Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto in any shape or form nor the song "Hello" by Martin Solveig and Dragonette - I'm just spreading my love for these with the rest of the world.

Wow, I thought I'd never get this done! Sasuke is such a hard character to write I find. I am seriously in need of a beta-reader so if you are a SasuSaku fan and have some free time to spare to help improve this fic, send me a message!

This chapter is dedicated to sasukesoneandonly, my 250th reviewer, and the anonymous fan who is my 260th reviewer. Thank you for all your supportive reviews and your awesome fic recs, it was great to catch up on some SasuSaku fics!

Enjoy!

Chapter 15

..~**~..

Sakura looked up from her bowl of cereal and smiled as she caught sight of her sleepy best friend slowly making his way downstairs wearing only his jeans.

"Morning," she called out to him softly from the couch, trying to ignore the way his faded jeans were slung low on his hips, showing off his well-built torso. "How are you feeling?"

"Better than I should be," he answered, rubbing his eyes with his palms. "Is your mom still asleep?"

"Yeah, she's got the day off today."

"You got any food? I'm starving!"

Sakura laughed softly and followed him into the kitchen. "Help yourself to anything you want," she said, getting him a plate before pouring him some orange juice. "There's toast, cereal and I also made eggs."

Naruto slumped into the kitchen stool beside her. "Thanks Sakura-chan, you're the best."

"Are you saying that because I made breakfast or because I took care of you last night?" Sakura teased, setting down a couple of aspirins beside his plate.

"Both," Naruto chirped, a large grin splitting his face.

"I'll go find you something to wear, hold on," Sakura told him, heading into the nearby utility room and searching through the clean laundry. Itachi had snuggled himself into the pile of clothes and refused to move from his spot, no matter how much Sakura tugged on the clothes. Finally picking the cat up with one hand, Sakura retrieved an old Konoha baseball jersey that belonged to her dad and passed it to Naruto. "You can wear that to get home and return it to me later."

"You sure?" Naruto asked her, anxiously eyeing the item of clothing.

"Don't worry, it's fine. My mom won't mind," she told him with a smile as she dropped the cat on one of the bar stools.

Naruto took the shirt and slid it on. Funnily enough, it fit him rather well.

"So, last night was pretty crazy," Sakura spoke up, grabbing a mug to make herself some tea. "I'm supposed to meet the girls this afternoon to talk about it. Apparently Tenten has news."

"News?" Naruto repeated, serving himself to some eggs.

"Yeah, about her and Neji," Sakura explained, pouring hot water into her mug. "I think they're dating. They were headed home together last night."

"No way!" Naruto exclaimed, clearly stunned by the news. "So it finally happened, huh?"

"Guess I'll find out later," Sakura answered before settling herself down opposite him. "So what about you? Seemed like you were having fun last night. You were surrounded by girls practically the whole evening."

"Damn straight," he answered shamelessly as he wolfed down his food. "Girls can't get enough of me."

Sakura scoffed at him. "Pfff! Whatever you believe, Naruto. But seriously, isn't there one of them that actually interests you?"

The blond continued munching on his food, lost in thought.

"And I don't mean just for sex," she added as an afterthought.

It was an innocent question but one that intrigued her all the same. Of all the years she'd known Naruto, he was always falling in love left and right and had a habit of boldly declaring his love to everyone he knew except to the actual girl. However, since she'd moved to Konoha she had yet to hear of him mentioning anything of the sort. Shikamaru had told her he'd turned into a player just like the rest of the guys, but Sakura knew her best friend was a romantic at heart and was bound to fall in love again. After all, he had admitted being in love with her for the past three years…

"Not really," Naruto answered after a while, chewing on his eggs. "I mean there's actually this one girl I like but she's way out of my league so I've never thought about it seriously. Other than her, I guess there isn't anyone else for now."

Sakura sipped on her tea, watching him closely. She couldn't imagine anyone being out of Naruto's league – although she pitied the poor girl who'd have to keep up with his boisterous personality.

"How out of your league?" she finally asked him.

Naruto, opposite her, chuckled darkly. "Even if I were the last guy in Fire country, I still wouldn't be good enough for her."

Sounds like a stuck-up bitch, Sakura thought, wondering why Naruto was interested in such a girl.

