AN: Once again thank you for all the reviews! Almost at 100. Yay! To the guests, I cannot reply to you personally, but I read your reviews too and they make me very happy, so thank you.

Red Storm

Chapter 6: Mind vs. Heart

"Thoughts are the shadows of our feelings - always darker, emptier and simpler."

~Friedrich Nietzsche

"Oi, Shikamaru." Sasuke walked up to the boy lounging on the bench under the tall cherry tree. The blossoms had almost all fallen, leaving behind a ragged pink carpet on the ground that was slowly turning yellow.

Shikamaru lay under the green branches, his coarse black ponytail splaying out onto the slats like the fronds of a fir tree. He opened one eye as the other teen approached.

"Sasuke." he said in a flat tone. "To what do I owe this pleasure?"

Sasuke stopped in front of the bench, his hands in his pockets. "I wanted to talk to you about what you said the other day."

Shikamaru closed his eye again. "What I said?"

Sasuke narrowed his brows. "Don't play dumb, Shikamaru. You know what I'm talking about."

"Ah, so you finally realized your feelings then." Shikamaru replied.

Sasuke kicked at the pink petals making them fly up in a flurry before settling back down onto the grass. Hearing Shikamaru say that so directly was somewhat disconcerting.

"I want you to tell me how to get rid of them." he said.

Shikamaru smiled, settling his hands behind his head. He would have looked like he was having a pleasant dream were he not speaking aloud.

"Get rid of them?" he echoed.

Sasuke glared at the face that wasn't even deigning to look at him.

"These…feelings." He managed to grind out.

Finally, Shikamaru opened his eyes and fixed Sasuke with a penetrating stare.

"You don't."

"Excuse me?" said Sasuke.

"You don't get rid of them." replied Shikamaru with a sigh. "Feelings aren't something you can just control. They're there for a reason. Even if you bury them deep down, they'll still be there. You can deny them, ignore them, but you can't get rid of them. In fact, the more you deny them, the stronger they'll grow, just under the surface."

Well, that just wasn't fair. Feelings shouldn't be allowed to get stronger.

"Well, I've managed perfectly well so far by controlling my feelings." said Sasuke, stuffing his hands further into his pockets. "I'm pretty sure I can manage this."

"Coming to me for advice would suggest otherwise." remarked Shikamaru dryly.

Sasuke gritted his teeth and was about to retort when Shikamaru's next words blindsided him.

"What exactly are you afraid of?"

Sasuke blinked, the words taking a moment to process. Afraid? He, Sasuke Uchiha, afraid?

He glared. "I'm not afraid."

Shikamaru with his eyes closed, was, of course, completely unperturbed by the Uchiha stare.

"If you say so."

Sasuke balled his hands into fists in his pockets. Man, sometimes he really just wanted to sock Shikamaru one right in the face, that smug know-it-all. But, of course, he was above such mindless violence, so instead he turned and walked away, letting his hands relax.

"Yo, Sasuke." Shikamaru called after him.

Sasuke looked round. Shikamaru appeared as motionless as a mannequin, but then the boy's lips moved.

"There might be one way."

"Oh?" Sasuke made sure to keep his voice level and disinterested.

"Yes." replied Shikamaru and he opened one eye, looking at Sasuke. "Just make his relationship with Sakura a success. Sure, your feelings won't go away, but at least it'll stop you from making any moves." He closed his eyes again, and turned his face towards the sky. "Then again, maybe he won't need your help. He's doing pretty well so far. And if you're lucky, he might forget about you altogether. He'll move on with his life none the wiser, never realizing what he might have missed, and you can try and pretend like you never felt this way."

Aaaand the hands went back to being tightly clenched.

"Thanks for nothing." said Sasuke as he walked back towards the grey school building.

"You're welcome." came the calm reply.

Sasuke didn't see the smile appear on Shikamaru's face after he turned away. A strong breeze swept through the leaves overhead, unseating the last few petals that hung gamely onto the branches. One fluttered down, settling on the boy's nose. He opened his eyes and picked it up in his fingers, examining the delicate veins of the petal before blowing a puff of air that sent it whirling back into the sky before floating down to join the uneven pink carpet on the ground.

Poor cherry blossom, he mused. It was beautiful, but it never did last for very long.

Sasuke was quiet during lunch that day as he sat with Naruto and his friends - Neji, Kiba, Hinata and Ino. He watched as Naruto talked to Sakura. The blond was so…animated, waving his hands in the air as he asked her questions and laughing about some crappy girly book she was reading. He seemed physically unable to wipe the smile off his face whenever she showed the slightest bit of interest and attention.

