Echoes

Chapter Four

Dexterity

Sakura really did not like parties. It wasn't that she didn't enjoy catching up with people – she did – but she did not enjoy the oppressive situation that she currently found herself in. After Ino had somehow disappeared from her side, Sakura was left alone in the middle of the dance floor, no Metsuki or guide stick to help her – Ino had assured her that she would not need her cane as she would not leave her side… yeah right. Surrounded by the bodies of people grooving and jumping to the fast-paced song currently blaring from the speakers scattered around the room and finding herself being jostled from side-to-side, Sakura was not feeling very comfortable and knew that getting elbowed in the face was becoming a growing possibility. She only wished that she knew which direction to go in to get out of the crowd but unfortunately she had no clue.

Deciding that she could not take getting shoved around anymore, Sakura opted for choosing a random direction and started to push her way through the crowd. Stumbling more than once, Sakura's temper was starting to get the best of her, and when someone in stilettos stood on her foot, Sakura had to grit her teeth to keep herself from screaming in frustration. A particularly boisterous dancer rammed hard into Sakura from the side and the pink-haired girl stumbled into someone who grasped her upper arms gently.

"Sakura?"

Sakura sighed in relief as she recognised the voice. "Hinata!"

"Hello. What are you doing here on your own?" Hinata was a quiet young woman, painfully shy in most situations but acted more self-assured when she was with friends.

"Well I –" Sakura was interrupted by a loud, unfamiliar voice.

"Hinata!"

Sakura heard said girl squeak in surprise as someone appeared next to her and began talking a mile a minute.

"I didn't think you'd make it, Hinata. I mean, I realise this is your house and all but I know parties aren't your things. Can you believe Shino couldn't make it? I swear he lives in that museum, it can't be healthy –"

Sakura hid a grin behind her hand as she listened to the man talk her friend's ear off. Hinata herself was stuttering as she tried, unsuccessfully, to interject. A quiet giggle escaped Sakura's mouth, and it was enough to divert the attention in her direction.

"Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't see you there, I'm Kiba."

Sakura had a feeling that Kiba was holding his hand out in her direction but wasn't entirely sure where he was stood (the loud music was really throwing her off) so instead smiled widely.

"That's okay, I didn't see you either."

"Huh?"

"Um… K-Kiba? This is my friend, Sakura. You remember me telling you about her right?"

"Oh right I remember, how's it going Sakura? I heard about the run in you had with Sasuke."

"You know Sasuke?"

"Yeah, I work with KPD too, but I'm with the canine police unit. His partner, Naruto, is always hanging around my unit when he's trying to avoid Sasuke." Kiba laughed.

"Guys!"

It seemed they were creating quite a little gathering in the middle of the dance floor as Kiba greeted two newcomers.

"Tenten, Neji! It's like a high school reunion."

A male voice, calm and collected, answered the sniggering boy. "We work together everyday you idiot."

Kiba gasped in mock offence. "But Hinata doesn't work at KPD but she did go to school with us. The only odd-one-out is Sakura here."

"Charmed," Sakura said dryly.

"Sakura!"

Sakura grinned as Tenten looped an arm through her own. There was another moment of pleasantries as Sakura was formally introduced to Neji. She had heard many stories about Hinata's cousin but had never actually met him.

"Sakura, what were you saying before Kiba joined us?" Hinata spoke quietly from her side but the sudden muting of the other's chatter let her know that Tenten, Neji and Kiba were also listening.

"Oh, well I came with Gaara, Temari and Ino. Gaara sulked off pretty soon and Temari left soon after saying that she saw a guy she recognised. I was with Ino for a while but she disappeared all of a sudden. The last thing I remember was her muttering something about a cute guy and then poof no more Ino."

"That's terrible!" Tenten said. "Where's your cane?"

"Ino persuaded me not to bring it, said that I wouldn't need it and that she'd be my eyes for the night. I should have taken into account her short-attention span when it comes to boys."

"Well look who it is!" Kiba's voice startled the others as he obviously spotted someone he knew, and proceeded to holler at said person. "Naruto! Oi Naruto! Get over here knucklehead!"

Sakura felt Hinata stiffen next to her and she tugged on her arm. "Sakura, can you please come to the bathroom with me?"

