During the rest of the day it had been awkward between Sasuke and Sakura. Very awkward. They didn't talk to each other, and Ino...well let's not go there. Finally as school ended, Kakashi called both of them up to the front. He was not dense for an adult and noticed something wrong between his two students even if he wasn't there to witness what had happened.
But no matter what, he decided he will play cupid - a handsome handsome cupid so to speak.
In truth he didn't want Sasuke to end up with Ino. Kakashi knew the hardships in Sasuke's life and cares for Sasuke like his own son (secretly). Although it was wrong for Sasuke to treat Ino like dirt, he still had the liberty to choose who to marry. That was his opinion anyway and he was sure a lot of people agree with him.
"Sasuke and Sakura, I need to ask you guys a big favor. Tomorrow morning could you guys help me bring these textbooks to the janitor's closet? I have no need for them and I can't do it by myself because as you can see I am a very old man."
"Tch, you got the old man part right."
Kakashi frowned slightly and crossed his arm. Sasuke was sure a blockhead. Can't he see that he was trying to help him? That brat will pay later...
"Okay, I'll come early." Sakura said quietly, not looking at Sasuke in the eye.
"Psh, this is more like an order than a favor lazy cheat." Sasuke continued, obviously very gloomy at the moment.
Kakashi ignored him and dismissed them. The brats will thank them for sure. Watching them walk separate ways, he pulled out his favourite book with a determined mindset. "They better make up by tomorrow."
Sakura arrived to her house and flopped down on her couch as Yuki purred and jumped on the couch to nuzzle her.
Sasuke is my enemy, I should hate him. I can't be sad over some stupid argument. This was meant to happen! But... Now all my friends think I love him because of this opposite attraction stuff!...that's like saying everyone that hates each other can be couples. Ha! As if...
Inner Sakura: But you are starting to like him.
That idiot?
Inner Sakura: A very hot idiot that's smart, athletic, and everything you have ever dreamt of. Admit it, you've been daydreaming about meeting a guy like him ever since you saw that cartoon where-
Ok ok, I admit I'm attracted to him...so what? There's nothing I can do since Ino is his fiancée. I can't just tell Sasuke that I like him? Hell, I'm not even sure about my feelings yet. Aargh I hate this! It hasn't even been a month and I'm going crazy! Feeling awkward around Sasuke 24/7 for the rest of the year is torture! I can't do this to myself and I can't just let Ino win! That pork won't make my life a living hell... Not if I can help it.
"I'll just treat Sasuke as a friend or something. At least... a decent enemy/someone/whatever that I can talk to without feeling awkward." Sakura made her mind while scratching her kitty's chin.
"Plus I cannot not talk to him forever..." she added quietly.
Sasuke got home and lied on his soft comfy bed staring at the ceiling. His room was very big with blue walls. There weren't a lot of things in his room except for a wide-screen plasma TV, computer, phone, desk, car/sports posters, pictures, and other stuff. There was also a bathroom, closet, and a porch on the right. (AN: A lot of things in his room to me!)
He cushioned his head with his hands and glared at the ceiling. Stupid Ino... you just HAVE to ruin everything! I bet your even plotting revenge against Sakura right now...
"JIN! Come here!" Sasuke suddenly called his butler.
A middle-aged man clad in a suit came into his room. "You called Young Master?"
"Yeah, you've known me since I was a baby right?"
"Yes sir."
"Well, how did Ino became my fiancée?" Sasuke asked, sitting up now. Even he couldn't remember how he managed to get a fiancée. For all his life, the only thing that got engraved in his head was that he has one and her name was Yamanaka Ino. No one ever told him the 'how'.
"Well, it happened before when you were born." Jin recalled. "You're parents were on the verge of losing all their property and they did the only thing they could do. They sought out the Yamanaka family who happened to be the richest family at the time. They helped your parents gain back their riches because they saw potential in them. At the time, Madam was pregnant with you and by coincidence; Mrs. Yamanaka was also pregnant, but with a baby girl. Then the Yamanaka family had this idea of arranging a marriage between you two. Of course, Master and Madam couldn't say no since they helped them regain their wealth. So in the end, they signed a pact and announced that you two were to marry."
"Is their any way to break the marriage?" Sasuke asked with little hope.