"Anything I can do to help?" she asked, noticing the way he was avoiding her gaze since she'd set him on the particular subject.

"Nope," he replied firmly before popping the two aspirins in his mouth and downing the rest of his juice.

..~**~..

..~**~..

"We had a huge fight," Tenten began, once all four girls were settled down around a café table in the middle of Konoha's central plaza holding iced teas or coffees in their hands.

"What?" Ino choked out, sputtering on her drink. "What do you mean 'a huge fight'? If you're telling me we came all the way here just to -"

"Let me finish," Tenten cut off, giving her friend a stern look before continuing. "So I had stormed off through the Inuzuka compound and Neji stupidly came after me saying he wanted to talk. I was so angry and frustrated by his attitude last night that when he finally caught up to me and actually had to grab hold of my arm to stop me, I completely lost my shit. When I said we had a huge fight, it was actually pretty much one-sided. I yelled at him and told him what a bastard and a coward he was and literally everything else that was on my mind in that moment."

Ino gave a low whistle as Hinata's eyes went wide.

Sakura was just as stunned as her friends but felt proud that Tenten had stood up for herself and hadn't let Neji jerk her around anymore.

"Good for you!" she told Tenten proudly. "So, what did he say then?"

"Well what could he say?" the brunette answered with a sigh. "I was pretty much yelling at him non-stop, telling him all these awful things and he didn't even try to stop me once, like he knew he deserved it all."

She paused, taking a deep breath before a small smile lightened her face.

"And?" Ino demanded, literally sitting on the edge of her seat.

"He waited for me to finish and then pulled me into a hug. He said he was an idiot and a bastard for making me suffer so long and not making the right decision sooner, but that if I still wanted to be with him, he promised he'd never hurt me again."

It was almost comical the way Ino's mouth sagged open in shock.

"He actually said that?" Sakura asked, having a hard time picturing stiff, emotionless Neji saying those words.

"Yeah, pretty much… and then he kissed me," Tenten admitted, a faint blush dusting her cheeks as she seemed lost in her memories of the previous night.

Sakura turned to face Hinata, who giggled and smiled in return.

"Oh my God, details, Tenten, we want details!" Ino exclaimed, almost knocking over her coffee. "Did you two fuck already?"

Sakura snorted loudly at Ino's lack of subtlety as only years of Hyuuga decorum stopped Hinata from spewing her tea all over the table.

"Hey speak for yourself, Ino," Sakura retorted with a laugh. "I doubt Hinata wants to hear that."

"Yes, please spare me," Hinata added, wiping her chin with a napkin.

Tenten merely rolled her eyes at her blonde friend. "I'm not stupid enough to answer that. I know just how much you love to chat with the rest of the squad or should I say school, Ino!"

"But I'm your best friend!" the blonde whined.

"Tough luck," Tenten answered with a smirk. "But once you get yourself your own boyfriend, I'll be happy to trade details with you."

"Whatever you say, Ten, but I'll get them from you one way or another," Ino warned her with a sly smile.

"In any case," Sakura intervened before things got out of hand. "We're really happy for you, Tenten! I'm glad Neji came around and I hope things will go well for both of you now."

Tenten smiled in return. "Thank you."

Opposite her, Ino crossed her arms over her chest. "Damn, I guess I won't have any juicy details to trade with Shika tonight."

"Are you seeing him at the Akimichi's dinner?" Hinata asked, finishing her tea. "Chouji mentioned something about it last night."

"Yeah, his parents invited me to an early dinner party for my birthday," Ino explained vaguely.

Tenten gave her a look. "Aren't you forgetting someone?"

Ino rolled her eyes and huffed. "Fine, it's for Shika's birthday as well. Whatever. It's not like he gives a shit. He probably asked that redhead slut from last night as his date and will end up making out with her the entire evening, ditching Chouji and me."

Redhead? Wasn't the girl I saw him with a blonde? Did he end up with another girl?

"You have to bring a date?" Tenten asked incredulously.

"Of course," Ino answered as if it were obvious. "I asked Hyou to be mine."

"So your birthday's coming up?" Sakura asked slightly confused. This was the first she'd heard of it.

