Chapter 20~!
Title: "Switches and Surprises"
Disclaimer: I own nothing!!
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I stood there, staring at the spot in the crowd where he had just disappeared.
That searing pain still coursing through my body.
I felt the stray drops of juice seep between my fingers stickily.
"Sakura?"
I barely heard Iruka-sensei call my name from behind the counter, everything else was so loud.
It was really hard to think straight.
His voice was obviously asking if I was okay or not.
I hesitantly tore my eyes away from the direction of Kakashi-sensei.
"See someone?" Iruka-sensei asked conversationally, looking over there too.
"Uh... no… Just thought I saw someone I knew." I reassured him with a lie, still trying to gather my thoughts.
"Oh…." He noted calmly.
Then he left, asking some other party-goers who came up to the bar what they wanted.
I lifted my cup off of the table, and held it tightly as I started to go back into the sea of people.
I really didn't feel like dealing with any outward stimulus right now… I just needed to take a moment to get over this horrible feeling.
But despite what I actually wanted, I still made my way over to Naruto and everybody else.
"So you finally got Sakura to say 'yes'?" I heard Shikamaru's unintentionally-sarcastic voice ring out before I actually reached them.
"Uh….yeah." Naruto shuffled over his words, embarrassed.
"She looks really good tonight." Shikamaru graded.
Everybody was paying attention to him and this conversation. Even Chouji was looking away from his snack-bag every other second.
How long have they been talking about me?
I felt a little weird… I just came back from that and now I was walking into this.
I just walked up anyways, not saying anything.
As soon as I came over, everybody suddenly got quiet.
I really didn't need to feel like an awkward 3rd wheel here too.
But they couldn't help it…
"Hey, Sakura-chan." Naruto greeted me with a slightly reddened face.
"Hey..." I said back weakly.
An awkward silence took over for a few seconds before Shikamaru spoke up again.
"Well, anyway, Naruto, did you hear about the next mission I have to go on…"
Their voices drowned out with the other party sounds as I scanned the Main Hall for any sign of Kakashi-sensei…
I just needed to see if he was really… serious…
I brought this on myself.
I said he could.
I just need him to be happy.
...
I said I'd trust him… but this is a little scary.
...
I kept staring into the mass of people.
I heard Shino join our group behind me.
Naruto didn't recognize him… even when he took of his mask.
I could almost feel Shino's pouting-aura when he had to explain who he was, and how they'd known each other for several years.
It was a little funny… There was a part of me that wanted to turn around and be a part of their carefree world… but I definitely couldn't think about anything else when I caught sight of him.
He was in the dining area, sitting at one of the fancy, candle-lit tables… surrounded by other laughing, drinking, Jounins…
She was sitting really close to him, her arms curled around his gray-suited bicep, leaning her head against his shoulder.
I had had no idea that Anko-san was actually like that.
My eyes were stuck on him, but the longer I watched him, enjoying himself in that world far away from mine… I felt so isolated.
Like there was nothing I could possibly do to win him back from all that.
But this is who he is… this is where he's from…
I wasn't really bothered by that.
I was bothered by the fact that I was incapable of reaching him.
I hurriedly looked away from him for a second.
Woah… this is getting to be too much.
This is only a party, that's only a one-time date for him… same thing for me and Naruto…
It's supposed to happen this way.
I just have to survive tonight…
And things will be the same again…
I saw her pull his arm against her body tighter…
… probably…
My heart rocked with anxiety.
I felt Naruto's hand grab mine, saying something about how everyone was going to start dancing.
But I couldn't quite react to him just yet.
I was still stuck between Kakashi's world and Naruto's… trying to find the place where I belonged.
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His eyes inevitably caught sight of the flowing, strawberry red on the dance floor… again.
It was always hard to look away from her on a normal day, but it was even harder to keep his eyes off of her when she was so beautiful.
He found himself admiring her figure as she swayed back and forth… the way the silk clung to her waist, loosening only a couple of inches past her hips. The off-shoulder straps seemed like they were going to slink even farther down at any moment.