"Hmmm... I'm not sure but you'll figure it out somehow Young Master." Jin bowed and started for the door. "Oh and excuse my rudeness, but I'm looking forward to meeting this young lady of yours."
Sasuke slightly parted his mouth as his butler went out the door. Was it that obvious that he was interested in someone else? But then again, Jin had known him for years. Damn...
He collapsed on his bed again and continued to glare at the ceiling. I seriously need to break my marriage with Ino...asap.
"Beep"
"Beep"
"Beep"
"Ungh..." Sakura groaned as she got up groggily and stumbled over some boxes. Since she and her family had just moved to Tokyo the house was still a mess. Getting ready as fast as she could, she managed to arrive to school 15 minutes earlier then the usual time and saw that Sasuke had already arrived before her.
"Good morning, Sasuke and Kakashi-sensei" She greeted, trying to sound as uninterested as possible.
"Morning." Sasuke muttered, looking at Kakashi who greeted back cheerfully and started to go over to a pile of heavy looking textbooks. The teacher than gave each person 10 books to carry and told them to put it in the janitor's closet downstairs.
The two walked down the hall in silence and since they arrived early, there weren't a lot of students bustling about yet. As they reached the closet, they found that it was small and jam packed with stuff. There were hardly any rooms left for the textbooks at all. What was Kakashi thinking?
Sasuke, ignoring the stuffiness of the closet decided to go in first and opened the dim lights before placing the books on one of the racks. The closet can barely even fit one person. Ignoring this fact too, Sakura just stepped half-way in and was about put her bundle next to Sasuke's when suddenly the door closed.
Damn the wind... They both thought in their minds and looked at each other warily.
Since it was summer, the school's windows were always open so that any possible breeze might wisp through. Sakura, deciding not to make a big deal out of it turned around quietly and tried to open the door. Ooo and guess what? It was locked. By this time, Sakura was trying her hardest not to panic. She would rather die than let Sasuke see her lose her cool. Heck, they were still in a fight!
"Well?" Sasuke asked impatiently, deciding to break the silence. Sakura was taking way too much time to open a stupid door.
"It's locked." Sakura informed simply and attempted to step aside as Sasuke squeezed past to open the door himself. Sure enough it was locked.
"What do we do? Should we scream for help?" She asked, trying to sound as calm as possible.
"No, I will be deaf by the time we get out. Besides, didn't you notice? This closet is located in the hall that hardly anyone walks by. It will be useless." Sasuke replied grimly.
"Well, what do you suppose we do smart guy?" Sakura asked angrily. She couldn't believe this! Ok, sure she had made up her mind to treat him as a friend and nothing more. But she never said she was going to get stuck in a closet with him!
"The only thing we can do is wait. Kakashi should notice our absence in a while and I don't think he's that stupid to not notice his two students are gone by the time class starts." Sasuke answered coolly. "Although... he can be stupid at times."
As I said the closet happened to be conveniently small so the distance between Sakura and Sasuke were apparently quite small. And to add on the scene, the dim lights suddenly went out causing Sakura to immediately grab for Sasuke's shirt.
"You scared?" Sasuke asked, facing her (with his back against the door) and smirked in the dark. Sakura cussed inwardly as she felt the cocky smirk on his face and dropped her hand quickly. Thank god it was dark, for she was blushing like no other.
"I'm not scared. I just hate being in the dark." She explained herself hastily and started to feel the walls for the light switch but accidentally tripped over some boxes before falling onto Sasuke face to face. It was pitch black but Sakura could feel her lips touching something soft. As much as she hated to realize, she realized that this soft thing was Sasuke's lips.
Personally Sasuke liked this contact of theirs. But as soon as the realization hit Sakura, she pulled away her face much to Sasuke's disappointment and coughed to cover the awkwardness. Sasuke decided to do her a favor and kept quiet about it. Their little kiss in the dark can be their little secret.
However, Sakura's face burned hotly with embarrassment as she tried to get up by frantically grabbing for something solid beside her. Apparently that something was fragile and fell over Sakura causing her to press her thin body against Sasuke's built body even harder. His eyes widened and a tinge of red rose up to his cheeks as he felt the weight of Sakura and some other stuff on his body.
"Oww...Sorry. Ugh, I need a therapist." Sakura muttered, breathing against his sensitive neck. He had the urge to pull away but controlled himself. He couldn't let Sakura find out that he was ticklish.