"Oh God, I haven't told you?" Ino exclaimed, grabbing her phone from her purse before tapping the screen in quick successions. "It's next Saturday and I'm holding a huge party that evening at mine. I guess it's technically for Shika too but the bastard didn't help one bit with the organisation. You're invited of course, I'm sending you the details now. Keep it for yourself though, I don't want all of Konoha showing up next week."

Sakura nodded and Ino said her goodbyes to the group after a while to help her mother with flower arrangements for the evening.

"Have you guys bought her a present yet?" Sakura asked, turning to Tenten and Hinata as she slurped on her iced coffee.

Hinata shook her head. "No, that's why Tenten asked us to meet me out here so we can find something together. I hope you don't mind."

"No that's fine, I'd much rather spend my afternoon with you two than working on my Maths homework," Sakura joked as all three took off towards the shopping district. "So what on earth will Ino want that she doesn't already have?"

..~**~..

..~**~..

Sasuke threw down his pen in frustration. For three hours he had been locked up in his room trying to finish his damn History paper but it was useless.

He couldn't focus at all. Damn Sakura was constantly in the back of his mind.

Images from Friday night haunted him every time he was left to himself. All weekend he had tried to forget about the frustrating and annoying girl but for some reason, he simply couldn't. He couldn't dismiss the kiss they had shared as he usually did with the girls he made out.

Perhaps it was because things hadn't gone the way he had planned. Kissing Sakura like that in Kiba's study, away from the crowd and the lights, had seemed a lot more intimate than he had originally planned. He didn't particularly like playing games. He didn't want to turn into his brother and college friends who thrived on playing sick mind games. He had thought Sakura would back down from the bet or beg him to let her off the hook but instead he had willingly changed the terms for her. He didn't know why he'd reacted the way he did when she spoke of his fangirls. Perhaps he hadn't wanted a repeat of what had happened with Ami… or perhaps kissing Sakura in private had been the more tempting solution.

And so he had.

And somewhere along the line he had lost control and let his instincts take over. Something about that kiss had lit a fire within him that demanded to grow. He didn't know if it was her scent, her lips or the way she had felt in his arms, pressed up against him, but by the end of it, neither of them were there because of the stupid bet anymore… there had been something more.

A connection between them. And yet he knew next to nothing about the pink-haired girl and that was exactly how he preferred to keep it. He didn't need distractions right now. He had his life on track just like he wanted it. Playing ball for one of the best high school teams in Fire country with his friends, good grades and girls whenever he felt like it.

So then why was his mind only allowing him to think of Sakura? What was so special about her? Why did he feel the need to find out everything about her?

A soft knock pulled Sasuke from his thoughts.

His gaze flicked towards his bedroom door before landing back on his homework. He waited for whichever employee had decided to disturb him to speak up but the silence that followed made him tense. The only other person around was Itachi. There was no one else to fill up the large Uchiha mansion apart from the cook and the maids. Since their mother had died, their father was always away on business and hardly ever stayed with them. Fugaku's number one priority was and always had been the company and when Sasuke's mother had passed away, his father only made it more clear by disappearing months at a time. Since then Itachi had been in charge along with their uncle's occasional help.

"What do you want?" Sasuke finally bit out.

"We need to chat, little brother," Itachi's voice resonated through the door.

Sasuke narrowed his eyes before throwing down his pen and standing up.

"What?" he asked, opening the door halfway just enough to see his asshole brother on the other side.

"I heard you had a good time at Inuzuka's," Itachi's condescending tone greeted him.

For a second, Sasuke feared Itachi had found out about Sakura but he knew his older brother was merely trying to pry information out of him.

"It's a shame you didn't make it to Kouta's," Itachi drawled, "The guys had something special you would have liked."

He was talking about drugs of course. Ever since he'd become their father's right hand man and was making money for himself Itachi's lifestyle had turned for the worse. Fugaku turned a blind eye to everything his son did, but Sasuke was well aware of the shit Itachi did. After all, they had the same circle of friends.

"What do you want?" Sasuke asked again, anger laced in his voice.

Itachi's obsidian eyes narrowed in turn. "Otou-san called. He won't make it to the council meeting on Friday, he wants you to be there with me."

