Chapter Four: The Police Chief’s Son & The Baker’s Daughter
Soft sighs and a muscular arm around her waist was what Sakura woke up to for the past two weeks. Sasuke had been getting into the habit of crawling into her bed in order to sleep at night. Unlike her, he didn’t wake up after a few hours and go back to his own bedroom. He had never been a morning person and Sakura was an early riser.
“Pervert,” Sakura muttered. Sasuke’s hand had snuck under her shirt while they slept and cupped a breast. She disentangled herself and Sasuke grumbled in his sleep. He rolled over to his other side and curled up under her comforter.
Sakura grabbed her yoga mat and began her three sun salutations. Just because Sasuke had become a regular presence in her room it didn’t mean her routine was going to be thrown off. While Sasuke continued dozing she did her morning yoga, made sure her school bag was ready for the day, showered, and got dressed. Sasuke would usually wake up and go while she was in the shower but sometimes she would have to wake him up.
“That’s too short.” Sasuke’s voice was always husky and a little raspy in the morning. Although he was grumpier, Sakura always thought he was his cutest right after waking. “And I can see skin. From your stomach. Torso. Whatever.”
“Ha. Funny. Sounded like you were trying to tell me what I can or can’t wear.” Sakura dusted off her black pleated high waisted skirt and pulled at the hem of her red long sleeved crop top. She wore black thigh highs and a black beanie over her pink head. “My dad doesn’t tell me what I can and can’t wear. What makes you think you can?”
Sasuke gave her a blank look. Her punk, baker father wouldn’t mind whatever she wore as long as her “bits”─as her mother called them─were covered. His father on the other hand would make the same face he made when he found out Sasuke got a stick and poke tribal looking tattoo on the back of his shoulder near the base of his neck. It was done so well it could have been mistaken for a professional artist’s job. The tattoo had given Sakura the shock of her life and she had lectured him about how stupid it was to trust some random amateur with something permanent.
He had quickly come back at her, reminding her that she had trusted Ino to pierce her ears with a kit that she ordered online instead of asking her parents to go with her to a professional piercer.
“You gotta go home and get ready for school.” Sakura pushed him toward the window and he glared at her for trying to manhandle him.
Sakura watched as he made his way down from her roof and climbed over the wrought iron fence between her house and his. Everytime he climbed over made her grateful that Mikoto got the custom fencing with the rounded arch and scroll patterning she wanted instead of the spikes that Fugaku had originally planned on having installed. She wished he could use the side gate that joined their two yards, but it had been padlocked two years ago.
Sakura waited until Sasuke was entering his bedroom window before she headed down the stairs to grab something to eat on her way to Karin’s to catch a ride to school. She was trying to picture what the cake stand with the glass dome they used to store scones had looked like the day before when she ran into her father at the base of the stairs.
“Papa?”
“‘Morning my blossom,” he cheerfully greeted. Kizashi Haruno was pulling on a leather jacket over a uniform shirt from his café, Budding Cherry Blossom. Not so cleverly named after his wife, Mebuki, and Sakura, he had owned his own shop since Sakura was three after years of saving up to open his own place.
Sakura let her father hug her, lifting her up into a spin. It was rare for her to see him in the morning since he was usually up getting an early start in baking the bread they sold and used in his shop. He had hired someone to help out with the baking but he preferred to do all of the heavy work.
“Did the boy leave before his father was up for work?”
Sakura’s eyes went wide, shocked that her father was aware that Sasuke had been coming and going. Her father gave her a gentle smile and handed her a brown paper bag. He had taken the opportunity to make her lunch since he was going into work later than usual.
“Um…”
“Just be careful. I don’t want you to get hurt when he gets caught.”
Kizashi awkwardly rubbed the back of his head, his puce colored spikes shifting up and down in the process. For a time when she was twelve, her father’s cherry blossom shaped hairstyle had embarrassed her. Sakura had learned to appreciate the things that made him unique as she got older.
“Oh. And make sure to use protection. I’m not a big fan of only relying on the pill,” Kizashi said as he walked out the front door. Sakura flushed red, choking on a reply she didn’t really have for that. It was awkward enough that he knew that Sasuke was sleeping over, him being aware that she was sexually active was worse. Just because he was open minded didn’t mean it made it any less embarrassing.
“At least it wasn’t Mama…” Sakura sighed gratefully as she slipped on her combat boots. Her mother, as kind and loving as she was, was also the strict, no nonsense parent of the two. She would have handled her and Sasuke’s sleepovers a lot differently.
