A/N: I deeply apologize for the long update! I've been really busy with school and other things, that I just couldn't write this for a while. And, I'm sorry to add, that this isn't the best chapter I've come out with. I tried to make it better, but it just... well, you'll see once you read it. My files with the original chapter were lost and... so I had to rewrite it, and I don't like it so much. But, thank you for all who read this, because you guys are so awesome for sticking with me this long! (Even though its only been 7 chapters, you guys must be tired of it, right?)

Once again, I don't own Naruto.

La Tua Cantante

Chapter 7:

CLOSENESS

"So, what happened last night, Forehead? Tell me everything!"

Sakura groaned and dropped her head on her arms. Her blonde friend had been continually pestering her for the entire morning, and quite frankly she was tired of it. "Nothing happened! It was just a normal business dinner."

Ino gave off a melodramatic sigh before she slapped a hand to the girl's forehead. "Are you feeling ok? I'm sure your memory was muddled because of the things you did with the Uchiha, yes? You know, the first step to recovery is admitting you have a problem, darling."

"I'm fine. And no, I don't have a problem," Sakura replied, shifting her head so that the hand was drawn away. "You got that from one of Sai's books, didn't you?"

"Yes, she did," contributed said owner of books as he overheard their conversation. Sai pulled a chair out silently as he plopped down into it, dumping his bag –presumably filled with books— onto the floor.

"Thought so." Jutting her bottom lip out, the green eyed girl slanted her eyes towards the man next to her, who was casually leaning back and on the verge of sleeping. "Shikamaru, being the smart person you are," Sakura muttered sarcastically. "Would it hurt for you to shut up the girl who's been talking for the past three hours?"

The boy snorted. "Too troublesome."

As a yawn came out from her mouth, Sakura stretched her arms tiredly. "Life sucks," she declared as she stole Ino's plate of salad from across the table. "Especially when you have a stupid boss who makes you do tons of work."

Ino raised an eyebrow questioningly as she handed the rosette a fork, obviously unaffected by the absence of her lunch. "Tons of work?"

"Yes, tons of work."

"I knew it."

Stopping midway through a bite, Sakura lifted her head curiously. "Knew what?"

"That you were screwing the sexy Uchiha."

Viridian eyes widened horrendously as the girl choked on her piece of lettuce, and forcefully snatched away her lazy friend's water as she gulped it down. "That— where did you hear that?"

Sai smiled as he leant forward. "So it's true then?"

Sakura glared at him, pushing the plate of salad away to prevent anymore choking on her part. "No, it isn't," she deadpanned, screwing the cap back on furiously onto Shikamaru's bottle.

"We heard a couple of new workers whispering about it. They weren't exactly discreet about it," said Shikamaru as he accepted the bottle from the angry girl. "And Ino thought it was true."

Ino laughed and took a sip of her white mocha. "Oh, you should have seen their faces though, Forehead! It was absolutely HILAR," squealed the girl as she stretched out her arms.

"Lovely," commented Sakura dryly. Playing with the tips of her hair offhandedly, she yawned again and cupped her cheek with her free hand. "It's absolutely entertaining to watch the horrified looks on the poor girl's faces."

"Didn't know you were such a sadist, Sakura. That's quite surprising."

Sakura flicked her head around to catch a glimpse of an orange book before a firm hand fell on her shoulder. "You know, it's even more surprising how you sneak up on everyone like that," she noted, her eyes watching the figure as the silver haired man took a seat calmly beside her.

"I pride myself on being stealthy enough to sneak up on anyone."

"Not that you need stealth to sneak up on Ugly; she's as unobservant as Dickless."

A strong whack was blown to Sai's hand as Sakura scowled. "Shut up," she grumbled as she buried her head in her arms again. "I'm not as bad as Naruto."

Ino huffed and poked at her friend's face impatiently. "You may not be as unobservant, but you dodge the subject as well as him. Hurry up and tell me what happened last night!"

Kakashi lowered his book down to reveal mischievous eyes —or in his case, a single eye— that stared at Ino in interest. "Last night...?"

As if a flame was suddenly lit, Ino's eyes brightened as she turned in her seat excitedly to face the man who had busily resumed his reading. Shikamaru groaned as a whole string of theories, which in his opinion were all off the mark by several miles, leaked from the girl's big mouth relentlessly. "Ino, I doubt Sakura would appreciate you talking about her like that," muttered Shikamaru warningly as he ran a hand through his hair.

