If you ask me, I think he enjoyed it," Tenten corrected with a dreamy expression. Hinata looked faintly nauseated at discussing her cousin's sex life so they quickly changed direction.
"So Sakura, you need to be discrete with Itachi. Do little things like….uh…. Konan-senpai?" Tenten trailed off so Konan continued.
"A brush to his arm, keeping your hair wet after you shower, let your legs touch when you sit next to him…hm… Oh, wear big t-shirts with shorts. Guys seem to love that. And start using perfume," Konan listed off. Sakura cocked her head to the side.
"Perfume?" she repeated.
"Oh yes. Men love it when your scent lingers on anything. And just constantly be touching him but in a really gentle and fleeting way. Like you didn't realize or something," Konan finished off, looking very satisfied with herself. Sakura raised an eyebrow.
"That's it?" Sakura asked with a little tinge of disappointment. Tenten scoffed.
"That's some quality advice, kiddo. Let us know how things are going in about a week or so. We've got to go. Nice meeting you, Sakura's friend," Tenten said as she got to her feet. She bumped her fist lightly against Sakura's arm before she headed off. Konan offered a soft smile as she stood too. Sakura caught the edge of her sleeve before she could turn to leave.
"I'm sorry for last time, Konan-senpai…you know, for butting in between you and Dei-chan," Sakura blurted out. Konan stared at her like she had no idea what she was talking about.
"That was a problem exacerbated by years of miscommunication and anger. He got to shout and I got to throw a lamp at him. Overall, it was a rather cathartic experience," Konan simply said before she patted Sakura's cheek and was off.
Hinata and Sakura sat in silence for a long while.
"I think she did rape my cousin, Sakura-chan," Hinata finally remarked.
"Let's not talk about that," Sakura sighed.
"So you're going to seduce your boyfriend?" inquired Hinata.
"I guess…" was the weary response before her forehead hit the table.
As it turned out, seducing Uchiha Itachi was like trying to teach a dolphin to play racquetball.
By the end of the first week, Sakura wasn't sure who she hated more: Itachi or herself.
It started off with tiny things like leaving her hair wet after taking a shower and starting to use a body mist called 'Sweetie Apple Pie' which, as the name suggested, smelled like apples and happiness and all things sugary. The first day she had used it, she had been slapped with countless compliments all the way from Naruto (endearing but slightly irritating) to Sasori (endearing but slightly terrifying). She started changing into her pajamas earlier, wearing them around the apartment when she made tea or did her homework at the kitchen table. It was nothing fancy, a simple t-shirt and shorts. She didn't see why any guy would find that so attractive but Tenten hounded her with text messages every day to check her progress to Sakura did as she was told.
But after seven days, Itachi was utterly unchanged. Sakura decided that either he was a moron or she was a moron. She still couldn't decide which it was.
On the seventh day, as she was waiting for the rice cooker to finish so they could eat dinner, Sakura noticed Itachi sitting on the sofa and reading through some sort of book. With quiet steps, she crept up behind the sofa to read over his shoulder. She hoped it was for his French conversation course. She loved listening to him read those books out loud.
"Is this….a romance novel?" Sakura asked when she got through the first few sentences. Itachi chuckled.
"It's for my modern literature course. It's actually quite interesting. The dynamic between the main character and his love interest wavers is filled with a lot of tension. And the protagonist's inaction is surprisingly frustrating for the reader," Itachi commented. Sakura raised an eyebrow. Did he have any idea just how ironic that was coming out of his mouth?
"Is something bothering you lately? You seem tired," Itachi suddenly asked.
Sakura wondered what he would do if she hit him in the face with his stupid book.
"I'm fine," Sakura replied, shaking her head.
After a filling meal of soba, Sakura sat sulking over her homework as she listened to Itachi do the dishes. Her calculus homework seemed to be laughing up at her for having apparently no sex appeal so she stuffed it back into her folder and let out a frustrated huff.
"Something is bothering you." This time, it wasn't a question. She turned in her seat to watch Itachi dry off his hands with a clean rag before he settled in the chair next to hers. Sakura stared at him for a long time while he waited for her to speak. Her mouth opened once and then closed. Puffing her cheeks out, Sakura suddenly stood, gathering up all her books into her arms.
"Nothing! Good night!" Sakura grumped out before retreating to the bedroom and locking the door behind her. She dropped her books in the general area of her schoolbag before she climbed up to the loft and sprawled out on the bed. After an extra moment of sulking, she picked up her cell phone and found Tenten's number.
'It isn't working.'
After a minute, Sakura's phone vibrated. She was always glad that Tenten was a fast typist.
'What is this guy, a monk? I guess this calls for plan B.'
'Plan B?'
'We're going shopping this weekend. Prepare to become poor.'
*Melonpan= google that shiet. It's basically cookie dough on top of bread. It's absolutely delicious, especially the kind with actual melon flavoring.
*Hambagu steak= google this too. And then make it for yourself and eat it and be happy. It's the Asian version of a hamburger usually served over rice with some kind of sauce. It's like the god of happiness and food showered rainbows on your taste buds.