"You ok? Can you get off?" Sasuke asked worriedly.
Sakura tried getting up but the thing on top wouldn't budge. "N-no I think... I'm stuck or I'm pretty sure the thing that is on top of me that is stuck."
"Ha, you sure it's stuck? Maybe you're just too weak to lift it." Sasuke joked.
Sakura flashed him a look of annoyance in the dark. "Ok, why don't you try to be a gentleman and help me lift it?"
"Ok." He shrugged with a grin and placed his arms around her trying to grab hold of the thing on top of her. By this time, Sakura was really thankful that the lights were out. Her whole body felt hot, especially her face and ears. After locating a solid bar, Sasuke pushed it along with Sakura pushing it with her back. After what seemed like an eternity, the thing finally came off and freed both of them.
Sakura got up without delay as Sasuke took his time and felt for the light switch. He flipped it back and forth, back and forth, back and forth until he sensed Sakura getting annoyed by the light flicking.
"The light bulb had burnt out."
"No kidding."
He sighed and sat down against the wall between two book stands and saw Sakura's outline (his eyes are used to the dark) standing in front of the door near him. She let out a little yelp as Sasuke grabbed her hand and pulled her down.
"What did you do that for?" Sakura demanded angrily, now sitting on Sasuke's lap.
"Thought you might want to sit down." Came the genuine reply.
"Oh...hmph..." Sakura grunted hotly and crossed her arms willing herself not to blush again. And to think all the embarrassing things were over. Silence seems to have crawled up upon them once again and a sense of awkwardness appeared. "So um...so much for your genius plan of waiting for Kakashi-sensei to realize we're gone."
She said quickly, trying to get rid of the awkwardness. Class was surely starting by now. Stupid teacher...where the hell are you?!
"I didn't think he was that stupid..."
"Psh, we should've screamed for help. Now that class are probably starting, nobody's in the hall way!"
"Hah, so you're that afraid of the dark huh." Sasuke teased.
"Shut up and stop smirking, and don't try to lie because I know you are." She snapped.
"You know, I thought you said you won't talk to me anymore." Sasuke noted smugly still smirking.
"Uh...well- I couldn't help it because you're such a fudging ass!"
"Oh? You sure? Cuz I think you really want to talk to me."
"Me? Talk to you? No way! Don't kid yourself Uchiha." Sakura hissed, facing him.
"So why are you now?" Sasuke said cheekily shutting up Sakura for a second.
"Stop smirking. It's getting annoying!"
"How do you know I am?" (Still smirking...)
"I know you are and if you don't..."
"If you don't then you'll what?" He challenged.
"I'll tickle you to death!" Sakura nodded defiantly.
"Your lousy threat doesn't scare me princess and for your big fat information I'm not ticklish." Sasuke lied.
"You are so lying Uchiha." Sakura grinned and before she knew it, she leaned in to where she supposed was his neck and breathed onto it causing him to flinch. "HA! You ARE ticklish!"
"Hell no, you just startled me!" His eyes widened as his hand immediately went up to his neck.
"Don't be a baby Uchiha." Sakura snickered and started tickling him causing him to flinch everytime.
"Stop it. What? You're not ticklish?" He growled pulling her arms away and tickled her making her squirm with laughter. She tried to pull away but couldn't since Sasuke still had a hold of her wrists.
"S-stop! P-P-Please!"
"You surrender?" Sasuke asked, pausing for a moment.
"What! No n-never!" Sakura declared stubbornly. "I will never surrender to YOU!"
"Well, then I guess that's more tickling for you!" Sasuke laughed. Sakura was also laughing so hard that her stomach hurts. Even after she pushed Sasuke's hand away, he still managed to tickle her.
However, after a few more minutes Sasuke finally gave up. "You just won't surrender will you?"
"Never in front of you." Sakura caught her breath and sat up still on his lap as silence entered again.
"How long do you think we've been in here?" Sakura asked, breaking the silence this time, and lay her head tired on his shoulder. She couldn't help it; she was exhausted from all the carrying and tickling. Sasuke didn't complain and strange though, both of them didn't blush this time.
"I dunno, that stupid Kakashi... Shouldn't have placed too much faith in him." Sasuke cursed laying his head on her head. What can he say? He was tired too.