As Sakura was leaving her house, Sasuke was leaving his. She watched him walk over to his black Jeep Wrangler and observed his attire. Crisp dark blue jeans, a gray v-neck shirt, an open navy cardigan with the sleeves pushed up to his elbows, and black and white converses. Simple and neat and obviously something his father would deem appropriate for a seventeen year old boy to wear to school.
Sakura averted her eyes and walked down the street. Her father had given her some good advice about being careful. It wouldn’t do if Fugaku Uchiha caught the Haruno girl staring at his son.
School was one of the only places Sakura could look at Sasuke as much as she wanted. She hated how popular he was amongst the girls but it made it easier to look at him when it seemed to be the favorite activity of the girls of Konoha Secondary.
It was also one of the only places they weren’t under the watchful eye of Fugaku Uchiha.
“Quit staring,” Sasuke muttered. He handed back the copy of her essay he had marked up during their class’s peer editing session. “It was almost perfect. As usual. You don’t have to stare me down.”
“That’s not why I was staring,” Sakura mumbled. She passed back his paper and he scowled at all of her comments. He held it up to her and silently demanded an explanation. “What?”
“I just asked you to check grammar and syntax. Stop trying to write my paper for me, Haruno.”
“Just some suggestions, Uchiha.” Sakura tossed her hair over her shoulder haughtily.
Their whispered arguing in class was such a common occurrence that no one bothered to look away from their partner’s papers at them. Not even the teacher bothered to break them up as they continued to bicker about how Sakura was taking over Sasuke’s essay topic. The conversation should have ended when Sakura agreed to let Sasuke pull his own quotes from the novel─Brave New World─ that their class was reading. It should have if not for Sasuke snatching Sakura’s paper back and adding in more notes like she had.
“Hey!”
“Just some suggestions Sa-ku-ra,” Sasuke dragged her name out in a mocking fashion. Sakura tried to grab her paper back but Sasuke lifted her essay over his head out of her reach.
“Wow. It’s like you guys don’t even care that you’re flirting in the middle of class,” Karin drawled out, sounding bored. Sakura had forgotten that she sat in the seat behind them.
The two of them visibly stiffened. Sasuke shoved Sakura’s paper back onto her desk and looked and turned so he was staring out the window.
“We’re not flirting, Karin,” Sakura muttered, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear clumsily. She pulled out her copy of Brave New World and flipped to the pages Sasuke had pointed out in his notes for, folding down the corners of the pages she agreed could be useful.
Sakura avoided looking at Sasuke the rest of class. She also ignored the vibrating sound coming from her backpack, fully aware that Karin was sending her texts making fun of her. She was grateful when the bell rang ten minutes later.
Sakura had just parted ways with Karin as they headed off to their different classes when someone yanked her by the elbow under the stairwell. She was just about to yell at the snatcher when she was overcome by a cinnamon and menthol smell and was pressed into the the corner by an unbelievably warm body. Sakura closed her eyes and sighed contently when Sasuke kissed her, quickly, but too deeply to be chaste.
Completely forgetting about making her way to class, Sakura pulled him by his cardigan back down toward her and pulled at his lower lip with her teeth. Sasuke responded by pressing her even further against the wall, sliding his hands up her sides.
“I wasn’t flirting with you,” Sakura grumbled with a pout. Sasuke snorted and cupped the side of her neck pushing her jaw up with his thumb so he could kiss her again. Sakura made a noise of protest in the back of her throat as Sasuke deepened the kiss by sliding his tongue into her mouth. She pushed against his chest and he leaned back with a frown on his face. “You’re going to make me late for my history class.”
“Can’t help it. You’re distracting,” Sasuke said as an excuse. Sakura’s eyes widened, horrified by his statement.
“No I am not!” Sakura shook her head adamantly. “Take it back.”
“I didn’t mean it like that, Sakura.”
“I have to go. Don’t be late for class.”
Sakura pushed past Sasuke who tried to grab at her arm to pull her back to him. Sakura backed away from his reach toward the exit doors toward the trailers and shooed him away, waving her hand at him to leave. Sasuke narrowed his eyes at her for a moment but then rolled them, shaking his head as he left the stairwell.
“I am not a distraction,” Sakura mumbled to herself over and over again as she headed to her class.
Unfortunately for Sakura, Karin had “errands” to run after school leaving her to take the school bus. She loathed not having her own car and having to ride with the underclassmen back home. It was worse that she had to walk past both the Uzumaki-Namikaze residence and then the Uchiha on her way home.