There was a time when Sasuke would have jumped to the occasion. Anything to get to spend some time with his brother. There was a time when Sasuke admired his older brother and could count on him whenever he got into trouble, but not anymore. Not since the dipshit had taken his rightful place as heir of the clan and turned just as arrogant and obnoxious as their father. Not since the bastard never missed an opportunity to remind his little brother that he would always be second in line to him, no matter what, because Itachi was the Uchiha prodigy that excelled at everything. And not since his twisted brother had fucked Karin and made sure Sasuke walked in on them.

Sasuke could still vividly recall the hard glint in his brother's eye and the cruel smile on his lips when he had found them lying naked in his bed.

"What can I say, little brother," Itachi had taunted him that night. "I've always had a thing for redheads."

Now Sasuke couldn't give a damn about Itachi's wants and needs. Their father often missed Uchiha council meetings and Sasuke sometimes got to replace him, but never on Fridays.

"I can't, I have a game."

"Surely you can miss one game for an important clan meeting," Itachi countered.

"I can't," Sasuke repeated bluntly.

If Itachi was surprised by his words, he didn't show it. No matter what happened, his face always remained a perfect mask of indifference.

"Otou-san won't be pleased."

"And since when do I give a fuck about pleasing Otou-san?" Sasuke snapped at him before shutting the door in his face.

..~**~..

Kiba's party was all the talk in school when Sasuke arrived on Monday. As usual the Inuzuka's wild parties was always something to brag about for those who attended and the craziest rumours always surrounded them.

However, Kiba's party wasn't the only thing being discussed in the hallways. The basketball game, particularly the cheerleading squad's performance, was undoubtedly the main focus of most of the male student body's morning talk.

And judging from the sour look on the Hyuuga's face as he joined Sasuke by his locker, it seemed not many guys from their school were aware that Tenten was now considered off limits.

"Looks like you need to put the word out that you two are dating," Kiba greeted them, followed by Naruto, as they stared down the corridor.

Looking over his shoulder, Sasuke noticed several guys surrounding Tenten and Ino by their lockers, including Ryo and his friends. A dash of pink caught Sasuke's attention and his eyes narrowed as he spotted Sakura among them.

She was standing next to Ino with both her hands gripping her shoulder strap as she talked and laughed with Ryo. Her hair was loose except for her bangs that were pinned to the sides and Sasuke couldn't help but remember how soft the pink strands had felt when he had threaded his hand in it.

The image of her, however, was ruined by Ryo hovering too close.

"Asshole!" Naruto growled low, clenching his fists. "What the hell does Saeba think he's doing?"

Sasuke retrieved the last of his books and closed his locker. "Let's find out."

They walked down the hallway towards the girls with Kiba and Neji following. As soon as Tenten caught sight of them, she immediately made a beeline for Hyuuga and pulled him aside.

Sakura looked up and a bright smile lightened her face as she saw them. "Hey guys."

She quickly averted her eyes when she spotted Sasuke.

"Ryo and his friends were just telling us about their first game next Saturday," Ino informed them, her tone a clear message that she wanted them to play nice.

"I bet they were," Kiba answered, sizing the swimmers up.

Sasuke's eyes flicked to Ryo, who stared in return before moving slightly closer to Sakura.

"Yeah, the basketball game isn't the only one to be shown on local tv this year," the swimmer added and although his tone seemed light-hearted, Sasuke didn't miss the taunting look in his eyes.

"Let's hope you don't get your asses handed to you again like last year," Naruto countered, getting riled up.

His words immediately pissed off the other swimmers, who turned on him. Even Sakura shot Naruto a look, clearly telling him to 'behave' but the blond ignored it.

"That's funny coming from the team that got destroyed by Oto last year," one of Ryo's friends baited him.

Naruto's face darkened.

They're looking for a fight and the dobe's falling for it, Sasuke thought, knowing Kakashi would have their heads if they got in trouble again.

Surprisingly, Ryo intervened, clasping a hand on his friend's shoulder who had kicked off from the lockers. "That's enough. Come on, let's head to class."

His friends slowly agreed, staring Naruto down before they turned to leave. Ryo turned towards Sakura and Sasuke stopped himself from lashing out at the fucker as he invaded her personal space.