"It's weird, the school bell had gone off ages ago and Kakashi-sensei must've taken the attendance already. By now, he should've noticed our absence already!" Sakura said thoughtfully getting a little sleepy. Leaning on Sasuke's warm muscular body and sitting on his lap with his arms around her was all too much for poor little her. Tired of struggling, she allowed her eyes to droop and barely a minute after, she fell asleep.
"Sakura?" Sasuke called out quietly noticing the silence once more. But this time, he got no response. Hn, she must've fallen asleep. I guess it wouldn't hurt if I sleep for a little while too. Kakashi is probably too busy being a pervert to come down any time now. .
Feeling Sakura's steady breathing against him, he slowly willed himself to sleep as well.
It's almost lunch time... Hmm... I think I better let them out now. They better be in one piece when I come down. I must say the light bulb burning out was a spectacular idea. Kakashi thought cheerfully.
"KAKASHI-SENSEI!" Ino growled. "Where is my Sasuke-kun and that forehead girl! If she abducted my dear Sasuke-kun I will rip her into pieces!"
"Don't worry Ino, she didn't kidnap Sasuke. I sent them somewhere to help me do a favor." Kakashi answered calmly.
"What! Why didn't you ask me to go with him?" Ino exclaimed angrily.
"They were here early and it was urgent so I had to send them!" Kakashi lied and watched as Ino vowed to arrive to school early from now on. Whew! Good cover up Kakashi! Why thank you Kakashi. You're very welcome Kakashi. No problem at all Kakashi. Kakashi praised himself.
"Where are they now?" Ino demanded savagely.
"That's for me to know, now go back to your work! I'm going to check up on them." The teacher giggled and went out the classroom leaving a very angry boar aka Ino. (AN: Thanks for telling me what her name is again! Lol, I just can't get over it.)
Kakashi took out the keys to the janitor's closet and opened the locked door which he had purposely locked early. As he opened it, he noticed books were scattered everywhere in the dark room and lying against the wall was Sasuke holding Sakura tightly on his lap. Her head was on his shoulder Sasuke's head resting on hers. Both of them were currently asleep.
Awww how cute! Score one for Come Come Paradise! I knew the book would come in handy! Thanks God for blessing me with this book and may God be with Jiraiya-sama for writing it. Amen. He prayed silently.
"Wake up sleepy heads! Ohh you naughty naughty children! Ditching class just to have quality time together. Tsk, tsk, tsk. Naughty, naughty, naughty. You should be ashamed of yourself! Look at this mess! What have you naughty children been doing! I am so disappointed!" Kakashi scolded acting clueless again and shook both of them awake.
"Wha?...WHAT?!" Both Sasuke and Sakura snapped awake and sprang apart from each other as soon as they saw Kakashi. They ears burned and their cheeks started to go red.
"What took you so long?!" Sasuke asked angrily trying to change the subject.
"It should be the other way around Mr. Uchiha!" Kakashi shot back.
"Uh...well it wasn't out fault! The closet door locked up on us and we couldn't get out! T-Then the light bulb burnt out too!" Sakura retorted. "We got tired of waiting so we err... fell asleep."
Her story didn't seem much but it was the truth!
"Sure...sigh, teenager these days. Always hiding their feelings. Tsk." Kakashi shook his head causing both of his students to growl. "It's almost lunch time. I'll call the janitor to clean this place up. He's been grumpy lately, cleaning up all the messes that you've made. He even demanded a raise yesterday!"
"Whatever." Sasuke muttered while Sakura just rolled her eyes and stalked off. At lunch time Sakura explained what had happened in the morning excluding the part where they fell asleep and shared their first kiss to her friends while Sasuke disappeared off to somewhere. When the bell rang Sakura looked beside her noticing that Sasuke still hasn't come back yet. It wasn't until five minutes later when Sasuke came in all sweaty and took his seat.
"Why were you late?" she asked curiously.
"Basketball practice during the lunch hour, why? You miss me?" He teased.
"Definitely not!" hissed Sakura. "Do you want me to miss you?" She then asked quietly.
"Of course, who wouldn't?" Sasuke replied casually. Too casual for her liking, she was about to open her mouth to say something but then Kakashi came before she had the chance.