Of course, he thought, Naruto is dating Sakura.

Sure, things weren't that serious yet, but…

Sasuke shifted his gaze to Sakura. She was less animated, and the pink-haired girl was making fun of Naruto as usual, but it was in a lighthearted way, and Sasuke noticed her smiling at some of the idiot's jokes. He frowned as he noticed a light blush rise on her cheeks now and then when Naruto complimented her. She glanced up when she felt Sasuke's eyes on her, and the blush deepened tenfold.

"Is there something the matter, Sasuke?"

A look of frustration flashed across Naruto's face at her abrupt change in attention, and Sasuke hid a smug smile of satisfaction. Oh yes, he still held some sway here.

What he didn't like was the way Naruto's happy expression had turned to one of… annoyance? He shouldn't be smiling at Sakura that way and then give Sasuke that look. It didn't seem…right.

"Nothing, Sakura." He said in a bored voice.

"Don't worry about him, Sakura." said Naruto. "He's always sulking about something."

"Naruto, that's not very nice." said Sakura, turning back to look at the blond.

Sasuke couldn't help feeling a small stab of pain at Naruto's words. Stupid feelings. But he kept his expression passive and shot back a quick reply.

"Uzumaki has yet to learn that always talking doesn't necessarily mean you're interesting."

Usually, an insult like that would bring on an attempted comeback resulting in a nice, long barrage of zingers between the two, but Naruto simply stuck out his tongue and turned back to Sakura.

"Anyway, tell me more about the end of the story. What happened?"

Sakura tore her eyes reluctantly from Sasuke. "Well…"

Kiba who was sitting next to him gave him a nudge. "You won't get a word in edgeways with those two around. They're turning into a regular couple."

He grinned and winked at Hinata who turned slightly red and stared down at her food. Neji shot Kiba a glare.

Sasuke gritted his teeth. This wasn't how it was supposed to be.

"Hey, Naruto." he interrupted. "Are we still on for the study session on Saturday?"

Naruto looked at him in surprise. "Saturday? Sorry, man, I can't."

Sasuke narrowed his brows. "Why not? We always meet up on Saturdays."

Naruto shrugged and then rubbed the back of his head, glancing at Sakura. "Well, you know, we're kinda going on a date then."

Of course, the ridiculous mall date. He could feel Sakura's eyes on him then, looking nervous as usual. He hated that scared rabbit look of hers. She always wore it around Sasuke, especially every time she had asked him out.

Sasuke ignored her and picked up a forkful of his chicken salad. He was supposed to help this farce of a relationship? That would be an unkindness to Naruto and a sin against mankind itself.

Sasuke tightened his grip on the fork as Naruto went back to talking animatedly with Sakura about the book.

He had to stop this…for Naruto's sake, before he got in too deep and had his heart broken.

Yeah, for Naruto.

Plus…Sasuke wanted his damn Saturdays back.

"Oh, let's go in here. I want to see if the new One Direction CD is out." said Sakura, almost running towards the large music store.

Naruto grinned. Sakura had been pretty subdued while they'd been browsing the clothes stores, but it was good to see her brighten up, even if it was for a One Direction CD. Naruto glanced at the large poster of those boys hanging in the window with their floppy Justin Bieber-style haircuts. Seriously? This was the weird, granddad, Beatles look guys were supposed to be rocking now?

He sighed and followed Sakura into the store. CDs lined the shelves of course, along with a huge assortment of DVDs, and some pop song Naruto had never heard blasted on the intercom.

"So, what kind of music do you like, Sakura?" asked Naruto as he walked up beside her.

Sakura looked up from the CDs she'd been flicking through. She smiled. "Pop, I guess. I'm pretty mainstream. I know it's not cool, but-"

"Nah, it's cool." said Naruto quickly. "I mean, I like pop sometimes too, but I guess I'm more into rock."

He glanced around the pop section. So, there weren't many bands he liked in this section. The faces of Rihanna and Beyonce stared back at him with smug, I'm-filthy-rich-and-famous smiles, but he definitely wasn't going to snub someone for their music tastes. He hated pretentious hipster prats. Besides, he liked enough embarrassing bands as it was.

"You don't need to be worried about that, Sakura." said a smooth voice beside him. "Naruto likes the lame punk/metal scene. Anything with enough drums to drown out the lyrics."

Sakura's eyes widened and Naruto practically choked.

"Sasuke, what are you doing here?" he said.