"I'll see you in Biology," Ryo said in a low voice and Sakura nodded in return, a slight blush on her cheeks before he turned to leave.

As soon as they were out of earshot, Ino turned to glare at them. "You guys need to grow up and stop throwing a hissy fit everytime they come talk to us."

"They're complete assholes, Ino!" Naruto exclaimed, pointing down the hallway where Ryo had left. "You shouldn't hang out with guys like that."

"You heard the rumours about Ryo and the swim team - how they treat girls," Kiba added angrily, towering over her.

"They're just rumours, Kiba!" Ino bit back, standing her on ground. "Everyday this school is full of them and they're always bullshit."

Her words didn't seem to phase the Inuzuka. "They're just playing with you, Ino."

"As if you guys were any better," the blonde answered with venom in her voice before turning away. "Let's go, Sakura."

The pinkette followed her friend, the expression on her face leaving no doubt as to who she sided with.

"Find Shikamaru," Sasuke told Kiba and Naruto as they turned back to face him. "Make sure Ino didn't invite them to the party Saturday."

Kiba nodded as Naruto sighed running a hand through his hair.

"What the hell am I going to do if Ryo gets closer to Sakura?" Naruto complained.

"We won't let that happen," Sasuke said coolly, his dark eyes locked on Sakura's retreating back.

..~**~..

School was uninteresting as usual and the only notable difference that day was the girls sitting with them during lunch again. Tenten and the Hyuuga sat together of course and so Hinata, Ino and Sakura had followed.

Sasuke noticed that the pinkette chose to sit as far away from him as possible between Chouji and Ino, asking the Akimichi every so often about his bento and how he'd cooked its content.

Normally Sasuke didn't like being ignored but watching Sakura seem so uncomfortable around him after the kiss proved to be a lot more amusing.

Besides, he didn't miss the subtle glances she sent his way when she thought he wasn't paying attention.

English class was the most interesting class of the day. Due to seating arrangements, Sakura was obligated to sit next to him and Sasuke enjoyed watching the pink-haired girl squirm beside him.

"It's time for you to pick a theme for this semester's project," Kakashi announced half-way through class. "As I said before, you'll be pairing up with your partner and working on this project until the end of the semester so choose wisely."

The silver-haired English teacher then started writing up the various themes on the blackboard and Sasuke scowled. He couldn't care less about Jane Austen and her novels. Having to work on such a project for so long would be hell especially since at the end they were supposed to write a whole project report, give an oral presentation as well as write individual essays each month. It constituted a huge part of their English grades and Sasuke knew his father would expect nothing less than an 85 per cent.

He watched Sakura out of the corner of his eye. From what Kakashi had said, it was clear that they would be closely working together for the next several months and Sasuke wasn't sure how he felt about that. He didn't know much about her grades or how serious she was concerning schoolwork, but what he did know was that she had better not drag him down and pull in her weight with all the work Kakashi had piled up on them.

Checking the board again, he read through the list of themes and tried to figure out which one would suit them best and be easiest to work with.

Sakura picked up the handouts being passed around before handing him the stack of sheets.

"Is there a particular theme you want?" she asked him, keeping her eyes ahead on the board.

Love, class, women and marriage, religion, morality, gender… None of those sounded appealing to him.

"How about family?" Sakura asked, noticing his silence.

The word struck a chord within him and he wondered why she would even suggest such a theme knowing she knew the same loss as he did.

"We don't have to choose for now," she continued, looking through the printed handouts explaining how to go about planning and researching their project. "We still have till the end of the week to decide."

"Family is fine," Sasuke told her shortly.

Sakura nodded in return before jotting down some notes. "Okay, well we can start doing research then and meet-up at some point to discuss the report."

"Tomorrow, after practice," Sasuke stated. The earlier the start, the better. "We can meet in the library and start there."

Sakura looked back at him in surprise. "The library? Okay, well I thought perhaps we might work separately and discuss things during lunch or class…"

She trailed off and Sasuke quickly realised that she was just making up excuses. Clearly, the idea of meeting up just the two of them alone in the library made her uncomfortable.

The thought made him smirk.

"If you want a decent grade on this project, then I suggest that you meet me in the library after practice," Sasuke warned her, standing up as the bell rang.