"Pssh! Like Sakura would care. In fact, I'm doing her a favour by explaining what was going on last night between her and the sexy Uchiha," she scoffed in reply, flicking her luxurious hair. "I'm doing her a favour."

"Yeah, because spilling out most of her secrets to her previous boss is mighty helpful, Ino-san."

"Kakashi wasn't her boss; Shika was. Get with the program, Sai!"

Shikamaru sighed. "No, you're wrong Ino. Kakashi was her boss, and I am Kakashi's boss."

"Get with the program, Ino-san!" sang Sai mockingly.

"It's not my fault no one ever tells me these things!" Ino shrugged and turned her attention back to Kakashi. "Well, as I was saying... I can tell Kakashi because Forehead isn't objecting to it."

"That's because Ugly fell asleep."

All attention was diverted to the sleeping Sakura on the table, who had a content smile on as her hair flopped all over her face.

Disgustedly, Ino poked the dozing girl's face once more, only to withdraw it quickly as she felt a wet substance on the tip of her finger. She stared blankly at the pink haired woman before moving her eyes to stare at her finger, which had some remnants of saliva that had somehow trickled out from Sakura's mouth. "...Yuck."

Chuckling, Kakashi stood up and brought the hand that had strayed from Sakura's shoulder to the back of her neck, and smiling cheekily, winked at the occupants of the table. Quietly, he drew forward towards the ear of the sleeping rosette. "Wake up," he whispered huskily and with that, he withdrew his face from the girl as he used two fingers to pinch the sensitive skin where his hand currently was.

With a jolt Sakura shot up, her emerald eyes widening as they darted wildly across the room. "What'd I miss?!"

Unable to hold it in, Ino burst into hysterics, causing her friends to eye her warily. "Forehead, you— seriously, no— oh my gosh, that was—" she wheezed in between fits of laughter, clutching her sides for support as her upper body leant over the table. "ABSOLUTELY HILAR."

Sakura pouted, not knowing what was going on. "Ino-pig, what happened?"

"Now, now; I'm sure that the past can stay in the past," said Kakashi as he brought a hand out and took a strong hold of Sakura's wrist. Proceeding to hoist her out of her seat, he flashed the others a small smile –though how they knew it was a smile was a complete mystery— before walking away with Sakura in tow. "Sorry, but I'll be monopolizing the remainder of this girl's time; so say good-bye to your friends now, Sakura."

It was safe to say that the pink haired girl was utterly confused, as only jumbled nonsense erupted from her mouth, none being farewells directed towards her friends.

"Hush now, Sakura. It's not attractive to speak like that," chimed Kakashi as he interrupted her incoherent rambles, saying it slowly as if he was speaking to a three year old. "Didn't I tell you angry Uchiha's are hard to deal with?"

Sakura whipped her head around to stare at him pointedly. "You say that because..." she prompted impatiently, digging her heels into the carpet of the corridor that they had entered.

Her answer was a soft smile and an even harder shove, causing her to stumble into the elevator. She gaped at the reading man awkwardly as he jabbed a button nonchalantly. "No... you don't mean that—"

"That Sasuke is interrupting your lunch break to have you work? Actually, that is exactly what I mean."

As if forgetting that she was a grown woman that she prided herself in being, or that she was in the presence of another grown man, Sakura stomped her feet childishly and let out a small scream. "I'm tired and hungry... and all that man wants to do is give me work?! I'm going to send in a complaint and... and... ugh! I swear; I will do something! This world isn't fair!"

Kakashi smirked and closed his book with a snap. "Sakura, you should know by now that the world isn't fair," he drawled leaning back against the railing that was nailed to the wall. "Welcome to the world of business; where everything is the opposite of what you want it to be."

The pink haired girl sighed and crossed her arms over her chest hotly. "Well, I'll be getting myself a one-way ticket out of this place."

"Are you sure? If it's a one-way ticket, you can't go back."

"Not true. I can always buy another ticket on the other side if I feel like coming back."

"But what if the ticket holder is Sasuke?"

Sakura froze, and shuddered at the thought of her boss smirking at her cruelly as he held the beloved tickets she wanted to buy in his hands. Shaking her head, she smiled determinedly. "I'll buy it off him."

"It won't be easy now, will it?" Truthfully, Sakura had no idea how she would plan to make true of her words. She had assumed that maybe she could use feminine wiles? Or blackmail? Also, if she was desperate... threaten him into bankruptcy?

"No, it won't..." Sakura dragged on slowly, as if hesitant. "But if I get him in a good mood, I have a better chance of getting the tickets off him...?"

