Nel here! If this chapter seems different to any of you it's because I had to rewrite it! It got overwritten somehow and I couldn't find the original draft! Poor me! If anyone is rereading, hope you enjoy this version just as much! =] Reviews welcome!
xxx
Thanks to Sasuke they arrived promptly at noon outside of Suigetsu's door. Susuke felt as though he had already gone through a training session just trying to get Naruto out of bed to leave on time. He knocked on the door.
"You're supposed to be a ninja, how can you be so unaware of your surroundings?" Sasuke poked at Naruto.
"Hmm, maybe it's because I feel so safe with my big strong Sasuke around to protect me that I don't feel the need to be so on guard." Naruto batted his eyelashes at Sasuke and struck a dramatic feminine pose. He puckered his lips and leaned in for kiss, but his face met the palm of Sasuke's hand instead. With perfect timing Suigetsu swung his door open.
"Wow you guys are actually on time for once…what are you doing?" Suigetsu took in the scene before him. Sasuke wore his normal disinterested look despite the fact that Naruto was standing there batting his eyelashes and kissing his hand like he was an inexperienced schoolgirl. Naruto yelped at Suigetsu's sudden appearance and stood up straight. Sasuke smirked.
"You don't want to know. Ready?" Sasuke asked. Suigetsu nodded and locked his door.
"So, where are we going for lunch anyway?" The trio walked through the streets of village, shops and restaurants passing by on either side. There's always…"
"No." Sasuke and Suigetsu said in unison before Naruto could finish his sentence.
"We are not going to Ichraiku's Naruto." Sasuke said.
"Yeah, I'm picking anyway, so you know what that means?" Suigetsu wiggled his eyebrows. Naruto groaned.
"Sushi." He pouted and mumbled to himself about how ramen was better. A few more turns and they were in front of Suigetsu's favorite sushi place. As they entered and got a table Suigetsu got a crazed look in his eye.
"I love the smell of fresh fish" He licked his lips. Naruto shivered.
"I will never get used to that."
"What? I'm part fish!" Suigetsu and Naruto started bickering back and forth while Sasuke ignored them both and looked out the window. Susuke suddenly picked up a menu, held it in front of his face, and began studying it intently.
"Uh, Sasuke, what are you doing?" Naruto asked. Both him and Suigetsu had stopped bickering and were staring at him.
"Yeah, you always get the same thing." Suigetsu chimed in.
"Sakura and Ino are walking down the street heading this way." Suigetsu and Naruto looked at each other wide eyed. They both suddenly became very interested in their menus as well.
"Do you think they saw us?" Naruto said as he peaked over the top of his menu. "I don't see them anywhere." He jumped and dropped his menu when Ino started talking next to the table.
"Oh, hey you guys! What are the odds that we would run into you here! Geez Naruto, are you always this jumpy?"
"He is." Sakura confirmed.
"Well this works out perfectly, because Sakura had been wanting to talk to Sasuke about something, haven't you Sakura." Ino elbowed her in the side.
"WHAT?" Ino cut Sakura off before she could protest.
"Haven't you, Sakura?"
"Uh, well, yeah, actually, if you have minute, I would like to talk with you Sasuke."
Naruto crossed his arms. "This can't wait until after lunch?" His comment was met by a death glare from Ino. Reluctantly Sasuke slid out of the booth past Suigetsu and followed Sakura outside. Ino plopped down beside Suigetsu.
"This should be good! Fingers crossed!" Ino smiled and crossed her fingers as she looked and Naruto and Suigetsu. "Naruto, you and Sasuke have gotten close being roommates and all, how does he feel about Sakura? You too Suigetsu, has he mentioned her at all? Do you think he will respond well to her professing her feelings?"
Naruto and Suigetsu looked at each other, neither one of them wanting to be the target of Ino's interrogation and they definitely didn't want to be the ones to tell her that Sasuke was definitely not going to react well.
"Oh, I don't know Ino, we don't really talk about that kind of stuff." Naruto replied hesitantly while rubbing the back of his neck.
"Oh, come on! You really mean to tell me with all the time you three spend together girls never come up! Or maybe it's just that you are always the one talking about Sakura so Sasuke never has a chance to!" Naruto rolled his eyes. She sat back in the booth and crossed her arms, sticking out her lip. "Are you sure you don't know anything? What about you Suigetsu? You two traveled together for a long time, did he ever mention anyone special?" Naruto and Suigetsu exchanged a knowing look. Women.
"You know how Sasuke is, he doesn't talk much." Suigetsu dodged the question and shrugged.
"Ugh, you two are the worst!" Ino launched into a rant which quickly devolved into the three of them arguing about what it means to be a good friend.
xxx
Sakura had led Sasuke to a bench outside of the restaurant where she had sat down. Sasuke didn't sit. He was already annoyed. Shikamaru popped into his head. What a drag. She's going to confess her feelings and I am going to have to shoot her down, and then she's going to cry… His thoughts were interrupted by Sakura.
