Hey, stop worrying guys. Narusaku is going to be just FINE. I'm not killing the couple. Helloooo, Narusaku story here. No one loves them more than me. So relax, I've got it all worked out. Trust me :)

Also, thank you to EmilyLovesbooks, ahmadaziz for reviewing last chapter! I loove your input. More than Naruto loves ramen :)

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. Masashi Kishimoto does. *sob* I also don't own any of the songs used.

Chapter Six

[One Week Later]

Naruto glowered at the loose black and white striped tie hung around his neck then at the older woman who was responsible for it being there. "I hate this."

"You agreed to this."

"Doesn't mean I don't hate it." He gripped both ends of the tie in his fists, trying to tie it the way that Tsunade had shown him. But he made a wrong flip somewhere and the stupid thing ended up looking like nothing more than a knot in a string. He hated tying ties! He was never good at it. Tou-san always tied his ties.

"Come on, Naruto. We went over this a dozen times. Why is this so hard for you?"

"Tou-san ties my ties for me. He always has. I never have to. Even when he tried to teach me last year he just ended up doing it," Naruto muttered. He yanked roughly on the stupid knot until it came undone and tried to go over it again. He only failed epicly once again. "Why do I have to even know this!? This is fucking stupid!"

"Watch your mouth, kid," Tsunade repremanded him sternly. She walked over and pulled the tie from his hands and, in what seemed to be only a few swift movements, made a perfect knot around his neck. "Your father won't be around forever to do this for you. You need to learn."

Naruto pouted childishly. "When he's gone I'll find someone else."

"Like who?"

"Advisers like you and ero-sennin."

Tsunade's eyebrow twitched in that way it does when she's flabbergasted at Naruto's ignorance. "Advisers are not servants, Naruto. We don't tie ties."

"My advisers would."

"No adviser ties ties, brat."

"Mine would."

Tsunade narrowed her eyes, not believing that he could be so stubborn. But she figured that his donkey-like personality could come in handy when it came time for him to make business deals. She'd learned over the years of working with his father that Minato could be pretty stubborn himself. "Okay, fine. You don't need to tie ties just yet, Naruto. But you will learn," she added sternly when she saw the elated look on the young blonde's face. "I suppose we should go over how you're going to act at that Function this Friday."

"So soon?" Naruto asked, deflating. "I hate functions..."

"The sooner the better, Naruto. You know that time is of the essence." She walked over to Minato's desk, since they'd decided to use his classroom for Naruto's businessman training, and retrieved a little mirror from one of the drawers. Naruto didn't even want to know why his father kept a mirror in his desk. Tsunade walked back over and held it out for Naruto. "Look at your reflection and tell me what you see."

The blonde took the mirror and held it in front of his face. His eyes glanced over the whisker marks on his cheeks and his piercing cerulean blue eyes and his striking spikey blonde hair. "I see me. Uzumaki Naruto," he answered simply, without even thinking about his answer.

Tsunade's face appeared in the reflection of the mirror. "Well, what if I did this...?" Her hands appeared and slowly matted down his blonde locks until his spikey and unruly hair was matted down on the sides. But she couldn't smooth out the spikes completely and they still stuck out in some places. But it looked a hell of a lot neater than it did before. He looked like his dad... "Now what do you see?"

"Not me. I see my dad. A Namikaze."

Tsunade pulled the mirror away from his hands and set it down on a nearby desk. "Why does it seem like a different person just because you straightened your hair out?"

Naruto reached up and touched his hair. "Because... Namikazes are never messy. They're always in control of everything. But Uzumakis... Mom," he corrected himself, "Mom was sometimes out of control. She did ditzy things just because she could. And when I didn't want my hair brushed, she wouldn't force me to. Tou-san forced me to." He frowned and grabbed a clump of his hair, yanking it upwards. The spikes sprang back to life almost instantly.

Tsunade frowned. "Now why'd you go and do that, Naruto? You looked nice."

"Let's go over something else, okay?"

The older woman sighed. He was just as difficult as Minato said he would be. "Fine. We can try Etiquette next."