The silver haired man laughed as he opened his book expertly to his page, and continued reading. "My, my Sakura; didn't you listen? An angry Uchiha is hard to deal with," he said as the doors chimed open and left a view of the passageway to the office. "But I'm sure you can handle it."

Searching eyes gazed at him suspiciously before Sakura stepped out of the elevator. "I have no idea what you are talking about, but I'll pretend I do."

Another round of chuckles escaped the reading man as he put his open palm to the small of her back and pushed her forward. "Unobservant as Naruto, I see," he commented, earning himself a slap that he narrowly avoided. "But I think you can remember."

Sakura huffed and out a hand cautiously onto the doorknob to the Uchiha's office. "Here goes... the beginning of my downfall in the business world that is headed by the one and on—"

"Teme! How can you resist this stuff?! You ain't human at all, dattebayo!"

The green eyed girl stiffened, and craned her neck to see through the crack that she had just made by opening the door slightly.

She was greeted by the sight of Naruto sitting comfortably on Sasuke's desk, swinging his legs back and forth like a small child on a swing. "Hoi, Sasuke! Pass me the chocolate truffles over there!" yelled the blonde loudly as he gestured for the sweets with his hand. Plopping another block of dark chocolate into his mouth, he repeated his command again, but this time with a muffled voice and even more dramatic actions.

"Hn," replied Sasuke as he sorted through a packet of files in his hands. Not even looking at his hungry friend, he picked up a pen absentmindedly and began to twirl it in his fingers as he examined the papers. "Get it yourself, dobe."

Naruto yelled indignantly and chucked the box of finished chocolates in the general direction of the dark haired vampire. "It's right in front of you! Just pass it, man!"

Following his order, Sasuke picked up the tin of truffles and in a flash, the metal had clanged against the side of Naruto's head. "Damn it, that hurt, teme!" shouted the whiskered boy as he brought his sticky hand to massage his temple.

Sakura couldn't help but giggle at the type of friendship the two had, and brought her hand up to her mouth to stifle her laughs. "Kakashi, aren't they just the— WAH!"

At first, Sakura's goal was to stay hidden and watch from afar the amusing trifle her boss and friend were having. Unfortunately for her, things didn't go as planned.

Accidentally putting too much pressure onto the door that was ajar, it flung open, thus bringing the poor girl who was leaning on it into the room in an inelegant manner. Flopping onto the floor like a dead fish –perceived through the eyes of Naruto— Sakura made her gallant entrance into the office.

"S-Sakura-chan!" roared Naruto as he lunged forward to assist the girl in heaving herself up, though his voice was marred by mirth. "Are you o-ok?"

The pink haired girl merely sniffed and ignored the helping hand that was offered to her, and stood up on her own. "Shut it Naruto, or I'll punch you to Mars. I know you're laughing."

She heard the sound of papers ruffling, and she swore she heard his smirk appear on that godly face. "Such a noisy entrance Sakura."

Blushing, Sakura turned around to face her boss who was still busy flicking through his documents. She scrambled around in her head, looking for a decent comeback to speak, but found that no words would escape her mouth.

Just in time to save the rosette from looking like a goldfish with its mouth hanging open wide, Kakashi stepped in and slapped a hand on Sakura's shoulder roughly. "Sasuke, I brought what you requested."

The pale skinned man chose this moment to look up from his stack of credentials to glare at the older, and grunted. "I asked for her over an hour ago."

Sakura sputtered. "Wait... you mean that..."

"On the contrary, you asked for her over... let's say... an hour and a half?"

"Amusing. Now, the reason I asked for all of you is t—"

"Wait a moment!" Sakura interjected desperately. "Are you trying to say that you were planning to make me work even before lunch break began?!"

Sasuke's brow lifted. "Of course, especially since you came late to work today."

Kakashi gave out a small chuckle as he removed his hand from Sakura's shoulder to position himself against the full glass window on his side. "I suppose one would say, 'what goes around comes around' in this situation."

"Yeah, like how one day, some big, fat monster is going to come up behind Sasuke and eat him. All because he didn't eat the chocolate he had received fr—OUCH!"

With a small cough to signal that he was going to continue talking, Sasuke intertwined his fingers and leant on his elbows. "In the recent meeting, it was discussed that Sharingan Inc would handle the majority of the hospital expansion. Also due to certain circumstances, Sakura was chosen to become the representative for this."

Sakura scoffed, and set her hands on her hips heatedly. "Well, excuse me for being forced to go up there because my boss made me do it."

