A/N: Hahahaha… I'm sorry. Lol, I am so late for this… Enjoy!
Disclaimer: Naruto and its characters belong to Kishimoto; this fanfic, however, belongs to yours truly.
Day 12: Shade
"Uwahh… It's the beach, I can see the ocean!" A certain blond exclaimed with his arms wide open, his fellow classmates chorused in agreement. Class 2-A of Konoha High had decided to take a day trip to the beach for some stress relief. Beside Naruto, even Sasuke was grateful for the small vacation that the class came up with; everyone looked pretty much dead after their finals. Together with the pressure of becoming third years once summer was over, it took very little to make the students of class 2-A break down in tears.
"Alright guys, let's get set up before the sun gets too hot!" A feminine voice advised. Sasuke turned his head towards their class representative, Haruno Sakura before he too made his way to help get their belongings from the bus. Sasuke felt the side of his lips twitched upwards slightly into a small smile; Sakura was the perfect student; law abiding, smart and responsible.
Sasuke considered himself smart and athletic; it was just that he was a bit of an introvert. He had never found the interest to befriend anyone in his class, after all, he was just in school to get the best grades and graduate before working in his father's company. That was until their homeroom teacher had assigned him to work with Sakura on a class project. Sakura, he found, was very open towards him yet respectful that she didn't pry hard into his personal life. Also, she had managed to somehow include him into her group of friends and ever so slightly, Sasuke found that he had a circle of friends. Sasuke sneaked a peek to Sakura who was walking beside him as she chattered with Naruto; and if his suspicions were correct, he (Sasuke) had developed some feelings for her…
The trio stopped short as they reached where the rest of class 2-A had settled down. There were exactly three shaded spots left for them… It was either beside Yamanaka Ino, Hyuuga Hinata or Inuzuka Kiba. Sakura placed her hands on her hips,
"As much as I love Ino, I'm not about to sit beside her when she's on Sai's lap. She'll be too busy vacuuming Sai's face with her lips to talk to me anyways…" She declared with a grimace. The two boys nodded their heads sagely; they knew where she was coming from,
"Well, I'm not about to share a shade with Inuzuka. He's brought Akamaru along today…" Sasuke started before he turned towards Sakura,
"Is that even allowed?" He asked her. Sakura shrugged,
"It's not a school event so yeah, it's allowed." She told him. Sasuke turned back towards Kiba,
"I'm more of a cat person… Besides, The Hyuuga girl is quiet, which is I something that I appreciate." Sasuke stated as he turned towards Hinata. A tan arm grabbed him back forcefully and Sasuke found cerulean blue eyes pleading at him.
"No, teme! You cannot! I have to sit beside Hinata! It has always been my dream to share a shade with her at the beach! It'll be so romantic!" Naruto gushed as he clasped his hands in front and stared at Hinata with starry eyes. Sasuke rolled his eyes,
"Dobe, you can always share a shade with those fangirls of yours. You know how they'd kill for a seat next to you anyways." Sasuke voiced out as he stared pointedly at the big umbrella that shaded some of Naruto's fangirls who were staring at said blond unabashedly. Naruto waved back in uncertainty and the sharps squeals of 'Naruto-sama!' could be heard. Naruto looked back at Sasuke with determined eyes,
"No, teme. I have to sit beside Hinata! Really, she's the only girl I wanna share a romantic shade!" He declared with his chest puffed out. Sakura was silent for a while as the two boys bickered,
"So, we all wanna sit with Hinata and there's only one shade there?" Sakura inquired cautiously. She received nods from both guys,
"Okay then." She said before she took off in Hinata's direction. Sasuke and Naruto took a split second to react before they too took off after Sakura.
"Sakura-chan, I didn't take you for a cheater!" Naruto yelled as both guys easily caught up with her. 'Damn their long legs!' Sakura thought vehemently. In front of her, the two guys started bickering again. It escalated as Naruto shoved at Sasuke who, in turn shoved back harder. They were nearing Hinata when Naruto tripped over the sandcastle that Aburame Shino had constructed. Unwilling to let Sasuke defeat him, Naruto latched on to Sasuke's torso and the two of them tumbled down face first into the sand. Sakura chuckled as she leapt over them to Hinata's side.