Her skin looked so soft under the weak candle-light.
He wanted nothing more than to be right there, holding her, touching her, feeling her, kissing her.
But she was dancing with Naruto.
That boy's hand was holding hers, his other hand was on her waist…
His eyebrow twitched with irritation.
Kakashi never wanted anyone else to feel her body under their hands.
And yet, most of his irritation at that moment was focused towards himself.
He hadn't wanted Sakura to see him with Anko, who was so persistently trying to attach herself to him.
He didn't want her to get that hurt.
He had seen the look on her face as he walked away…
He had acted like he didn't even care…
He was always a good liar…
But he hoped that Sakura would hold on just a bit longer.
He hoped that she wouldn't lose hope in him just yet.
He had something planned.
He wouldn't have taken a date if he knew it wouldn't benefit the night in some way or another… especially such a heavy-drinking date.
"Kakashi~…. What are you so distracted by?~~…" That slightly slurred voice whispered against his ear.
He quickly looked away from the pink haired girl... he must've been staring too long again.
He felt Anko's hands brush past his arm, rubbing across his chest.
"Careful now…" He warned a little firmly, picking her hands off of him and placing them nicely onto her lap.
Kakashi really hadn't planned on Anko being a touchy-drunk.
Her pouting, slightly obnoxious voice spoke up again.
"I don't know why you wanted to come with me as only a 'friend', Kakashi~…" She hit the word 'friend' like she thought it was a childish concept.
It probably was, but he didn't care.
He felt her hands land on his shoulder, lifting herself slightly out of her chair.
She was leaning up towards him, as if she was expecting a kiss soon.
He looked away from her.
"But I guess even 'friends' can have 'fun'~…"
The other Jounins at the table glanced at Kakashi and Anko for a second before taking a hint and looking away.
He sighed at the drama.
"I think you're getting drunk…" He ignored her rather inappropriate suggestion, trying to calm her down with reason for a second.
"I can hold my liquor very well." She pulled her face up to his, her hand tilting his head back to her.
He pushed her away before she got any closer.
She sat back to her chair a little roughly, probably forgetting gravity for a second.
She only looked up at him with her cheeky grin, she apparently thought that she still had a chance.
He felt kind of bad for leading her on… even if all he did was ask her out as a friend.
"Looks like you have your hands full." He heard a familiar, bad-joke voice.
"Iruka…" Kakashi grumbled a little warningly, giving Iruka a small glare.
"Sorry…" Iruka was suddenly apologetic. "Just thought you were… enjoying yourself." He took a seat next to Kakashi.
"Not really…" Kakashi corrected him. His eyes flickered back to the silky red dress at the dance floor.
He saw Anko, in the corner of his eye, shaking the little clay sake bottle next to her ear.
"Iruka, another sake!" She ordered a little loudly, tilting backward into her chair, holding up the bottle.
She was slouching inappropriately, her revleaving dress in danger of revealing too much.
Kakashi didn't see a point in looking at her.
"I don't think you should have another one, Anko-san…" Iruka blushed a little, looking away from her out of his natural gentlemanly nature. "Besides… Tsunade-sama has taken over the drink stand."
A danger signal went off in Kakashi's brain.
At this rate, the party would be infested with drunk Genins…
Then again, it was only expected that Tsunade would take charge of her favorite part of the party.
I guess now would be a good a time as ever to talk with her about our agreement…
"I'll go get some more for you, Anko…" Kakashi stood up from his seat, not listening to Iruka's advice of watching the liquor, and walked off towards the bar.
Making his way through the crowd, he kept checking the dance floor, always making sure that Sakura was in sight.
He didn't want to miss a second of her.
……
"Ah, Kakashi!" Tsunade welcomed him to the counter warmly. "What do you want?" She asked with a big grin.
"Just some sake…" He answered loudly over the crowd.
"Sake's on the house." She smiled brighter. She had that power-hungry look.
Kakashi could sense that she felt like the Queen of Alcohol at that moment… he wondered how she would've compared the job to being Hokage.