"Yo again, for the rest of the afternoon we will be studying media and do a skit on a part of it. This will contribute about 25 percent of your report card so do the skit well! I will put you in groups and assign a director to each group. You will have to listen to the director and have props. I will also give you a topic that you will be performing on. Costumes will be supplied in the auditorium and you will perform there after an hour of rehearsing." Kakashi instructed.
Group #1: Sakura, Sasuke, Naruto, and Ino. Topic: Local News, a crime scene. Director: Ino
Group #2: Katie, Hinata, Shikamoru, Temari, and Tenten. Topic: World News, terrorist attack. Director: Temari
Group #3:...(AN: And so on...excuse this lazy author.)
Yes I got paired up with Sasuke! Hmph, that forehead girl is in our group too! Ino thought. Oh well I'll just make her look real bad cuz I'm the director! Ha, finally something good is going on!
"Okay group! Let's get to it!" directed Ino. Sasuke rolled his eyes and she ignored it. "Okay, me and Sasuke-kun will be anchor and forehead girl will be a granny that gets attacked by Naruto who is the criminal."
"What! Ino-pig I'm not going to dress up as an old lady!" Sakura exclaimed. Naruto nodded in agreement but kept quiet. "Why don't you?"
"Why do I have to be anchor?" Sasuke complained.
"Because I'm the director and I said so!" Ino shouted managing to hush the others.
10 minutes later...
Sasuke cussed as he came out of the change room in a dress suit. Girls screamed in delight but Kakashi shushed them. He couldn't believe Sakura had forced him to dress up since she was 'feeling sorry for Ino' again. Consider that blonde lucky...if Sakura hadn't made me dress up, I wouldn't have done so even for this stupid grade...
Ino was dressed up formally too in a tan blouse and skirt, looking very professional while Naruto was dressed up like a punk. Sasuke envied him and waited for Sakura who hasn't come out yet.
"Hurry up forehead girl, everybody is done changing!" Ino yelled eagerly. She couldn't wait to see Sakura. Ha everybody would die of laughter after they see her!
"INO-PIG! I'M NOT COMING OUT! GRRR...I LOOK SO STUPID!" Sakura shouted in the change room looking at herself in the mirror. Indeed she looked old. Old like a mother. Gahh...
"Get out now! Don't make me go in there!" Ino warned.
"Come on Sakura you won't look that bad." Naruto coaxed.
"You made me dress in a suit Sakura! It's only fair if you come out in yours. Besides, yours can't be as bad as mine!" Sasuke said matter-of-factly..
"BITE ME!"
"That's it!" Ino growled and whammed herself into the change room and dragged Sakura out. She gave them a sour face when they observed her from head to toe. She was wearing a summer dress that was covered in tiny granny flower patterns on it and looked like a young teenage girl in a very ridiculous dress.
"Whoa...." Naruto laughed in shock.
"You look ridiculous." Sasuke snickered.
"Shut up. See! I am so not going out there!" Sakura shouted angrily.
Ino was having fits of giggles and was having the time of her life. "Haha, forehead girl you really look stupider than usual!"
"Aargh! You planned this didn't you Ino-pig!" Sakura spat with distaste.
"Hehe, now you know my wrath. Now get on the stage old lady!" Ino commanded evilly, still snickering like a witch.
"I will not get on that stage in this!" Sakura said stubbornly.
Sasuke admired Sakura's stubbornness and wits. He really couldn't blame her for not wanting to act in that silly dress. He wouldn't do it himself.
"Oh? I suppose that 25 percent on your report card is worth nothing!" Ino smiled, obviously enjoying this.
"...fine!" Sakura huffed angrily and stomped out to the auditorium with people laughing everywhere but quickly stopped as soon as they felt Sakura's piercing green glares. Naruto and Sasuke just followed her with big grins while Ino just held her head up high and smirked at her enemy.
"Okay people let's get started!" Ino commanded.
"Yes mother." Sakura rolled her eyes. .
"What did you say?"
"I said yes mother! Are you deaf! Don't make me repeat myself again pig!"
"I don't need you to! You just did it on your own frickin will!"
"Thought you needed it!"
"I-"
"Can we just get this over with?" Sasuke interrupted. The two girls gritted their teeth and shot darting arrows at each other but listened obediently to the Uchiha and made no noise.
"Fine, here is what we will do..."