"Huh? What's wrong?"

"Nothing!" Hinata sounded pretty desperate. "Please, I'll tell you in second but I just need to go."

"Alright." Sakura nodded, and let her suddenly assertive friend guide her through the heaving room.

"I cannot believe you dragged me here." Sasuke was feeling extremely ruffled at the knowledge he had been tricked by Naruto.

"Lighten up, Teme. Relax a bit and you might just have fun."

Sasuke snorted derisively. He had a lot of work he could be getting on with and instead he was trawling through the swarm of people occupying the Hyuuga ballroom. His father would probably throw a fit if he knew that his son was in his biggest rival's house. What was worse was that Sasuke kept spotting starry-eyed women who seemed very interested in speaking to him.

No way in hell.

Deciding that sticking next to Naruto was the best plan he had (the Dobe could repel anyone – especially clingy fangirls), Sasuke resigned himself to suffering for a while longer.

"Naruto! Oi Naruto! Get over here knucklehead!"

The sudden shout made Sasuke and Naruto turn in the direction of the voice and they both recognised Kiba Inuzuka waving his arms above the crowd attempting to get their attention (as if his screaming wasn't enough).

Naruto seemed happy enough to head over to Kiba and so Sasuke followed him, unwilling to face his fangirls alone. As they got closer, Sasuke spotted Hyuuga and Tenten standing with Kiba and he thought he spotted a flash of pink in the corner of his eye. When he turned to look however, all he could see was a mass of dancing bodies.

He could here Naruto and Kiba begin to bicker about something and he was aware of Tenten staring a hole into the side of his head. He realised that, if he stuck around too long, she would begin teasing him about the whole incident with Sakura, and so decided to take his leave.

Slipping into the crowd and swiftly disappearing, Sasuke spotted a grouping of empty tables and chairs at the side of the room furthest from the DJ and decided to wait out the rest of his sentence there.

Sakura followed Hinata through the Hyuuga complex and felt the cool evening air hit her face as they emerged outside. The Hyuugas lived in an expansive home which had been in the family for many generations and Sakura could hear the gentle trickling of the small waterfall that took pride of place in their traditional Japanese garden.

Three sides of garden were bordered by the large house and the girls sat down on the long porch which led out onto the garden, sheltered beneath the eaves.

"Now will you tell me what's wrong Hinata?"

"Um… well it's just that N-Naruto was going to come over to us and I panicked."

"You like him don't you?

"Y-yes. That's the problem. I get so nervous and start stuttering. I'll make a fool of myself if I try to talk to him."

Sakura smiled softly and wrapped a comforting arm around her friend. "We all get a bit tongue-tied around guys that we like. It's probably not as bad as you think Hinata, besides guys tend to be really bad on picking up things like that, so I wouldn't worry about him noticing that you're stuttering."

Hinata huffed softly and Sakura squeezed her for a second before letting go and standing up. "Now come on, this would be a perfect time for you to get to know Naruto a little better."

"W-what?"

"Tenten, Neji and Kiba are there talking to him so there will be less focus on you. It's a great opportunity for you to get comfortable around him without being alone together."

"B-but…"

"No buts. You can't go your whole life being afraid of things Hinata. Trust me, everything will work out perfectly."

Hinata made a peculiar whining sound as Sakura reached down, searching for her wrist so she could drag her back to the party.

The Hyuuga heiress gave up the fight and walked back to the ballroom with Sakura, pausing at the edge of the dance floor. Hinata saw that the others had moved closer to the edge of the crowd, probably to stop themselves getting squashed by the crowd.

Sakura heard Hinata's breathing quicken as she spotted the object of her affections and sighed. Unhooking her arm from Hinata's, Sakura gave the girl a little shove of encouragement.

Hinata froze and looked at the pink-haired girl. "You're not coming with me?"

Sakura shook her head. "Nope, I've had enough of getting jostled for one night. You'll do fine. Just point me in the direction of the nearest seat and go get your man."

Sakura laughed as Hinata spluttered in protest as she turned her towards the edge of the room. Making her way carefully towards a bit of peace and quiet, Sakura hoped that Hinata could find a little self-belief.