Sakura immediately stood up beside him. "Hey, wait a minute, you can't just decide these things like -"

"Too late," he cut her off before walking away.

..~**~..

..~**~..

Sakura huffed and puffed, droplets of sweat running down her face. She silently wondered what her chances were of lying down on the dojo mat for five minutes.

About zero percent.

"You think the first routine was hard?" Yuugao-sensei shouted at the cheer squad giving them a two-minute reprieve. "That was nothing compared to what I have planned for sectionals. And with every routine we will get better and we will work harder!"

"We? What's all this we about? I don't see her doing toe touches and backflips," Tenten mumbled beside Sakura, bent over as she tried to catch her breath.

Sakura nodded in agreement, downing the rest of her water bottle. "Seriously, I'm going to die before this training is over and I have to meet Sasuke in the library afterwards!"

"Oooh, you and Sasuke, huh?" Ino teased, stretching out beside them.

"It's for our English project," Sakura deadpanned, hoping to stop the blonde's imagination from running wild.

"Of course it is," Ino continued with a large smile.

"I heard the library's the best place to hook up after school activities are done," Tenten stated with a malicious smile.

Thankfully, Yuugao-sensei cut the conversation short. "Alright girls, let's start from the top and then move on onto stunts," she called out, clapping her hands.

Sakura placed herself between Hinata and Kagura feeling her muscles begin to ache. The start of the new routine was a little different from the previous one but Sakura suspected it had to do with the song their coach had selected. They hadn't heard it yet but apparently there was a few seconds of clapping at the beginning where they were told to engage the crowd as much as possible before the whole squad exploded into a complicated pattern of tumbling.

"Right, now let's do it to the real music this time, shall we?" Yuugao-sensei surprised them, switching CDs in the music player. "Alright, everyone in position… 3…2…1…"

The clapping began and Sakura followed the steps she was given, listening intently to the song and wondering what the hell it could be. As soon as the rhythm changed to an upbeat electronic beat, she immediately recognised it and a large smile lit up her face.

I could stick around and get along with you
Hello oh-oh-oh-oh
It doesn't really mean that I'm into you
Hello oh-oh-oh-oh

Perfect, Sakura thought, her fatigue almost forgotten as she felt energised again.

Practice ran slightly longer than usual and after taking a quick shower, Sakura was almost half an hour late as she ran to the library. As expected, it was pretty much empty this early in the school year and Sakura quickly found Sasuke sitting in the far right corner hidden in the literary section, looking down at his Maths textbook, his pen tapping lightly on the desk.

She noticed he looked freshly showered, his raven hair tousled and his jaw clenched as he seemed focused on a particular problem. She was momentarily taken aback at how handsome he looked and felt her confidence wither away at the thought of spending the next hour studying beside him… just the two of them.

What the hell was I thinking? How am I supposed to concentrate with Dark and Handsome sitting right next to me!

"Hey, I'm sorry I'm late," Sakura greeted him, choosing to sit opposite him rather than next to him. "I got here as fast as I could."

She dumped her shoulder bag on the table and quickly retrieved her notepad and pens refusing to look him in the eye. Things were certainly weird between them since the kiss at Kiba's party. Sakura hadn't known what to think of it and had preferred to ignore him. After all there was nothing to expect from Uchiha Sasuke.

He was a player, just like the rest of her friends. It had all been a game to him. And to her as well. They had made a deal, they saw it through, end of story – right?

"That's fine," he told her, putting away his textbook before pulling out Kakashi-sensei's handouts.

"So, I don't know how well you know Jane Austen but I've read a few of her books already," Sakura began, trying not to sound as nervous as she felt. "I've already got a few ideas about our theme so I thought we could do some research about it – not only in her novels but also about her life, see what kind of family life she had and then go from there. Perhaps you should start with Pride and Prejudice and I'll see what books the library has that we can use."

"Sounds good," Sasuke told her, already picking up his copy of the book and flicking through it.

Sakura looked up at him a little surprised he had agreed with her suggestion and left her seat to roam through the aisles and then the English Literature section. Finding a biography of Jane Austen among a few other interesting books, Sakura sat back down across from Sasuke and began reading through the texts.