[A few hours later, after school]

Sakura sat with her friends in the courtyard of the school at a picnic table. Well, she sat with the friends that even bothered to show up. Sasuke was missing and so were Ino and Shika, but that was expected. She hadn't seen very much of her best friend since her boyfriend came back. She was always wrapped up in Shikamaru now. But she couldn't blame her. If Naruto wasn't so very obviously avoiding her, she would be pretty wrapped up in him too. But he was, so now she was sitting with Kiba, Hinata, Neji, and Tenten.

"There's a rumor that Akatsuki is throwing a party tonight. I think it's to finally unveil Pain as their new head. You know that's always a big deal for them," Tenten was saying, holding her head up with her fist. "We could crash it." What Sakura liked about Tenten and Neji as a couple was that it wasn't impossible to hang out with them. Just because they were together they didn't find it necessary to announce to the world that they were a couple by crawling over one another every two seconds of the day. As they were, Tenten was in her own seat on the picnic bench with Neji a few centimeters to her left. But they were apart.

Sakura lifted an eyebrow. "You don't think that would piss them off?"

"Why would it?"

Neji chimed in, "They aren't exactly known for being a friendly and charismatic group of individuals. It's a group of snobs that pride themselves on excluding everyone that isn't worthy."

Tenten turned to her boyfriend with a smirk. "You mean like the Hyuga family?"

Neji narrowed his eyes. "Don't go there."

Tenten shrugged. "Just saying, sounds like you're describing how your uncle treated me at dinner."

"I said sorry for that-!"

Sakura held up her hands in order to play the peacemaker. "Guys, can we get back on track? Tenten, where's the party?"

The brunette looked at Sakura and then nodded towards Building B of the campus. "That dorm's lobby. Picked special. But anyway as I was saying before I was so rudely interrupted by my snob of a boyfriend, Sakura happens to be the VP. Pain is, by default, the President. It would look bad for Pain's image if Sakura wasn't invited. Everyone would know they're huge snobs."

"Everyone already knows that."

"But," Tenten interrupted, "they don't talk about it. They'd talk about it if someone as sweet as Sakura was snobbed. She's our ticket in."

Sakura made a face. "You're using my position in office to get into an Akatsuki party?"

Tenten nodded. "Duh. Why else would I have convinced you to run? It was all a part of my master plan. Now go over there and talk to Pain about some invites." She pointed her finger towards the fence where a couple of Akatsuki kids were hanging out. There weren't very many since most of them had graduated last year and Akatsuki had yet to find anyone worthy of recruiting yet. But of those that stood there were Sasori, Deidara, Konan, Zetsu, and Pain. The other four members of the group graduated the year before.

Sakura sighed and stood up from the table with her friends to walk over to the group of Akatsuki members. She went right over, head held high - but only because after various one-on-one meetings with the piercing-covered Pain, she was no longer terrified of the older boy. When she came face to face with him, she even smiled. "Hello, Pain. How are you today?"

The red haired boy looked down at her, towering over her by at least a foot. He leaned back against the fence and slid his hands into the pockets of his blazer. "Haruno-san. Hello. I'm fine, and you?" he asked while the other members of the group glowered down at her like the scum of the earth. The only one who didn't look like they were upset by her presence was Pain's best friend Konan who didn't seem to care at all about her. Like, she didn't care that she even existed.

"Fine. Hey, um, I heard you were throwing a party tonight in Building B."

"Yeah. And?" Sasori was the one to answer. He was always the rudest of the group, even if his eyes made you think he was being thoughtful.

Sakura turned to him. "I was wondering if I could stop by."

Konan nudged Pain. "I told you, Nagato. She'd want to be one of us if you talked to her." She didn't sound happy or annoyed by the idea.

Pain raised a pierced eyebrow at her. It was a wonder how he got into Konoha High looking that way. "You want to be in Akatsuki?"

Sakura's eyes widened and she shook her head hard. "N-no! I don't wanna... I mean, not that your group isn't great, but I don't want to be a part of you. I just wanted to go to your party," she said weakly.