"Hey do you see the chick in that pinkish-red dress?"
"The one with pink hair?"
"Yeah… She's pretty hot isn't she?"
Kakashi could hear every word that the two shinobi hanging around the juice bowl were saying.
He suddenly felt like saying a few things to them… but he knew that he definitely shouldn't, unless he wanted to make a suspicious scene.
"Maybe I could ask her out after she's done dancing with that dork."
Kakashi felt like stepping on the guy's foot.
But settled for leaning against the counter, trying to control his feelings, waiting for Tsunade to hand him the sake.
"I don't think she'd go for you."
Listen to your friend, kid… Kakashi warned the cockier one in his mind.
"I can make any girl easy for me!" The cocky voice explained obnoxiously.
That was it.
He was going to have to do something.
But it had to be sneaky.
"Here ya go…" Tsunade finally came back, handing him a sake bottle.
"Hey, how about three bottles of your most exclusive wine for those two over there…" Kakashi pointed towards the direction of the no-faced voices
"Ok!…" she smiled heartily. She brought out three really expensive looking bottles from under the bar and clinked them onto the marble countertop in front of the two hooligans.
Kakashi had never really met them, but he'd seen them around before.
Tsunade silently explained the bottles to them, her voice drowned out by the music, she pointed to Kakashi.
They waved happily at him.
He waved back with a vindictive smile.
Tsunade came back to him after a couple of seconds.
"You paying for them?..." She asked.
"No…"
Tsuande smiled at his prank.
He would've been happier punching the boys, but that would've been way too much.
He really needed to be discreet right now…. Or his plans for the night would be ruined.
"Anyways, Tsunade… don't you think it's almost time?…" Kakashi spoke to her casually.
She didn't say anything, only smiled mischievously.
He nodded to her and walked away with the little bottle.
Things might actually go as planned…
He stared at the gorgeous, red-dressed girl all the way back to his table.
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I really didn't feel like dancing, but Naruto was really happy… I couldn't take that away from him.
And if I all I did was sit down and think about Kakashi, it would drive me crazy.
At least I would be distracted this way.
But even though I was trying to stay distracted, my heart suffered another injury when I saw him.
He was really tall, so it was hard to miss him.
My eyes followed him desperately.
For a second I swore that he was looking at me too.
Everything got a little worse when I managed to catch sight, through the swaying sea of bodies, of him sitting down at his dimly-lit table.
Anko-san curling her arms around him, her fingers wrapping around the back of his neck.
I looked down to my shoes quickly.
I didn't need to see that.
"Sakura?..." Naruto was concerned.
Couldn't blame him… I probably had a weird expression on.
One that was probably so visible, even under the mask, that it would worry anybody.
"I'm fine…" I looked up to him.
"Are you sure, because you seem a little….." His voice faded away from my ears when I looked back over to Kakashi.
He was standing up again… Anko was holding onto his shoulder for support…. She was holding him too closely. She pressed herself against him.
I wanted to yell out and stop him when he wrapped his arm around her side.
But I didn't say anything.
I only looked at him… hoping he'd look at me.
Hoping he'd remember that I was here.
That he hadn't forgotten about me after having a great time with his adult friends… and adult date.
Then I noticed that they were walking towards the main entrance.
Where are they going?
Why is he with her?
Why are they leaving together?!
Wasn't he supposed to at least talk to me before leaving?!
I saw his head turn towards my direction right before he disappeared into the outside darkness.
"Ka…" I almost said his name out loud.
It wouldn't have mattered… he was gone.
"Sakura?!" Naruto raised his voice to catch my attention.
I suddenly snapped out of it.
He was staring right at me, I could see his eyes through the holes in his mask. He was definitely worried.
I couldn't say I was fine anymore without lying really badly.
"Um… I'm not feeling really… I…" I stuttered, trying to think of a reason to be by myself for a second. "I just need to sit down…" my thoughts wouldn't come together the way I wanted them to.
I felt my legs get a little weak underneath me.