The area that she was walking through was just as loud as the rest of the room but blessedly more empty. Sakura smiled happily as her knees bumped into the edge of a chair, and she gratefully sat down, happy not to have to worry about getting pushed over.

From over her shoulder she could hear a man's voice apparently talking to himself. As she listened a little more however, Sakura realised that whoever it was talking was on the phone.

"They employ temp staff? Do they have records of who's on service each night? Think you can find out for me? I'm at the Hyuugas' place… yeah the Dobe dragged me here. Nah I'll be leaving in a minute…"

Though she could barely hear the voice over the pounding music, Sakura thought that the deep tone sounded familiar.

"What? Kakashi you're breaking up I can't… Kakashi?"

"Kakashi?"

Sasuke sighed in frustration as his phone disconnected. Phone signal was terrible in the Hyuuga compound. He had been almost happy when Kakashi had called in telling him that the restaurant where poisoning happened employed agency staff – it gave him something to think about while he waited for Naruto.

Looking up in search of his partner, Sasuke saw that someone had sat down at a table in front of him, a little off to the right. What caught his attention was the artfully styled pink hair which the person possessed. He couldn't see the person's face but the slim build, pale skin and unique hair seemed all to familiar to Sasuke, even though he had only seem them once before.

The sudden urge to turn tail and run gripped Sasuke but he was unsure why. He had spent most of his life running from women (he attracted the worst kind it seemed) but this… well this felt entirely different.

This felt like wanting to chicken out of reading the commencement speech at high school graduation, or almost running away when he was a child at his first karate competition. It dawned on Sasuke that he felt nervous, something which he was largely unfamiliar with.

Sasuke Uchiha did not get nervous.

As a matter of fact, he decided, he was just going to leave and speak to Naruto later. Yes, that sounded like a good idea.

Half a minute passed and Sasuke noticed that he was still sitting at the table staring into the back of Sakura's head. Okay, so maybe he didn't just want to up and leave. Sakura wasn't one of the annoying fangirls that he avoided all the time, in fact he supposed he owed her another apology… maybe that would ease his guilt a little.

Deeming it a good idea, Sasuke stood from his seat and headed towards the girl that had recently been plaguing his thoughts. Rounding to the front of the table, Sasuke saw that Sakura was sat with her elbow on the table and her chin resting against her hand. Her eyes were closed and her brow was drawn just slightly in the middle.

Sitting down opposite her, Sasuke remained unnoticed and tried to decide on how to start a conversation. He huffed in annoyance ('this should not be this hard!') and grimaced as the noise startled Sakura.

"Hello?"

Sasuke was surprised at how unsure she sounded of herself, nothing like the self-assured girl he had bumped into a few days previously.

"Uh, hi Sakura."

"… Sasuke?" Sakura's head tilted to the side in question and Sasuke was impressed that she had recognised his voice.

"Yeah. I was sat behind you and thought I'd take the opportunity to apologise for knocking you over."

Sakura smiled at him. "You already apologised, remember?"

"Thought that it couldn't hurt to do it again." He mumbled, a little embarrassed.

"Well thank-you., and you're forgiven. So was that you on the phone a minute ago? I thought I recognised the voice."

Sasuke nodded and then stopped, feeling a little foolish at the action. "Er yes, that was me. You have a good ear for voices."

"It comes with the territory, can't see so I have hearing like a bat."

Sakura grinned at him and Sasuke was once more intrigued by the girl before him.

"Why are you sitting here? Enjoying the music?"

Sakura shook her head. "No, I lost my friends who came with me a while ago so I'm waiting for one of them to find me. I hope it's soon, I'm getting a headache from the music… parties this big aren't really my thing."

"They aren't my definition of a good evening either, but Naruto, my friend, dragged me along."

There was a moment of silence and Sasuke felt the need to fill it… an odd thing as he was not the world's biggest talker.

"So… I see no Metsuki tonight?"

"Oh no." Sakura said. "It would be much too loud for him, it would drive him crazier than it does me."

"You know," Sasuke's mouth began moving of its own volition. "I drove over here tonight and I'm about ready to leave. If you want to go I can give you a lift home."

Sakura looked surprised and fixed her bright green eyes in his direction. "I wouldn't want to be a bother."

"You wouldn't be. I can sympathise with the headache problem and I'd feel bad if I left you here as I escaped."