Ignoring that his secretary had even spoken, Sasuke continued on. "Sakura can't handle this on her own, so we're going to have to help her."

"Hey! I'm not incompetent that I can't handle a small matter by myself!" protested the pink haired girl as she took a seat across the Uchiha. Drawing her knees up to her chin after kicking her shoes off, she yawned and glared at the nameplate reading her boss's name as if it were the man himself. "It isn't that big anyway."

"Actually Sakura-chan, it's pretty big. As in, 'dude! That's like bigger than an elephant that eats ramen all day, dattebayo!' big."

"Quite the description, Naruto. You're a grown man now; start learning to use proper words. And stop staring at Sakura's legs."

"'Elephant' is so a word, Kakashi! Look it up in the... um, the book thing! Yeah, the book thing! And, FYI, I am not a pervert for staring at Sakura-chan's legs. She's wearing pants."

"My theory of men becoming stupid while in this business has been proved. I rest my case."

Sasuke grunted to get both of the bickering men's attention, and handed each of them a folder of files. "Look over it. That's what we'll be working on today."

"Che, this is easy work, teme! It's really easy, eh Sakura-chan?" shouted Naruto triumphantly as he flicked through the pages. "Eh? Sakura-chan?"

Kakashi set down his files to the desk as he walked over the girl who had fallen asleep again. "Dear, asleep again? What did you do to the poor thing to make her like this, Sasuke?"

Naruto straightened up and pointed a finger accusingly at Sasuke. "Yeah, teme! What did you do to my Sakura-chan, you bastard!"

"Shut up dobe," muttered Sasuke as he got up from his seat. Gathering a few piles of papers, he made his way around the table to stand beside the dozing woman, who was again smiling peacefully as her subconscious conjured up sweet dreams.

"Yes... I can buy those tickets off you, FO' SHO!" she whispered happily to herself, shuffling her feet as she spoke. The men in the room stared at her oddly, before Kakashi laughed and excused himself from the room.

"Oi, wake up," commanded Sasuke softly as he plopped his collection of papers on her head. When she didn't move, he sighed and poked her arm impatiently.

Slowly, the girl stirred and opened a single eye lazily. "Ah..." Sakura straightened up, only to have to lurch forward to catch the falling papers from her head. She looked around the room while stretching with the documents in hand tiredly, and let out a small grin as she realized her small nap. "Sorry... I fell asleep right?"

Sasuke made a small noise before heading back to his desk. "Work on those papers. Have them finished before 8."

Groaning, the cotton candy haired girl slipped her shoes on before getting up to reach for a pen that was hopefully in the same place on her desk. "Gotta get myself some coffee..." she mumbled sleepily, yawning as she shuffled at a snail's pace.

"Sakura-chan!" called out Naruto from his comfortable spot on the floor. Pausing in her slow steps, she craned her neck around to glance at her blonde friend, who was grinning like a Cheshire cat, holding up a silver pen. "Want it?"

The girl nodded eagerly –at least, as eagerly someone can be when they're dead tired— and made her way towards Naruto. "Nah-uh! Go on a date with me first!" sang the tanned boy as he threw the pen in between both of his hands.

"C'mon! Hand it over, Naruto!"

"Nope. Date comes first, dattebayo!"

"Naruto, we're at work and are being watched by our boss. How can we go on a date now?"

"True... well then, how abou—"

Sasuke, growing tired of their argument, looked up from his work to glare at the blonde boy. "Just give her the pen, dobe."

Reluctantly, Naruto gave the pen to Sakura, who slumped back into her seat. "Well, let's get to work," she cheered pathetically, before putting her head down and working. The stack of papers she had to do were small compared to the pile she done last night. In a sense, she was thankful that Sasuke had given her that huge workload.

"Ugh... headache." Yet truthfully, she wasn't glad about it AT ALL. Perhaps she should have taken that Panadol before she left the house.

"Sakura-chan, are you ok?" asked Naruto worriedly as he watched the girl double over the desk, grasping her head tightly. Sakura lifted her head drew her hands away from her head as she flashed him a painful smile.

"I'm fine, Naruto. I guess I should just sleep more," she replied, resisting the urge to bring her clammy hands back up to her temples to give them a massage. "Yes... sleep..."

Rubbing her eyes tiredly, she returned her focus to her work. The words looked a bit like a blur to her, and she rubbed her eyes again. "Crap, it's hard to concentrate," Sakura muttered, flicking through the pages. "Stupid headache; I just had to have one now..."