As they sat together in silence, each reading to their own, Sakura felt the weight of Sasuke's stare on her after a while and eventually looked up. He was watching her with a calculating look in his eyes.

"What?" Sakura asked after a while.

"Why did you choose this theme?" Sasuke asked her, leaning back in his chair.

"What do you mean?"

"Why did you choose 'family'?" he asked again, his face unreadable.

Sakura wasn't sure what he was getting at. "I dunno… I guess it's the only theme I could relate to in the list. Would you rather I had picked 'women and marriage'?" she teased.

"I thought you would shy away from the family theme," he stated without a beat.

Sakura's smile fell and her voice turned quiet. "Oh. You mean because of my dad?"

Opposite her, Sasuke nodded.

Damn Naruto and his big mouth!

"Has that idiot really told you everything about me?" she asked her voice stiff.

"Not everything."

She paused, wondering why the hell he was bringing this up right now and looked straight into his dark eyes that betrayed nothing.

"It's silly to shy away from it," Sakura finally relented with a sigh. "If anything losing my dad has shown me just how important family is. One day you're celebrating New Year's with your parents, cooking and laughing together and then the next…"

She trailed off, biting her lip before pushing painful memories aside.

"The point is, I think family is an important component of people's lives and Jane Austen understood that perfectly. I was really close to my dad and losing him certainly changed me – in good ways and bad. After all your family shapes you as a kid and losing a parent – well that will make you grow up real fast… wouldn't you agree?"

She gazed back at Sasuke, gauging his reaction.

I'm not the only one Naruto talks about, she thought to herself, remembering that Sasuke had lost his mother.

His eyes betrayed nothing and he remained silent. Sakura realised that he had no intention of giving her answer and was cutting the conversation short. Apparently he wasn't about to give her the courtesy of opening up about himself like Sakura had just done and his behaviour put her off. After all, was it too much to ask that Sasuke give her more than his cold demeanour once in a while? Weren't they somewhat – friends?

They spent the next hour reading, jotting notes, exchanging ideas and detailing a plan for their project. Sakura was actually glad that even though Sasuke seemed to despise Jane Austen like every other guy she knew, at least he was serious about his schoolwork. Naruto would have put in the minimum effort in a project like this and would have made Sakura do all the work. Having him as her partner would have driven her insane and she pitied Hinata for having to cope with him.

When it was time to leave, Sakura put her notes away before piling up the various books on Jane Austen she had pulled from the library shelves. She'd never be able to carry them all in one go.

"Do you need a ride home?" Sasuke asked across from her.

"Um, yeah… if you don't mind," she told him, giving him a grateful smile. He grabbed half the books from her pile, his hand brushing against hers as he did so and waited for her to show the way. She tried not to let his touch affect her nor the slight smirk on Sasuke's lips.

"After you."

Sakura headed off through the library, remembering her way around. As she walked she noticed the library was deathly silent and wondered if Sasuke and her were the only ones left.

Reaching the correct aisle, she stopped half-way down and began putting the books away.

"Most of these go here," she told Sasuke, keeping her back to him. "The smaller books go on the upper shelf."

She went about putting the books back and tensed when she felt Sasuke's warmth behind her, his body towering over her smaller frame as he deftly slid a couple of books on the higher shelf.

Sakura felt her face grow red but refused to say anything. She continued her task again but paused as she suddenly felt his hot breath tickle the back of her neck.

"What are you doing?" she asked after a pause, her voice almost a whisper.

"Nothing," his deep voice murmured close to her ear. "Why? Am I making you nervous?"

"Yes… no… I just…" she paused, frustrated with herself and with him for playing with her. He wouldn't talk to her earlier but apparently teasing her and watching her squirm was fine. What the hell did he take her for?

Angrily, Sakura turned to face him fully. "Seriously, what are you doing? Are you actually trying to get it on with me in the library?"

"What? Don't be ridiculous," he scoffed at her.

Sakura's eyes narrowed in anger. "Oh, so now I'm being ridiculous?"

"Sakura, what the hell -"

"No, don't 'Sakura' me!" she blurted out, suddenly feeling the need to punch his face in. "Just because we kissed that doesn't give you the right to feel me up in the library!"

He rolled his eyes at her. "You're being annoying!"