Sakura laughed lightly and nodded. "Alright then, just let me send my friend a text so she doesn't panic."

Sasuke watched in curiosity as Sakura pulled a slim white mobile phone from her bag and apparently began to write a text message. Sasuke noticed there were no numbers on the handset, but instead each key had Braille etched onto it. Sakura's eyes stayed focused in his direction as her thumb moved skilfully across the keys. It had never really occurred to him that there would be mobiles for the blind – he had just never thought of it before.

When Sakura had finished, she deposited her phone back into her bag and smiled at Sasuke. "Ready?"

"Yeah. You know it was quite a thing to see you write a text message that quick with your eyes fixed in my direction the entire time."

Sakura's face promptly dropped and Sasuke almost kicked himself for opening his big mouth.

"Oh I'm sorry! I was concentrating on the text and I… I mean I sometimes forget that I'm staring at someone and I – I didn't freak you out did I?"

Sakura was so flustered, her hands flying back and forth as she tried to explain herself that Sasuke instinctively reached out to grab her hands in his.

"No, I'm sorry Sakura, I didn't mean anything by what I said. I wasn't freaked out, I think it showed great dexterity."

Two things occurred to Sasuke in that moment, one: he had just complemented a girl on her dexterity of all things, and two: he still had Sakura's hands encased in his.

Moving his eyes from their hands to Sakura's face, Sasuke was surprised to see that she had an eyebrow raised and her lips pursed in an attempt to hold back laughter.

Slowly releasing her hands Sasuke ran one of his hands through his hair. "Um…"

The mirth that Sakura was trying to hold back burst forth and Sakura covered her face with her hands as she laughed. Once she was calm, she uncovered her flushed face, a wide grin still attached to her lips.

"I'm sorry, it's just that was the first time some that someone's complemented me on my motor skills. Hey, how about we leave before we draw too much attention to ourselves?"

Sasuke took the distraction gratefully and stood up quickly. Sakura moved around the table to him and linked her arm through his own, extremely blasé about the whole thing.

"I hope you don't mind leading me, I'm pretty lost tonight."

"It's fine." Sasuke reassured her.

And it was.

"Thank you for dropping me home Sasuke, but you really didn't have to walk me to the door."

"My mother raised me as a gentleman… though I sometimes forget that."

Sakura smiled up at Sasuke. It had been a pleasant ride home. Sakura practically sank into the seats in Sasuke's car – she knew nothing about cars but she knew that he drove an expensive piece of machinery.

They had not turned the radio on, both having had enough music for one night. Instead Sakura had asked questions about Sasuke's workmates, her curiosity having been piqued by meeting Neji and Kiba and in return explained how she knew Tenten.

It was not lost on Sakura that this really was one of the few times she had been alone with a man who was not a family member or a good friend since she had lost her eyesight… and Sasuke was definitely the first man who made her stomach feel full of butterflies.

There was a moment of awkward silence as Sakura dredged up the will to say goodnight to Sasuke.

The noise of Metsuki pawing at the front door behind her made her mind up for her and she took the initiative.

"Well thanks again Sasuke. It was really good talking to you tonight."

As she turned to unlock the front door, Sasuke's voice caused her pause.

"Sakura? Would you like to go out some time? Get something to eat and talk some more?"

Fighting the urge to grin like a lunatic, Sakura turned back to face Sasuke and nodded shyly.

"I'd like that."

The pair exchanged numbers before finally saying goodnight, though Sasuke didn't leave until he was sure Sakura was in her apartment.

Metsuki jumped up Sakura as she entered the apartment, almost knocking her over. The petite young woman nuzzled her head into her faithful companion's thick fur and sighed happily.

"You know what the only downside of this is Metsuki? I'm going to have to thank Ino for forcing me to go to the stupid party."

So I'm not the world's fastest updater but at least I didn't leave you guys waiting for more than a year again… that counts for something right? Gosh I'm tired, but at least I'm on reading week so I could get this chapter out without having to worry about waking up for my lectures.

So finally some action – sort of. Sasuke got over himself and now I can get started on the romance properly.

Thank you to everyone who reviews. Your feedback means a lot to me!

Hope you enjoyed the chapter.