Sasori smirked. "Oh yeah? How bad?"

Sakura looked over at him warily. "Um... What?"

The short redhead nodded his head towards a tree on the edge of the courtyard. Sakura followed the direction with her eyes and saw Naruto sitting beneath a tree with his headphones on. He looked asleep, his head following back against the tree's trunk and his mouth hanging open slightly. He seemed to have gotten used to the casual dress days already and was wearing a pair of jeans ripped at both knees and a black graphic band T shirt. "Naruto?" Sakura inquired, looking back at Sasori.

Sasori nodded. "We don't have any entertainment for tonight. But it could be good for us if the famous Bowling for Ramen performed at our party. Get him to show up and you can come. And invite your little friends."

Sakura sweatdropped. "Him?"

Sasori nodded. "Yeah. Him. Get him to play, or you're not invited. It won't be a problem, will it?"

Sakura bit her lip, then looked back at her table to where Tenten was giving her supportive looks. She couldn't go back there without an invite to the party. She looked back at Sasori, shaking her head. "No, it won't be a problem. Naruto will be there. No worries."

Sasori smirked at her. "Good. Now run along, would you?"

Sakura narrowed her eyes at him, annoyed with how rude he was being towards her, but she wanted to go to the party too much to tell him off. She'd deal with it for now but she swore she'd tear him a new one later on. "I'll see you later, Pain," she said, turning and walking back to her table. But her eyes glanced over unvoluntarily at the sleeping Naruto beneath the shade of the tree. She bit her lip and then walked over to him, plopping down beside him.

Her presence seemed to disturb him. He jolted up, looking dazedly around and wiping unsuccessfully at a bit of drool at the corner of his mouth. "Wha? Huh? Who?" He looked over, eyes focusing on Sakura's face. He jumped again, sitting up straight. His face turned a bright shade of red. "Sakura-chan. U-Uh hey, what's up?"

Sakura rolled her eyes. She hadn't even said anything to him and she was regretting coming over. "Shut up and listen, Baka. I need a favor," she said forcefully.

Naruto's eyes got wide in surprise. "A favor? What is it?"

Sakura crossed her arms. "Tenten wants to go to an Akatsuki party tonight but they won't invite us unless you make an appearance with your band. So I'm asking you to make an appearance."

Naruto raised an eyebrow. "To like... play?"

"Yes, Naruto. They want you to play. Just a song or something. But this means a lot to Tenten. She's a senior and all and hasn't been invited to an Akatsuki party yet..."

"I'll do it."

"Huh?"

Naruto shrugged. "I said I'd do it. If you're going to be there, I mean." He smiled at her.

Sakura narrowed her eyes at him. What was his deal? One second he's avoiding her and the next he's kissing up? "Just be there," she muttered, standing up.

"Sakura-chan, wait!" Naruto called, grabbing her hand.

She looked down at him. "What?"

"How long have... you and Nagato been close?" he asked, glancing over at the tall redheaded kid standing off in the distance.

Sakura raised an eyebrow. Did he just call him Nagato? Only people close to Nagato could call him Nagato. Even Sasori called him 'Pain'. Once a freshman tried to call him by his real name and he ended up disappearing. His bookbag was found in a dumpster a mile from Nagato's family home. "Oh, him? Uh, you know... Pain's the President and I'm the vice president. The closeness just kind of happened," she replied, rubbing the back of her head with her free hand. She didn't know why she felt the need to lie, but she did. Maybe he wouldn't avoid her so much if he thought she was cool enough to hang out with Nagato.

She felt his hand slip from hers. "O-Oh. Well, okay then. I guess I'll see you at the party, huh? Tell Nagato I said um hi," he muttered, sounding crestfallen. Sakura almost turned around to look at him but changed her mind. She would not give him sympahy. He didn't deserve her sympathy.

"Yeah, see you later."

A/N I really wanted to add more to this chapter but I just couldn't fit it all. Had to break it all up. But on the bright side, I'll have an easier time updating the next one! I worked really hard to get this updated today SO you're welcome.

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