But Sakura wasn't finished. "I don't know what game you're playing at, but I don't like it and I don't trust you!"

She expected another round of insults from his part but instead he became deathly silent and his gaze turned hard.

Oh so now he's taking offense because I told him I didn't trust him, Sakura thought incredulously. Of course she had meant it in the way that she didn't trust him not to try anything with her – not that she didn't trust him as a whole – but obviously Sasuke had taken it the wrong way.

And judging by the way he had backed off and was quickly dumping the rest of the books on the shelves, Sakura knew she had better try to fix things now before their chances of becoming friends were completely ruined. Damn it, why was everything so complicated with him?

"Sasuke -" Sakura began with a sigh.

"Let's go," Sasuke cut her off stiffly before walking away as Sakura tried not to yell in frustration.

The ride home was awkward as hell and silent but Sakura didn't care and looked out the window lost in her thoughts.

What the hell was Sasuke's problem? Of course there was the fact that he was a clan kid, an Uchiha no less, and that they tended to have major trust issues due to their status and wealth, not to mention that Sasuke had already been betrayed by his ex-girlfriend, Karin. And sure Sakura hadn't always been the nicest person to him to start with but she had tried. And Sasuke's personality was just awful at times – she still remembered how cold and incredibly rude he had been with her on her first day. But here she was, meeting him in the library as he had asked, opening up about her dad to satisfy his curiosity even though it still hurt to talk about him and Sasuke gave her nothing in return – only a bad attitude and teasing. He was playing with her, in the same exact way Kankuro had played with her when they had first met and she knew exactly how those kind of flings ended.

It wasn't what she wanted. She didn't want to be one of those girls Sasuke just screwed around with. She didn't know what she wanted to be exactly but at least being friends would be a good start. A friend she could count on and that she could trust. After all, didn't they both have Naruto in common as their best friend? Didn't she deserve more than his rude attitude and being shut out when she attempted to know him better?

She broke out of her thoughts as she noticed the car slow down and line up outside her apartment building. Grabbing her bag between her legs, she opened the passenger door, barely glancing at Sasuke as she intended to step out.

"Thanks for the ride."

"Sakura, wait."

She paused, turning back to face him as she waited for him to speak. She would listen to what he had to say, if only for Naruto's sake.

Sasuke was gripping the wheel with both hands his knuckles almost white as he continued to stare ahead. The vulnerability on his face surprised her and she unconsciously leaned closer towards him, curious as to his next words.

"About earlier," he paused, "I agree… with what you said."

Sakura looked back at him, confused.

"You asked me if losing a parent made you grow up quicker and I agree," he explained, his deep voice softer than usual. "My mother died when I was ten. After her death, my father devoted all his time to the family company, always leaving for business trips and meetings and never spending more than two or three days at home with my brother and I. My brother was starting high school then and between his schoolwork, training and student council I was lucky if I got to see him at home. I didn't realise it then but the day my mother died, my family completely fell apart and I was left by myself."

His dark eyes locked with hers and they held such a mix of emotions that Sakura felt at a loss. She had never seen Sasuke like this before.

"If not for Naruto and the others," he continued with blunt honesty. "I don't know how I would have turned out."

"Why are you telling me this?" she asked him, confused.

"I'm telling you because I want to and I guess because I trust you."

Sakura felt a smile tug on her lips despite herself. "You trust me?"

"Aa."

Sakura ignored the way her insides reacted to his affirmation. How Sasuke managed to make her feel that way when she had clearly been angry with him just a few moments ago, she didn't know.

"Thank you, Sasuke. For being honest with me."

He nodded and she climbed out of the car again before shutting the door and waving goodbye.

Watching him speed off, Sakura was unable to keep the grin off her face. She didn't know what surprised her most, the fact that Uchiha Sasuke was starting to open up to her or the fact that she liked it.

A lot.

..~**~..

So I'm sure you can guess the last part was the scene that gave me the most trouble - it was hard to keep Sasuke somewhat in character so I look forward to reading what you thought of it. I hope you enjoyed Itachi's small appearance - he'll be meeting Sakura very soon.

Reviews keep me going, so please drop one and tell what you think :)

Have a fabulous weekend everyone!

sai xx