Naruto and Sasuke apologised profusely to the Shino who was depressed that nobody had noticed his sandcastle. Why did Shino have a hooded jacket on in this heat anyways? The only part of his face that they could see had also been obstructed by a pair of inky black sunglasses. Both Naruto and Sasuke turned towards Sakura who had snagged her spot beside Hinata; she flashed them a bright smile and two victory signs. Dejected, Sasuke quickly made his way towards Kiba, leaving Naruto with Ino and Sai. Naruto sat down dejectedly with his knees pulled up and drew umbrellas with his and Hinata's name underneath it on the sand with his fingers.
Tenten made her way towards Sakura and Hinata with a volleyball twirling on her right index finger,
"Hey girls, up for a game of volleyball with Lee and I?" She invited them. Both Sakura and Hinata casted a look at each other before they nodded at Tenten. Tenten grinned brightly at them,
"Great! Lee, get ready for a match!" She called out towards a young man clad in a green jumpsuit. He flashed the girls a megawatt smile and thumbs up which caused the girls to giggle. The girls stood up to strip into their swimsuits. Near them, Kiba smirked at Hinata's direction,
"Boy would I love to see the Hyuuga chick's hot bod! Even in her school uniform, her melons are just so bouncy! Imagine her in her swimsuit!" Kiba leered and Sasuke could almost see the saliva dripping down his chin. Unfortunately for Kiba, Hinata left her jacket on top of her lavender coloured one piece as she showed off her shapely legs. Kiba clicked his tongue, unsatisfied. He turned towards Sakura and a wide smirk appeared on his face, Kiba then jerked a thumb in Sakura's direction,
"How much are we betting that the class rep will be a total prude? She's so strict that she'll probably be wearing a diving suit under all her clothes!" He teased as a few other boys laughed along with him. Sasuke gritted his teeth; he really didn't like the Inuzuka… Sakura stood to remove her jeans and t-shirt, and when she did, the entire class of 2-A had to take a double look. Sakura, their strict class rep was sporting a bold black halter neck two piece. Jaws dropped and Sasuke had to swallow because of the dryness in his throat. No one expected their usually conservative class rep own a two piece swimsuit. Not only that, but Sakura was rocking it incredibly. Her swimsuit accentuated her modest curves at just the right places; she wasn't as flat chested as everyone had thought. But the biggest shock factor was the toned stomach that she sported; it seems like their class rep work out regularly. Kiba wolf whistled,
"Damn Haruno, who knew you'd have such a great body?" He commented as he eyed her up and down. Sakura rolled her eyes and proceeded to ignore him. Ino who was nearby chose to defend her best friend,
"Oh, do shut up Kiba. You're such an ass!" She yelled and had some of their classmates agreeing with her. Kiba chose to brush them off,
"Hey Haruno, how about a competition? You and Hinata against Sasuke and me? Winners get to order the losers around for a week!" He yelled out. Sakura turned back, her interest peaked,
"Oh yeah, you sure you're up for it?" She challenged him but her eyes were on Sasuke who looked insulted at the fact that Kiba had teamed them both together. Sakura chuckled at her poor friend and decided to lighten his mood,
"Hey Sasuke, if you win, I'll let you have my spot next to Hinata." She proposed. Sasuke stopped glaring daggers behind Kiba and looked up in surprise as Naruto wailed loudly in the background. Was she really wagering that? This is too good to be true; he'll finally get away from Kiba. But then again, won't that mean that Sakura has to sit beside Kiba instead? Can he get Hinata to move instead if he won? No, he wouldn't want either girl next to Kiba. But the offer was hard to resist…
"If I win, you have to go out on a date with me, Haruno!" Kiba challenged and all of Sasuke's doubt flew out of the window. 'Nope, I won't be helping him win after all.' Sasuke decided resolutely with a nod. Sakura nodded towards Tenten,
"Tenny, Lee, you don't mind if Hinata wipe the beach with them first? I promise we wouldn't take too long." Sakura said as she cast Tenten and Rock Lee a look of apology. Tenten winked at them,
"No problem Saks, just knock 'em dead! Lee and I will be cheering from the side." Tenten expressed as she gave them two thumbs up. Rock Lee pumped his fist into the air,
"Yosh, Sakura-chan, Hinata-chan, may the spirit of youth flow brightly within you! Best of luck to the both of you!" He cheered.