"Sasuke, would you please sit down? You're making me nervous standing over me like that." He sighed internally but took a seat on the opposite side of the bench crossing his arms.
"Well?" He looked over at her. She looked down at her hands in her lap and cleared her throat.
"Look, I'm sure you have figured out by now why I asked you to talk. Since you aren't nearly as dense as Naruto, I am sure you've picked up on my signals, I like you Sasuke, I like you a lot." Sasuke clenched his fist to try and keep his temper in check and kept listening. "I realize that you have been through a lot, more than I could ever imagine, and a lot of time has passed, but my feelings haven't changed from when we were younger. I still feel the same way about you and if you would just give me a chance, I'm sure I could learn and support you as well as anybody. I just want to love you Sasuke. If you let me, I promise I will make you happy." They sat in silence for a few moments before Sasuke spoke.
"No." Sakura's head shot up and she looked at him.
"What?"
"I said no. I'm not interested in you."
"That's it? That's all you have to say." Any nervousness was replaced by anger. "Why? What is it about me that is so repulsive to you? Ever since you've been back, I've had to fight to spend time with you. We were teammates and you haven't even given me the time of day. You don't like me? Fine. But you could at least be nice to me. The only people you ever spend time with now are Suigetsu and Naruto. Suigetsu I understand but Naruto? You always hated him, yet now you spend time with him? What could that idiot have possible done that I can't do?" Sakura was starting to yell and Sasuke had had enough. He stood suddenly making Sakura stop.
"Maybe instead of attacking everyone else you should take a look at yourself." Sasuke said coldly. "Take Naruto for example, he was into you for how long? And you would openly throw yourself at me right in front of him with no regard for his feelings. Every time you talk to him you insult him, but will pay attention to him whenever you want something, and you want to say I'm not nice? Tch." He turned away from her. "You want to know what Naruto did? He grew up." Sasuke began to make his way back into the restaurant. He paused at the door glancing over his shoulder as he spoke but didn't turn around. "You want to know what about you I find so repulsive? Your behavior." With that he went back inside the restaurant.
Sakura sat unmoving on the bench. Sasuke's words still registering. Slowly the tears began to fall and then she took off into the crowd.
xxx
"Sasuke!" Ino called out cheerily when she saw him reenter the restaurant. When she realized Sakura wasn't with him, she frowned. "Sasuke! Where's Sakura?" Sasuke just shrugged and slid into the booth beside Naruto. "This isn't good. What did you say to her Sasuke?" Ino got up flustered and ran out of the restaurant.
"I hope you were at least gentle with her." Naruto glanced over at Sasuke's brooding form.
"I was honest."
"Well that's not good." Suigetsu laughed.
"He's right Sasuke, that probably means it didn't go well." Sasuke just scoffed. "So, what did you say?"
"I told her I wasn't interested." He said flatly. Naruto grabbed Sasuke's knee discretely under the table and gave it a reassuring squeeze. Sasuke relaxed slightly, grabbing his hand and returning the squeeze. "Delivery may not have been the best, but she needed to hear it." He shrugged again.
"Ugh, why do I feel like whatever you said would have gotten me pounded! But not the perfect Sasuke Uchiha!" Sasuke rolled his eyes but Suigetsu started laughing.
"I can almost guarantee you would have. I swear she will use any excuse possible. Hey, remember that day when she hunted you down in the rice patty and punched you all the way into the neighbor's field?" Naruto gave him a skeptical look.
"Obviously! I was there!" His response dripping with sarcasm. "Wait, how did you know about that anyway? I only told Sasuke."
"Because it was me, I told her I saw you peeping when she was taking a bath."
"WHAT! You bastard!" Sasuke had to hold Naruto back from flying across the table while Suigetsu howled with laughter.
xxx
Sakura was sitting on her couch, eyes red and puffy, tissues laying all over the place when she heard a knock at the door. "No one's home she yelled."
"It's Ino! Open the door Sakura." It took a few minutes, but the door finally opened. Ino was momentarily taken aback by Sakura's condition, but she quickly got her facial expressions under control. "Tell me what happened."
"He rejected me."
"Well that much I can tell! But what did he say?" Ino emphasized the word say drawing it out. Sakura sighed, knowing how relentless Ino was.
"He said I needed to grow up and that my behavior was repulsive." Sakura had pulled her knees up to her chest and she spoke through them.
"Well that seems a bit harsh. I think…" Sakura cut in.
"It wasn't. What he said was valid and he only said it because I pushed him. He rejected me and I flipped out on him, I started yelling. Out in public Ino. It was not my best moment." They sat in silence for a moment.
"So, what's next then?" Sakura let out another sigh, longer this time, more resolved.
"I need to apologize. To both of them." Sakura got up from the couch and went to the bathroom, she fixed her hair and rinsed her face so that she didn't look like a total wreck.
"It can't wait to tomorrow?" Ino leaned against the bathroom doorframe. "Give yourself more time to process your emotions."
"No, I need to do this. It won't take long; I just need to pick something up first."