In frustration, the stressed female brought her arm up to cup her cheek as she checked the sheet in front of her. Sakura hummed softly to herself as she used her black pen to write in the needed information. Maybe humming would keep her awake, even if for just a bit.

However, after a few moments, the humming stopped, and an uncanny silence reverberated through the room.

Sasuke stopped his scribbling to glance momentarily at the now quiet girl, who had fallen asleep again. Her head had fallen from her palm down to the mahogany desk, and quiet snores were emitting from her. Her pen, now free from her grasp, rolled to the side of the bureau. Thrusting his hand forward unceremoniously, he caught the pen as it slid nicely off the edge. "How annoying," he murmured, catching the attention of the blonde boy on the floor.

"Eh? Did Sakura-chan fall asleep again?" asked Naruto naively as he lifted his head to catch a glimpse of what was happening.

"Sakura, wake up," ordered Sasuke, dropping her pen in front of him so that she could retrieve it easily. He heard no movement, and stared at the still unconscious girl as she dozed. Turning his gaze to a hard glare, he looked at Naruto. "Wake her up."

"Why should I do it? I'm gonna get hit by Sakura-chan if I do that!" complained the boy exasperatingly, already imagining the scenario in which he would obey his friend's orders. "She hits really hard!"

"What? Scared that you'll be hit by a girl?"

"A really scary, hits-like-a-hippo-because-she-has-monstrous-strength girl!"

Sasuke smirked at the cowardliness of the boy on the floor who refused to go near the girl while she slept. "Hn, weak."

With that, he cut off Naruto's protests against his statement and put his hand on the desk. Lifting it slowly, he leant forward as if going to approach Sakura over the desk, and his smirk turned to one of amusement. "Wake up, Sakura."

He slammed his hand down, and from a distance, it would seem as if he just normally put his palm back onto the desk the same way one would if very unenthusiastic. In reality, his hand had sent numerous waves of tremors through the table, shaking the girl awake.

Sakura's eyes snapped open at once, and she bolted her head upright. What met her eyes was the teasing smirk of the Uchiha, and his endless onyx eyes.

"Sorry!" she apologized with a squeak, bowing her head. "I'll try to stay awake, I promise!"

Not saying anything, he moved away from her, and picked up his stash of files. "Why are you so tired?"

She blinked at him; as if in a daze, before answering him when he stared at her questioningly. "A-ah! Um, it was because I was up all night doing those papers again..."

Sasuke sighed. "All night? It wouldn't have taken you that long to do them all again."

Sakura's brow twitched. "Well, I'm sure you were able to do them because the originals weren't stained with Coke!"

"It wasn't my fault you were clumsy."

"You should have kept some extra copies!"

"Why, when that's the secretary's job?"

Her next comeback was frozen in her mouth, but whether that was due to the incoming yawn that came out in instead or because she had absolutely nothing to say to that, the inhabitants of the room will never know.

Naruto groaned, and interrupted the quiet that followed Sakura's yawn. "Ugh, can we take a break now? I'm craving ramen!" whined Naruto.

The dark haired vampire sighed as he pocketed the pen he had in his hand. "Hn."

While Sakura raised an eyebrow at the Uchiha skeptically, Naruto merely jumped from his spot and cheered. "Hell yeah, dattebayo! Let's go out for some ramen, Sakura-chan!"

At the thought of having to stay awake during a dinner date —technically, being nothing more than a late lunch break, as it was only half past three— Sakura moaned and shook her head. "Sorry Naruto, but I don't think I can keep myself from falling asleep if I accept. Maybe next time?"

Naruto's face fell instantly, but it brightened up quickly after. He was known for being very resilient after all. "It's fine, Sakura-chan. I get it. If you come, you'll probably fall face first into your ramen, right? Then you'll get all the soup around your face, and the ramen will be wasted, right? Oh, and everyone will laugh at you too, especially because, like everyone will be there. Oh, except the bastard, because he has no friends! But, yeah... and you just don't want to be embarrassed, so I totally get it Saku—"

He was interrupted as a very strong whack to the back of his head was delivered successfully. "Let me correct myself; there won't be a next time."

The girl huffed heatedly as she stepped away from the boy who dropped to his knees in pain. Stalking towards the back of the desk where her boss was still sitting examining files, she came up behind him.

Noticing her presence immediately, he looked over his shoulder, only to flinch as he realized how close she was. "What do you want, Sakura?"