"O-okay…" Naruto agreed, letting go of my waist and starting to walk towards the dining area, leading me by the hand.
I felt so rotten.
"Hey, shinobi and kunoichi!... All dates are off!" I heard a familiar voice yell out loudly with that, just as familiar, drunken version of that voice.
I turned towards the owner of the loud announcement.
Tsunade was standing on a table, fists on her hips, she seemed to mean business.
The music faded a little, but was still loud enough to serve as Tsunade-sama's background music.
Everybody else looked up to her, they all seemed just as confused by her words as I was.
All dates are off?
"I've decided to add in a surprise to this party…. Everyone switch dates!" She yelled those words as if it this was a serious order.
"What?!" I heard Shizune's faint voice call out from our crowd with shock.
"You can't stop this Shizune!!" Tsunade-sama pointed at Shizune from her table, challengingly. "That man and I have decided that this was the only way to spice up the party the way I always wanted it."
I could suddenly feel the tension between these two opposite-minded party-planners emerge.
Tsunade-sama was reclaiming her control with this really weird rule…
Silence took over the party… somebody coughed a little.
Everybody just stared at her.
"Well, get to it people… find your new date!"
What?!
The excitement immediately resumed as everyone started talking about this surprise twist.
I could see Tsunade look down at all of us with a smug grin.
There was suddenly a chorus of girls and boys grumbling… some of these couples had gone through a lot of drama to come together…
I suddenly thought of Kakashi…
If only he was here…
No!
Wait…. I'm really not thinking straight right now.
Even if he was here, we couldn't be a date… definitely not.
The problem between us being a date was never Naruto… it was our risky relationship in the first place.
"So we have to find new dates?..." Naruto turned back to me.
"Uh… yeah I guess." I answered a little weakly, still recovering from all the commotion.
I couldn't say much more as the whole group suddenly found their way to this spot.
Everybody talking loudly, trying to figure things out.
"So who should go with who?" Kiba spoke up, Hinata hiding behind him a little.
Shikamaru and Chouji seemed to just enjoy watching the drama.
"I don't know!" Ino spoke up all of a sudden, holding Sai's arm to her chest protectively.
Sai seemed content with the sudden change.
I felt a hand land on my arm.
I turned to see a bright green mask.
"With this new rule, I was thinking we could be together Sakura-chan." I swear I could see mini-sparkles emerge form that bob-cut.
There was an awkward silence for a second, I could feel everyone's eyes on me.
"Do we really have to switch dates?!" Naruto yelled with a really loud voice. He definitely didn't like Lee's sudden appearance.
As is typical with confusion, all hell broke loose when somebody started yelling.
Suddenly everybody was talking so loud, yelling questions at each other.
My brain was reeling with all the noise and people… I really just needed to take a few minutes to myself, but everybody was being so loud.
"Oi!" Shikamaru got everyone's attention with that single syllable.
As the only Jounin in our group, it was our instinct to listen to him.
"Hinata you'll pair off with Naruto, Ino you'll pair with me, and Sakura can go with Sai."
"What?!" I heard Ino yell too loudly, making the slightly-faint Hinata flinch.
"This way, everything can still remain platonic so that we don't disrupt the original dates with unnessecary jealousy." Shikamaru explained slowly. It was weird hearing such logic during such a dramtic party.
Ino didn't say anything for a few seconds, she seemed to slightly approve of this idea, she grumbled loudly and gave Sai's arm a big squeeze, leaving his side. He smiled his fake smile, turning to me.
I saw Hinata walk hesitantly towards Naruto, who I felt was staring between me and Sai.
There was so much drama in this silent moment of orginization... even more than there was when everyone was shouting.
Within only a few seconds, everyone was by their planned date.
Ino and Shikamaru were sitting together, bickering tensely… I wondered why Shikamaru would set himself up for that.
Kiba, Chouji, and Rock Lee were left out. The first seemed a little relieved to be free from the drama (but I thought I saw him eye Hinata one last time), Chouji was just as interested in his snacks as he was before, and Lee was crying his manly tears behind his mask, already accepting defeat.