"Well, I'll go with you."
"Thanks, Ino, but I need to do this myself. I'll see you tomorrow?" Ino smiled.
"Yea, but I'll want all the details!" Her cheery disposition came back as though it had never left at all. She really did live for drama. Sakura rolled her eyes.
xxx
"See! The day didn't turn out so bad after all." Sasuke just rolled his eyes at the overabundance of positivity that was Naruto. The sun was nearly all the way down, but it was still painting the sky with a few scattered yellow rays in the last light of the day. Naruto reached for the key above the door. After feeling around for a minute, he realized it wasn't there. "Dammit! How could I have lost it again! I swear it was there this morning. And before your start getting on my case…" He trailed off when he turned around and saw Sasuke was smirking behind him.
"What?" He said crossing his arms, one brow slightly raised in question.
"Naruto. I have the key. I grabbed it on our way out this morning, you were to groggy to remember, but we agreed we would find a better place for it when we got back this afternoon." His expression changed to minor annoyance.
"Bastard, you could have told me sooner." He waited for a few seconds before he realized Sasuke wasn't going to give it to him. "You're either going to have to give me the key or open the door." Sasuke's smirk grew.
"Or you could take it from me." Sasuke moved in closer to Naruto causing him to back into the door. He stood casually in front of him with his hands in his pockets. Naruto gave Sasuke a mischievous look.
"And where exactly is the key?" Sasuke took his hands from his pockets gesturing that he didn't know and then placed them against either side of the door frame. Naruto directly in between.
"You tell me, you're a shinobi." Naruto gave him a look that said challenge accepted. He started slowly feeling along Sasuke's arms, then along his chest and back, pausing intermittently on his firm musles. All in the name of a thorough search of course. Once he reached his waist Naruto squatted down in front of Sasuke and started feeling up each of his legs. He looked up meeting Sasuke's eyes as he slid his hands along the insides of Sasuke's thighs.
"A good shinobi is thorough; you never know what someone could be hiding." Sasuke tried for a disinterested hn in response but it wasn't very convincing. Naruto stood back up looking Sasuke in the eye as he moved in closer and reached his hands into his pockets intentionally brushing against Sasuke's arousal as he dug around for the key. After searching his pockets for far longer than was necessary he pulled out the key. "Ah, here it is." He proudly brandished the key for Sasuke to see. Sasuke used the close proximity to get Naruto off balance and push him back up against the door.
"Well, open the door then." Sasuke smirked has Naruto fumbled trying to put the key in the lock. In his defense he was trying to do it behind his back. "Why don't you let me help you." He leaned in close and whisper into Naruto's ear. The heat of his breath against Naruto's earlobe only distracting him further. Their bodies brushing up against each other has he removed the key from Naruto's hand. Just has he was about to put the key in the lock Naruto grabbed his shirt and pulled him into a kiss, sliding one of his legs between Sasuke's and rubbing up against him. Sasuke let out an involuntary moan, deepening the kiss, momentarily sidetracked from his task of unlocking the door.
"Get inside." Naruto growled when they finally separated. Sasuke slid the key into the lock. Just has he was beginning to turn it they both heard something hit the ground by the stairs drawing their attention. When they turned to look, they just barely caught a flash of pink. Neither of them moved at first, both caught off guard, but their instincts quickly kicked in.
"Sakura!" Naruto more whispered it they shouted but they were both moving before he had fully finished saying her name. Naruto pursued her down the stairs while Sasuke jumped over the railing and ran to cut her off at the bottom of the steps. Naruto called out to her.
"Sakura! Sakura, wait!" Naruto caught up with her as she reached the base of the stairs but Sasuke was already waiting at the bottom preventing her from going any further. She leaned up against the wall of the building tears pouring from her eyes. "Sakura listen to me." As Naruto reached her, she spun around slapped him. The sound rang out into the night.
"How could you? Of all the people Naruto! Why him?" She choked the words out between sobs. "Why!" She yelled it at him, at the world, it wasn't fair. "I hate you!" She swung to slap him again but Sasuke caught her arm mid swing. She looked up into Sasuke's eyes, they were full of rage, daring her to try. After a moment she let her hand fall to her side. She turned away from them. Sasuke was about to give her a piece of his mind when he felt Naruto's hand on his shoulder.
"Sasuke." Naturo said his name gently. Sasuke looked at him for a long moment, his body language reflected that he was still furious, but he held his tongue. "Tch." He turned away angrily and walked over to the stairs. "Sakura…" Naruto took a step towards her, but she moved away.
"Don't." She wouldn't make eye contact. …How could I have been so stupid…She hugged her arms closer to herself. "I'll see you guys later."
They made no move to follow her, they just watched until she was out of sight and then headed up to the apartment.
"Ugh, this is not good." Naruto groaned as he flopped down on the bed. Sasuke only responded with a hn. The rest of the evening they spent in a contemplative silence. Or is Sasuke's case, brooding, until they finally faded off to sleep.