It was made even worse when Mikoto Uchiha stepped out of the Uzumaki house and caught sight of her on the sidewalk. Sakura felt guilty for trying to avoid her when she saw how Mikoto’s face had brightened when she saw her.
“It’s been so long!” Mikoto hooked her arm with Sakura’s and patted her hand when she reached her at the end of the drive. “How have you been? You look prettier and prettier every time I see you!”
“I’ve been good. Really busy with school.”
“You and Sasuke both, I swear.” Mikoto chuckled. “Always studying you two. Kushina was just telling me how she wished Naruto cared about his studies half as much as you two do. Even her niece Karin, who is so studious, doesn’t hit the books the way you do. I miss when you guys use to come over and just hang out in our media room.”
Me too. Sakura tried to smile but it felt strained, too forced. Sakura hadn’t entered the Uchiha home through the front door in over a year and a half and even then it wasn’t to socialize but to study with Sasuke.
“You and Naruto should come over this weekend. I’m sure Sasuke would like that.”
“I’m not sure…” Sakura chewed on her lip. She didn’t want to decline Mikoto’s invitation. It was a good way to try to get the three of them in one room again but at the same time Sakura didn’t want to risk a run in with Fugaku.
Fugaku wasn’t a fan of her father. Fugaku was straight laced and no matter how friendly her father was there was always something that kept Kizashi and Fugaku from getting along. Fugaku just couldn’t get past Kizashi’s loud and bright spiked hair, even if the color was natural the hair style was most definitely not. Kizashi was a jokester and and didn’t really know boundaries which clashed with how serious and reserved Fugaku was. They were cordial with each other because they were neighbors but when Sakura was sixteen their relationship turned sour.
Kizashi didn’t take too kindly to what he believed was Fugaku implying that his son was too good for Sakura. It had started with him trying to cut back on how often Sakura came over to do homework with Sasuke and then ended when Fugaku had pretty much told Kizashi that he was uncomfortable with how much time the two spent together. Kizashi jokingly asked if he was worried that Sasuke would be too distracted from his studies if a pretty girl was around. Fugaku’s silence after the question was answer enough. Fugaku told him that Sakura was the wrong kind of friend for Sasuke and that Sasuke shouldn’t be thinking about girls and dating until much later. He then said that it was likely that Sasuke would find someone that would ideally match his lifestyle when he went off to college.
That was the end of Sakura being allowed to go to the Uchiha house. Kizashi didn’t want Sakura to hear Fugaku say anything that would hurt her feelings. Sakura was stubborn and tried to keep her friendship with Sasuke going but she was caught giving Sasuke a chaste kiss goodbye on the cheek and Fugaku had put a stop to allowing the two to be alone together. Even going so far as having Sasuke monitored by relatives that worked in the police force. Sasuke’s cousin Shisui had volunteered to keep an eye on things but was found to be too lenient.
“Don’t be like that. Look! There’s Sasuke now.”
Oh, Lord help me now.
Sakura mentally ran through a list of excuses she could make but next thing she knew she was being dragged up the Uchihas’ stone path to their front door. Sasuke who had just parked his Jeep raised an eyebrow at her while his mother babbled on about how he need to socialize more.
“Sakura and I have a paper for English. We could work on that.”
Sakura’s eyes went wide and she mentally cursed him. He smirked at her obvious discomfort and if it weren’t for his mother standing right there she would have punched him for finding the situation she was put in amusing.
“I thought you didn’t want my help with your essay.” Sakura crossed her arms in front of her chest and glared at Sasuke as he dumped her backpack with his messenger bag against the legs of his computer desk.
“We’re not working on our essays.” Sasuke looked down at her, crossing his arms in front of his chest to match her stance. Sakura wrinkled her brow in confusion. She didn’t understand what she was doing there if he wasn’t going to work on anything. Unless…
“No! Your mother is downstairs, Sasuke Uchiha.” Sakura flushed pink and Sasuke snorted, rolling his eyes.
“Get your head out of the gutter.” Sasuke pushed her back out of his bedroom and headed to the room next door. “We’re going to hang out with Itachi.”
“Itachi?”
As far as adults went, Sakura quite liked Itachi Uchiha. She use to be jealous of Sasuke when they were younger because he had a big brother. She wasn’t too lonely because she had Naruto and Sasuke but it would have been nice to have an older sibling. Naruto was more like a younger brother and Sasuke…Sasuke was never anything like a familial relation, not even when they toddlers.