Naruto finally stopped giving me and Sai that pouting face and took Hinata's hand, leading her to the dance floor. She was blushing happily.
At least some good came of this.
Everybody seemed to be happy in their own weird way...
I turned to Sai.. still feeling under the weather from when I saw Kakashi leave the party with Anko.
My heart stumbled apprehensively at the memory of see his arm slink around her waist like that.
I took a deep breath.
"Sakura…" I heard Sai start, getting my attention.
"You don't especially want to be with me, do you?" I immediaately asked a question that would seem rude to anybody other than him.
I didn't want to push Sai away personally... but I had already learned my lesson about carelessly accepting dates.
"I'd prefer to read." He said bluntly without too much hesitation, wearing that fake smile.
"Ok… then I'll let you enjoy yourself." I said over-courteously, feeling a little mean for ditching him. But he didn't seem to take offense.
I walked away from him as he sat down at on of the tables, pulling out a little book from his pocket.
He had come prepared.
I slowly made my way to a table on the very edge of the dance floor, not wanting to be too obvious about how much I really didn't want to be there.
I had promised myself to stay for the whole thing so that I could be here with everyone.... I couldn't leave my friends behind because of my personal drama...
I would stay, even if I had to remain dateless for the rest of the night... to be fair to Kakashi-sensei....
My thoughts suddenly spiraled into painful memories.
Him leaving me at the drink stand, him enjoying himself with the other Jounins, his arm around her waist.
I wonder if he's with her right now… at a restaurant, taking a walk, walking her home… with her at her home.
…
No!
Of course he wouldn't go that far… of course…
I sighed to myself, looking down to the strawberry silk on my lap.
I shouldn't be this hurt…
I shouldn't care this much…
I should just accept this…
Accept the fact that, at times, Kakashi-sensei doesn't want to only be with me… an inexperienced, immature chuunin.
I couldn't accept any of it.
I couldn't even try to.
I sat there, alone, for several minutes.
I watched the flowing sea of dancing people in front of me… mesmerized by the colors, the sounds, the motion, the happiness radiating from them, their carefree, masked, faces.
I really wanted to join their world, free of worries.
But I couldn't…
… If leaving this childish world behind meant that I could be someone Kakashi-sensei could be happy to be with… I'd do my best to grow out of it as soon as possible.
... I let out a groan...
I couldn't think about him right now... but he was all I could think about....
I heard a ripple of gossipy tones course through the crowd.
Maybe somebody kissed… maybe somebody fell down… something that really didn't matter that much, but was a big deal in their eyes just happened.
I continued to watch the shoes of different shapes and sizes move around the floor. Lost in thought.
The chorus of hushed talking got louder… and louder, like it was travelling towards me.
I wasn't as disinterested as before, but I still didn't care enough to look up.
The shoes started moving in a weird, organized way. The crowd was separating.
The whispering voices got louder, the people right in front of me had stopped dancing to the flowing music and were now talking amongst themselves, secretively.
I saw a pair of black dress shoes step through the crowd of colorful shoes and into my vision.
I looked up a little, catching glimpse black-suited legs.
Somebody in a black suit?
Everybody else here was so vibrant and light.... it's weirdfor someone to be wearing black.
… Was everybody only talking about this person's clothes?
How could I have missed a person dressed in black?
I looked up a little more.... his entire suit was pitch black, and professionally tailored to his tall body. A metallic sheen lit off of his shoulders.
I finally noticed that this person was facing me.
I looked up all the way.
His mask was charcoal black, letting off an expensive shine. The mask covered only the upper-half of his face, but didn't stop at his forehead. This untraditional mask curved back along the top and back of his head, covering his hair.
Everything about this person was so elegant, so refined. He grabbed everyone's attention by just standing there.
This person.
The way he was standing…
So familiar…
When I adjusted my eyes, taking a look at his face… I finally recognized a pair of lips that I remembered... intimately.
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