Sasuke stood before them, the usual grumpy look on his face as if someone had just told him his dog had died, and his hands stuffed moodily in the pockets of his black skinny jeans. Naruto cursed inwardly. Damn him for always managing to look so cool. He could practically see the drool escaping Sakura's mouth at the sight of Sasuke in a tight black t-shirt and gray zip-up hoody.

Sasuke shrugged. "Had some stuff to buy."

Yeah, well, go and buy somewhere else, thought Naruto, willing him away.

"Right, well-" began Naruto.

"What kind of music do you like, Sasuke?" interrupted Sakura.

Sasuke looked around at the CDs in the pop section. "None of this crap."

Naruto's eyebrow twitched. "Don't call it crap, you bastard."

Sakura blushed. "No, it – it's ok. I know my taste in music isn't cool." She smiled at Sasuke. "So, what do you like?"

The Uchiha gave another noncommittal shrug. "I don't listen to much music, but if I do I guess it's indie and electronic rock, or classical."

"Wow, that's cool. Really cultured." said Sakura with a smile.

Naruto rolled his eyes. Sasuke was the definition of the hipster music snob.

He forced a grin to his face and made a show of glancing at his watch. "Well, it's about lunchtime. Let's go buy that new album, Sakura." He turned to Sasuke. "See you, Sasuke. We're going to go get a bite to eat."

"Oh." said Sakura, disappointment edging her voice, and she looked between Naruto and Sasuke. "Why doesn't Sasuke join us? We're all here after all. We could all eat together."

She could not be serious.

"I don't think that-" he began.

"Sounds good to me." said Sasuke, flashing her a rare smile. Sakura turned pink.

Naruto was pretty sure by now that he was going to throttle Sasuke. He clenched his fists. "Actually, we're kind of on a date here in case you hadn't noticed so…"

"Oh come on, Naruto." said Sakura gazing up at him with a bright smile. "It's no big deal if we just eat together, right? And we've got other chances for dates alone."

Naruto swallowed. How was he supposed to resist that?

"Fine." He said with a sigh.

Sakura's smile widened. She turned to Sasuke as they began walking towards the counter. "So, tell me some of the bands you like, Sasuke."

Naruto walked behind the two of them. He was going to freaking kill Sasuke.

Naruto sat in utter boredom at the plastic gray table in the food court. Sakura was babbling away to Sasuke and had barely given him a second glance since they'd gotten the food.

He picked gloomily at his french fries and looked up to find Sasuke's dark eyes on him, an unreadable expression on his face.

"Sasuke, are you alright?" asked Sakura.

Sasuke shot Naruto a small smirk and turned his attention back to the bubbly girl. "Sorry, what were you saying?"

Sakura blushed pink at the rare attention and polite turn of phrase. "I-I was just asking if you'd been to any music concerts?"

Naruto clenched his jaw. That bastard. He was doing this on purpose. He was messing with him on his freaking date.

Naruto stood up, causing both Sasuke and Sakura to look at him.

"I'm going to the bathroom." He said shortly and walked away, leaving the two 'lovebirds' sitting at the table.

He sighed as he pushed open the door to the men's bathrooms and stood in front of the sinks, staring at himself in the mirror. What the hell was Sasuke pulling, muscling in on his date like that? Did he just want to flaunt how much Sakura still liked him? To show how easily he could take her?

A low growl escaped Naruto's throat and he glared at his reflection, imagining it was Sasuke's face in the mirror and not his own. Oh, how he'd love to wipe that self-satisfied smirk off the Uchiha's face once and for all.

He glanced up as the door swung open again, and in walked none other than the villain himself.

"What the hell do you want?" he asked, not even attempting to sound calm.

"Came to see if you're alright." said Sasuke, letting the door swing shut behind him. "You left kind of suddenly. Sakura was worried."

Naruto snorted. "I'm surprised she could stop long enough to even think of me with you around." He glared at Sasuke. "What are you doing here anyway?"

Sasuke shrugged. "I had some shopping to do."

"And you just thought you'd third wheel yourself into our date?"

Sasuke raised a brow and smirked. "I'm hardly a third wheel if Sakura invites me. Seems to me like you're the one who became the third wheel."

Naruto snapped, grabbing Sasuke's shirt and pushing him towards the wall. Sasuke's back hit a dryer and it turned on automatically, filling the room with a mundane hum. He gave a grunt of pain, but otherwise showed no reaction, his face as annoyingly poker straight as always.

"You're ruining everything." said Naruto.

"In case you hadn't noticed, she asked me." replied Sasuke. He lifted his hands, curling his fingers around Naruto's wrists as if to loosen his hold. Naruto responded by tightening his grip on Sasuke's shirt.