Sasuke use to complain a lot that his brother never made time for him which turned Sakura off from the idea of older siblings but she knew how much they loved each other. Sasuke loved Itachi so much and she knew how it pained him to watch Itachi waste away. She knew very well how it pained him and knew that sometimes when he lay with her it was to make that pain go away.
It was how their sleepovers had started. She couldn’t leave Sasuke alone in his big house when his parents were in the hospital with Itachi. And then she couldn’t leave him alone as he he lay in his bed, afraid of the presence in the room next door, afraid of the sounds of Itachi coughing and moaning, and the paranoia that one day he would hear nothing at all. Feel nothing but emptiness instead of his brother’s presence.
“Hello Little One,” Itachi greeted with a gentle smile from his cushioned rocking chair. He took off his reading glasses and set them and his book down on the nightstand closest to him. He looked thinner than she remembered but he seemed to be in good spirits.
Sakura liked Itachi’s nickname for her. It was far better than Shisui’s nickname “Itty Bitty.” It had made her feel self conscious at fourteen thinking that he was referring to her chest size instead of her stature even though he had been calling her that since she was four.
“Hi Itachi.” Sakura smiled back. Itachi gestured to his bed and she took a seat on the edge. Sasuke made himself comfortable on the floor, leaning against the bed, far enough from Sakura’s leg that he was close without touching her.
“I haven’t seen you in a while. How have you been?”
“I’ve been fine. And you?”
“Good. But enough about me. Tell me, how’s school?”
Sakura spent the afternoon talking to Itachi. They discussed her essay topic on Brave New World and Itachi pulled out a copy he had on his bookshelf and gave it to her to borrow so she could go over his annotations. Sasuke had scowled at that, calling his brother a traitor for withholding his notes and giving them to someone else.
Sakura got really excited when she told him about her volunteer work at the hospital. Itachi had teased her asking if she wore a candy striper uniform and she blushed and told him that no she wore the maroon volunteer scrubs and that he knew very well that that is what they made the volunteers wear. She told him about the different patients she had come across and he listened with a pleasant smile on his face.
They sat in Itachi’s room talking until Sasuke looked at his watch and said it was getting late. Itachi nodded and he walked Sakura out with Sasuke. When Sasuke opened the door and checked to see if his father was driving up the cul-de-sac Itachi leaned down and whispered in Sakura’s ear.
“Thank you.”
Sakura looked up at him, head tilted to side, puzzled. She didn’t understand what Itachi was grateful for. He gave her another soft smile and nodded his chin at Sasuke.
“He’s in a better mood today.”
“Oh. I can’t take credit for that.” Sakura could feel warmth creep up her cheeks. Itachi shook his head, smiling gently. He waved goodbye and headed back up the stairs.
Sakura stepped out of the Uchiha house, unsure on how to say goodbye to Sasuke. They didn’t usually interact in their neighborhood outside of each other’s bedrooms.
“See you later.” Sasuke helped her from making any decision on the matter by casually tossing his statement out in the air, not even looking at her just stretching his arms out in front yard and scratching the back of his head. “My room tonight.”
Sakura rolled her eyes and shook her head. She almost pretended to be busy to tease him when he beat her to the punch.
“Now your mind can be in the gutter.”
“Sasuke!”
Chapter Five: Hawk and Blossom (and Fox!)
Guilty. Sasuke couldn’t help but feel guilty whenever he thought of Itachi and everything that was being taken away from him. And sadly, Sakura tugging on his hair and bouncing in his lap wasn’t helping the situation.
Certain things Sasuke shouldn’t be privy to and one of those things was his older brother’s sex life. He was going to have to subtly bring up erasing one’s search history before returning a borrowed laptop to Itachi. Never in his life did Sasuke think he would ever have to read the phrase Suggested Sex Positions While Chronically Ill.
It wasn’t that Sasuke thought his brother had suddenly turned into a monk when he got sick. He just didn’t realize that was a concern that Itachi had. He should have figured it would be one considering Itachi suffered from chronic pain and fatigue.
Thinking about it, Itachi could always use the position Sasuke was currently in with Sakura when he was with Izumi. If she were on top it would minimize how much energy he had to use. But then came the problem of sex with Shisui. And when all three of them were together.
Which was why he was feeling guilty for enjoying himself when his brother was struggling. And that wasn’t a feeling he wanted clouding his mind and weighing heavy in his stomach when he was looking at Sakura’s pretty little tits.