She looked surprised when he questioned her, but she shook it off with a small laugh. "Kakashi left his files behind, didn't he? Do you want me to give to him?" she offered, her breath coming in even puffs that reached his face. "Which folder was it?

"No need. He can come up and get it himself," Sasuke replied monotonously, reaching out to finger the allocated files for the man. "Or Naruto can give it to him."

Sakura laughed again, and bent forward to grasp the files, accidentally touching the vampire's cold skin. An electric shock shot through her, but she classified it as shock from how cold he was, and not from fear. Having touched his skin some time before, she had grown somewhat accustomed to it.

On the other hand, Sasuke was far from accustomed to it. It wasn't necessarily the fear he thought she would feel when he touched his skin, because he was sure that his skin would frighten any who touched it. His skin was just much too abnormally chilled, so he was used to the natural reactions people had. Nonetheless, he felt uncomfortable with the fact that she would be fearful in touching his skin, though he brushed that discomfort aside.

It was the warmth of her skin that the vampire found surprising. To his misfortune, he had experienced being touched by several humans, but he was sure none had the same temperature she had.

She was exceptionally warm, and he could feel her heat radiating off and warming his own body.

"Sasuke-kun, I'll just take these files down, ok?"

"You don't have to," he rasped out, feeling strange at their closeness.

Sakura sighed and slipped the files from his hand. "Don't worry about it. I fell asleep, so I should make up for it somehow." Her body arched off the back of the seat she had been subconsciously leaning on, and she stepped back. "I'll see you tomor—"

It happened, all in a quick flash.

It was an immediate reaction; to just suddenly leap out of his seat and grab her wrist. Her eyes widened, shining with curiosity as she stared at him. Her pink lips parted slightly in surprise, and she stepped back once to steady herself as she felt my figure loom over her.

"S-Sasuke-kun?"

His grip moved from her wrist to the skin near her elbow, and his other hand curled itself around her petite waist, balancing her. "Tomorrow, at noon..."

Moving his head down gradually as he spoke, his raven bangs touched her face as he drew his face closer to hers. "In the coffee shop..." he whispered, this time his breaths caressing her face. "For last night."

Then, he released her. Smirking at her teasingly, he backed away, and watched as she hurried out of the door, a delicious blush spreading over her cheeks. Naruto stepped back innocently as she scurried past him, and he turned to grin at his friend devilishly.

"Hey, think you can warn us next time you fall in love with a human?"

Sasuke growled, and slammed his hand on the table as he glared at his friend. "I am not in love with her."

Naruto sighed as he ran a hand through his blonde locks. Walking slowly up to the window behind the desk, he spoke again as if he had completely ignored the vampire. "And my Sakura-chan too! You're one mean guy, teme!"

Controlling his anger, the pale man turned himself away from the bothersome boy and shoved his hands in his pockets. "Hn."

"Man, you've gotten soft."

At this, Sasuke turned around to glare harder at him. "What?"

Naruto shrugged. "I mean, teme, you seriously haven't hurt me in ages!"

"That's because your head has suffered too much damage to feel pain."

"I resent that, teme!"

The boy walked proudly over to his friend, and clasped a hand tightly onto his shoulder. "Don't worry about doing everything on your own now, Sasuke. We're here to help you now," said Naruto wisely, grinning widely. "We're a team."

Sasuke shook the hand off coldly. "Shut up," he said as he continued to look away from the blonde. "I can handle everything by myself."

"Oh, so that little scene between you and Sakura-chan was an act? To prove that you've got more self control?"

"It wasn't an act," Sasuke turned to smirk at the confused boy. "But I did gain more self control. Why do you think I left a few weeks ago?"

Realization dawned on Naruto as he watched the once bloodthirsty vampire gaze out the window at the object he once desired so deeply because of the blood running through her veins. Piecing two bits together, he cracked a giant smile as he laughed.

"Can you feel the love tonight!" sang Naruto loudly as he shot his hands out spectacularly. "The peace the eve—"

"Shut up, dobe."

A/N: Well, how'd ya like it? To clear things up, this chapter was about how Sakura, Sasuke, Kakashi and Naruto are linked to eachother. This connection will be shown more prominently in the later chapters. That's why its called, 'Closeness'. Oh, and because Sasuke is denying his feelings, even though we all know he as them! Denial isn't a river in Egypt, ya know.

It was my birthday on the 8th, and I planned to post this then, but had no time! T_T. Instead, I post it two days after, at 12:15 in the morning. Lovely, isn't it?

Please review, to make this author happy... coz dude, she just got older. She needs all the support she can get.