As Sakura had promised, the match ended at a record pace. Whenever Kiba made to attack, Sasuke would conveniently be there to 'assist' him by bumping into him or tripping the poor guy. The Uchiha had also conveniently passed the ball over the net in such a way that it was easy for the girls to spike. Whenever the ball neared him, Sasuke was always conveniently just out of reach. Although, it wasn't really that tough to help the Inuzuka fail since the girls were pretty strong themselves. Hinata had a talent of blocking; the ball could never touch their side of the field. And whenever Sakura spiked the ball, it always created a hole in the sand on the boy's side.
Not more than 15 minutes later, the boy's team was thoroughly defeated with a score of 24-5 in the girl's favour. Everyone cheered as Kiba slumped into the sand in defeat with Sasuke with his arms crossed around his chest, a smirk present on his face. Sakura walked towards where Kiba was slumped on the floor,
"There, there Kiba. It isn't your fault that you're bad at volleyball, you know." Sakura jested as she patted his shoulder comfortingly. Sasuke rolled his eyes, leave it to Sakura to sympathise with the losers. By the way, where was his pat anyways…? Kiba sighed,
"Alright Haruno, what would you like me to do for the entire week?" He conceded. Sakura smirked and bent down close to his ear,
"I'd love you to…" She trailed off seductively, her breath ghosting the shell of his ear and Kiba shivered slightly.
"Yeah, you'd love me to what?" He prompted. Sakura smirked at him and leaned in closer. Kiba could hardly contain his glee while Sasuke's mood declined rapidly. Sakura inhaled and Kiba shuddered in delight,
"I'd love you to…Start revising your work. Honestly, Kakashi-sensei was so worried about your grades, you know?" Sakura told him as she backed off. Kiba stared at her in open-mouthed shock. He opened and closed his mouth a few times, very much looking like a fish,
"W-What?" He finally managed to choke out and Sasuke snorted ungracefully. Sakura 'tsked' at Kiba,
"I'll ask you for more as the week go by, like stop looking up the girl's skirts and such. But first, you've gotta buck up on your studies. I heard Kakashi-sensei was planning a make-up test for you soon." She advised him and that was when everyone lost it. People were screaming in pure unadulterated glee at the boy's humiliation. Kiba could only bury his face in his hands in shame as Hinata approached him,
"Don't worry Kiba-kun. A week will pass by quite fast." She reassured him. Tenten high-fived Sakura and Ino 'whooped' in joy. Sakura turned her attention towards Sasuke and he took a step back at her sudden gaze. She smiled gently at him,
"I'll deal with you later." She told him before she turned back towards Tenten.
"Let's have our game now, shall we?" She proposed and this time a lot more of their classmates joined them.
It was sunset and everyone was heading back towards the bus after they cleaned up the mess they had made. Everyone had spent a very fun day at the beach as they had filled the rest of the afternoon with other activities like swimming, snorkelling and having a picnic. Sasuke walked beside Sakura as the both of them followed their fellow classmates. Sasuke cleared his throat,
"So, you wanted a word with me?" He questioned as he stared at their shadows in front of them. Sakura smiled and motioned for him to stop, he did. Sakura turned her body to face him fully.
"Don't you think for a moment that I didn't notice what you did, Uchiha Sasuke. You were dead set on making Kiba lose, weren't you?" She quizzed and Sasuke was mesmerized at the way the setting sun casted a warm glow on her face. He broke out of his reverie however when she waved a hand in front of his face. He felt the tips of his ears burning and he looked away,
"Yeah… Sorry about that. I didn't know what got into me." He did. Sakura sighed as she brushed the bangs from his eyes,
"Although I'm a little insulted that you didn't believe in Hinata and me, I'm also glad that you cared. Just, try not to do it again?" She looked at him in earnest and Sasuke couldn't find it in himself to tell her 'no'. Instead, he nodded his head in agreement. Sakura nudged him in the shoulder,
"You're a good guy, Sasuke." She told him. Sasuke smirked at her,
"So, was that your first order for me?" He teased her. She shook her head,
"No, that's just us speaking as friends. But, for my first order…" She clasp her hand gently around his larger one,
"Maybe we could start with us holding hands on the walk back to the bus?" She inquired gently with a tilt of her head in the general direction of the bus. Sasuke didn't need to be told twice as he switched the position of their hands so that they're fingers entwined instead of hers holding on to him. He brought their joined hands up and placed a gentle kiss on her knuckles. His inky black eyes locked onto her jade green ones,
"If I had it my way, I would never let this hand go."
~Up next, Day 13~