“Are you okay?” Sakura’s brow wrinkled in concern as she pulled away enough to look Sasuke fully in the face, but not enough that she accidently pressed on the horn of his Jeep. “You seem distracted. We don’t have to do this. We can stop. Let’s just head to school.”
Sakura brought her forehead down to his and used her thumbs to rub circles on his cheekbones. Her hair fell over his face, hiding the two of them in a curtain of pink. He inhaled her apple scent and tried to calm down. He felt guilty but it would bother him even more until the next time he and Sakura were together if he didn’t make her come.
That had always been a concern for him since the start of their odd relationship. Sasuke was shit when it came to talking, especially about anything he felt. It helped when it came to trying to keep Sakura at bay when he was feeling conflicted about how significant she had become in his life. It didn’t help when he wanted to match the overwhelming amount of adoration in Sakura’s eyes when she looked at him. Bringing her body to complete and total bliss was the closest he could get so far.
Sasuke used his hands on her hips to lift her up and back down on his length and urged her to continue. Sakura frowned but hesitantly started moving and picking up a pace he liked a lot. He pressed his thumb against her clit and rubbed in circles until her panting turned into soft cries of joy.
Sasuke focused on Sakura’s little sounds until he forgot he even had a brother.
Getting angry was fairly easy for Sasuke to do nowadays. Managing not to act out was a struggle.
Transferring to Konoha, he should have expected hearing about Sakura a lot. She was a top student, varsity volleyball captain, and too pretty for her own good. It would have been weirder for her not to be popular. Acknowledging that didn’t make it easier to listen to disgusting locker room talk.
“What the hell are you doing?” Sasuke back stepped when someone touched his ears. Naruto shook his head and raised a pair of earbuds he had been trying to insert into Sasuke’s ears. Sasuke stared at the headphones in his friend’s hands for a moment before taking them. Naruto turned up the volume on his phone and all Sasuke could hear was his friend’s shitty taste in rap music.
Naruto sat with Sasuke until the locker room had emptied. Sasuke had stopped in the middle of putting his street sneakers on and Naruto had only removed the shirt to his gym uniform. As soon as the room cleared, Naruto took his headphones back.
“I’m glad Hina’s homeschooled. It’s bad enough hearing about your best friend I don’t think I could handle it if it were a girlfriend.”
“What?” Sasuke frowned at Naruto. Naruto shot him an unimpressed look and then rolled his eyes.
“You’re so fucking obvious.” Naruto pulled on his sweatshirt. Sasuke watched as he covered up his stomach tattoo. A stick and poke job just like Sasuke’s. They had gone to get them done together only Naruto decided on a much larger piece. It took longer and hurt more because of its location. Because Sasuke was his best friend he let him hold onto his hand throughout the whole thing. If asked he would never admit to it though.
“Obvious about what?”
“I may not be a super nerd like the two of you but I’m not an idiot,” Naruto grumbled as he finished changing. “Yeah, maybe you look like you might only be interested to other people but I’ve known you since we were in the crib.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.’
“Bullshit.” Naruto was growling now. If Sasuke was bad at controlling his anger, Naruto was worse. “I know you two are together. I know she’s your girl. Been your girl for a while.”
“Oh, really?” Sasuke sneered. “How long have you known then? Before or after you made a move on my girl?”
Naruto’s shoulders drooped and his glare melted into a defeated look. It was the face Naruto made that Sakura had told him made her feel like she had kicked a puppy. But Sasuke wasn’t Sakura and he didn’t bow down to sad faces. With the exceptions of his mother, Itachi, and Sakura. Naruto noticed how ineffective it was and sighed.
“After. I swear.”
Sasuke stared him down. He was starting to understand Sakura’s struggles with trust. With Naruto’s history of usually being the most honest person he knew, besides Sakura who sucked at lying so she didn’t attempt, it should have been easy to believe him. But there was also the brief period when they were fifteen that Naruto had tried to manipulate the two of them into thinking that the other didn’t care to be around the other by hanging out with them separately and claiming that the other person was busy. There was always a heavy implication that the other was too busy to hang out when it should have been the three of them but not when it was just them and Naruto.
It hadn’t really worked because at that point Sasuke and Sakura had already started to be involved. The only thing helping Naruto from having Sasuke throw that back in his face and walking away from him was the fact that no one knew what would have happened if Naruto had been made aware of what was going on with his best friends.
And guilt. There was always a bit of guilt that Sasuke felt when he remembered that Naruto had a crush on Sakura for most of their lives. Sasuke wasn’t vocal about his feelings like Naruto but it didn’t change the fact that he had also liked her just as long as Naruto had, maybe even longer. It wasn’t Sasuke’s fault that his feelings were mutual while Naruto’s weren’t.