"I don't care if she begged you. You should've said no. You think I can bring on the romance and convince her to become my girlfriend when your skinny ass is sitting next to us?"

This time it was Sasuke that snapped, and Naruto found himself, much to his surprise, being the one grabbed by the shirt and shoved against the wall, the cold tiles knocking the breath out of him momentarily. Sasuke was so close he could see for the first time the unrestrained anger storming in his eyes.

"She is not and never will be your girlfriend."

So there it was. Naruto shook his head in disbelief.

Sasuke continued, "Do you think you could ever be happy with a girl who just has to see another guy she finds hot in her eyeline before she forgets you exist?"

"Sakura isn't that shallow." replied Naruto, glaring back.

Sasuke clicked his tongue, making a tutting sound. "Maybe she is, maybe she isn't. It doesn't really matter though, does it?"

Here it is, thought Naruto. The truth. The truth about Sasuke's plan to steal her away.

"And why's that?" He managed to spit out, waiting for the vicious blow to his ego, the blow that would take away both his best friend and the girl he adored.

"Ever heard the phrase, 'She's just not that into you'?" said Sasuke. "Take the hint and leave her in the dust. You can do better."

Hah, so he was trying to 'save' Naruto's feelings before taking her. What a freaking hypocrite.

Well, let's see him play out his little game, thought Naruto. He shot Sasuke a sarcastic smile. "Oh yeah? Better like who?"

Sasuke's eyes widened in surprise and he pulled back slightly, letting go of Naruto's shirt, the material uncrinkling and settling back in place against Naruto's skin.

"I…don't know." He said eventually, and looked away, focusing instead on some what-must-be-fascinating fixtures in the bathroom.

Well, that was the end of that ridiculous charade. Naruto folded his arms and glared.

"Well then, thanks for the fabulous advice, Uchiha." He said. "I know you've not got much else to do in your sad little life aside from pissing me off, but you've got another thing coming if you think I'm just going to let you waltz in and mess everything up between me and Sakura."

Sasuke's eyes snapped back to Naruto and he opened his mouth to say something when the door swung open.

An overweight man in shorts and sandals walked in, his dark brown hair plastered over his forehead in an ineffective combover.

"Get a room, fags." He shot at them before managing to slide his wide berth into a dark green cubicle and shutting the door with a bang.

It was then the two teens seemed to notice the distance (or lack thereof) between them.

Naruto felt the heat rise on his cheeks as he realized how it must have looked staring intensely into each other's eyes only a few inches apart. Sasuke took a few quick steps back, a faint red coloring his own pale cheeks.

Good. Sasuke deserved to feel embarrassed. It was a rare enough occasion anyway.

The blush disappeared all too quickly though.

"Does it really bother you that much if I'm here?" he asked, his face settling back to its usual poker-like expression.

Naruto raised a brow. Was he joking?

"What do you think, genius? I'm on a freaking date."

Sasuke shrugged. "Then I'll leave."

An inexplicable flash of irritation shot through Naruto.

"Fine. Do that." He said. That's what he wanted after all, for Sasuke to go.

Sasuke went over to the swing door and opened it, but paused looking back. Naruto waited for him to say something – probably some stupid insult to get under Naruto's skin for the rest of the day. Sasuke, however, surprised him once again by not speaking a word, only turning away and walking out of the bathroom. The door squeaked as it swung shut behind him, flipping over the threshold a few times like a pendulum before finally coming to stop.

Naruto finally let his shoulders relax. He realized he had been standing tense against the wall, readying himself for a fight.

Well, that had been uncomfortable.

It wasn't often Sasuke lost his cool around him. Usually, he was careful. Naruto knew in the back of his mind that Sasuke held back for fear of causing any flashbacks or trauma to Naruto after all that had happened, but sometimes he missed those first few days of knowing each other when they'd gotten into scrap-fights and settled all their arguments with their fists.

All this verbal crap was…way more complicated. Now they were growing up and fighting over girls. Damn.

Naruto ran a hand through his hair as he headed out of the bathrooms, trying to ignore the sound of the fat guy grunting in the stall. There was just no need to be that vocal.

He walked back to the table in the cafeteria, smiling at Sakura as she came into view, and saw her faint smile and then searching glance as she looked around for the other boy. He swallowed.

Well, Sasuke might have the advantage in this one, but he wasn't going to give up without a fight.

AN: Hehe, I love making Naruto so clueless. It's a special kind of torture for Sasuke.