45 minutes later.... (The Skit)
Ino: Good morning, this is Yamanaka Ino and Uchiha Sasuke reporting breaking news.
Sasuke: This afternoon at approximately 1:30 pm in the Tokyo downtown east side, a criminal known as the Fox Demon attacked an innocent old lady shopping for lingerie. Specifically, flower adorned panties. (Sakura was furious by the way.) Here is a video clip of the event.
Sakura: Ahhh! Somebody help me!
Naruto: GIVE ME THAT PUR-
"CUT!" Ino screamed waving her little amplifier cone.
"What now Ino-pig!"
"Forehead girl you don't look helpless enough!" she criticized.
"Come on this is like the fifth time that we stopped! Sakura is already acting well enough!" Naruto said defensively.
"NOT GOOD ENOUGH!" Ino wanted Sakura to look more ridiculous than she already is.
"What do you want me to do! Say: OH LET GO OF ME DEAR LAD! YOU'RE HURTING ME OH SO MUCH! I'M JUST A HELPLESS LITTLE GRANNY THAT CAN'T DEFEND MYSELF. OH WOE IS ME! AHHH, I THINK I'M GOING TO DIE NOW! SEE YOUR SORRY BUTT IN HELL-There is that what you want me to say! Or is that not good enough!" Sakura shouted throwing her hands around like a lunatic causing everyone to laugh including Sasuke and Naruto.
Sakura crossed her arm, satisfied with her acting, and looked confidently at Ino.
"YEAH BUT MORE IDIOTIC THEN THAT!" Ino yelled furiously.
"Whatever." Sakura shrugged, loosing interest in the argument.
"OKAY CLASS! Time to perform!" Kakashi announced, clapping his hands.
One by one each group performed. Ino's group eventually got A due to some persuasion. They originally got a B for lack of teamwork. But ah well. They're Kakashi's brats after all.
Sakura got home early that day and got a snack from the fridge. She needed to do some grocery shopping and clean up the house. There were still boxes everywhere on the first floor. Honestly, after the acting she didn't want to do jack...but sometimes chores are inevitable. Her house really looked like the ruins from World War II.
"I'll clean the first floor today, and then I'll do my homework. Tomorrow I'll clean the second floor, and buy some groceries." Sakura told herself. Money wasn't a problem in her household since she was responsible enough to spend it wisely. After cleaning the second floor and finishing up her homework it was already 6 o-Clock. That was when her phone rang and she found that it was Katie who called.
"Hey Sakura!"
"Oh hey Katie, sup?"
"Well, you know since its Friday and all, we decided to have a slumber party at Naruto's house. Wanna come?"
"Um...Sure I got nothing to do.
"Great!"
Katie told Sakura where Naruto lived and hung up. Sakura then decided to take a shower and packed up her bag. Then she prepared food that would last for two days for her cat.
"There Yuki, you have more than you can eat. Don't get too fat I'm really sorry that I couldn't spend time with you all week but tomorrow I'll stay home and clean the house. After that we'll go grocery shopping together 'kay?" Sakura said to her cat as if she was another person, and left.
"Wheee! Sakura is coming!" Katie said excitedly as she hung up the phone before her friend could ask who was coming.
"Good, our plan is working perfectly!" Tenten snickered, rubbing her hands together like some evil demon lord.
"B-But we can't make it too obvious though." Shy Hinata said timidly, although excited like the rest.
"LET OPERATION: MATCHMAKER BEGIN!" Naruto yelled, pumping his hands in the air.
Fin
Originally, this chapter had around 3500 words. After edit, there's around 5200. Man...how did that happen? 0.o
Well this chapter took me two days to revise and all I did was change the order of some wordings. Yes, I had problems with wording a few years back. Sigh, such a disgrace. But anyways, corny in some parts and I regretted writing about the talks between Sakura and her cat. And writing about Sakura falling and kissing Sasuke was soo overrated. It makes things too unrealistic and well... soap opera-ish even though yes. This is heavily based on cliché drama and all those crap. Well...ciao! Enjoy hehe.
PS. PLEASE! I don't want ANYMORE flames regarding me calling Ino a boar. I love Ino. But it's just so happens that HER NAME REALLY DOES MEAN BOAR! Other reasonable flames are welcome :D Oh, and leave email plz. Don't be a pussy.