“How?”
“What?”
Sasuke sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose.
“How did you find out, idiot?”
“Oh. You just told me.”
“What?” Sasuke hissed. Naruto gave him a sheepish look and shrugged his shoulders.
“I had my suspicions. I already knew how Sakura felt. And like I said, you’re more obvious than you think. What didn’t make sense is how you two stopped talking and yet you’re always busy whenever I want to come over. And it’s not like you enjoy spending time with other people. You can lie all you want but Sakura and I are your favorite people, always have been. Hell, Karin said you were the most antisocial person she met at Oto so I know you’re not busting your ass to spend all of that time with those three losers. Well, two. Jūgo’s nice.”
“And you didn’t stop to consider that I might be spending my time with Itachi?”
Naruto snorted and nodded toward the door. Sasuke followed him out into the hall. They had wasted so much time talking that they were already late to their next period.
“Yes. I did but then I remembered that Itachi wouldn’t want you to do something like that.”
“If you’re smart enough to figure that out, then why are you barely passing most of your classes.”
“You know I hate reading. Plus I have a major concentration problem.”
“You need to stop doing that shit by the way. Manipulating things and talking in circles to get what you want. You can’t mess with people like that.” Sasuke rapped his knuckles against the back of Naruto’s head. “It’s why Sakura got mad you in the first place.”
“I know.” Naruto’s shoulders drooped. He hung his head as they walked. Neither one of them bothered to even attempt to head toward the classes they were already late for. Sasuke was about to try and say something to stop Naruto’s gloom when the blond’s head shot back up. “What about some Flames tickets? Do you think she’ll forgive me if we all go to a game?”
“Good idea. But how are you going to get them? I can’t help. My family’s got money, that doesn’t mean that I do.” Sasuke thought it was a good idea considering Sakura’s love for hockey. They all use to watch games together and would try to convince whatever parent was watching them to let them stay up late until they finished.
Naruto gave him a sly grin and chuckled darkly for humor.
“I already have tickets. My dad got them for us. I just didn’t think we would actually use them.”
“Good going, Minato,” Sasuke muttered. Naruto’s dad was always doing nice things for him. Sasuke couldn’t help but feel slightly jealous of the easy relationship Naruto had with Minato when he compared it to his own with his own father.
“How much longer are you guys going to pretend like nothing’s going on?”
Until we’re both in college and my dad isn’t breathing down our necks.
“I don’t know.”
“You should do something soon. You know how Ino is. She thinks Sakura needs a boyfriend. She tried to convince her to go on a double date with one of Sai’s weirdo art friends from that studio he goes to. I love the guy but I wouldn’t let anyone I know near his friends. One guy kind of looks like Ino and that freaked me out.”
“Yamanaka needs to mind her own business.”
“Hey!”
Naruto and Sasuke both jumped at the sound of a gruff voice. They turned and saw one of the school’s security patrols coming down the hall.
“Where’s your hall passes?”
Naruto and Sasuke took off down another hall, ignoring the shouts from the patrol.
“Why did you follow me, moron? He can’t chase us both if we run in different directions.”
“I panicked! You know I just follow you when I panic!” Naruto hissed out. “I can’t get detention again. My mom will kill me!”
Sasuke didn’t even want to think about what his father would say. When he and Naruto got suspended for their fight the year before Fugaku had taken away his electronics and his Jeep until Mikoto told him he was being ridiculous and demanded that he return everything.
The two of them turned down the Fine Arts hall and looked for a stairwell to hide under.
“You two are idiots.” Sai had opened the door to the studio the Advance Studio Arts students used and beckoned for them to come in. “I could hear Naruto coming down the hall.”
“Can we just hang out here?” Sasuke looked around the room. None of the students had even bothered to look up from their projects.
“It’s the advanced class. The teacher stays in her office unless it’s a presentation day for someone or to collect our research sketchbooks for grading.”
“Thanks, Sai. You’re a lifesaver.”
“It’s good you’re here. I finished my Naruto piece for my showcase.”
Sai led the two of them to an easel in the far corner of the room by the windows. On the canvas was an image of a brilliant orange fox swimming in a bowl of ramen.
“Wow. That is definitely Naruto.”
“Can I have this?” Naruto beamed at the portrait. “After your showcase of course.”
“Yes. I’m running out of room for things in my apartment anyway. Shin doesn’t like storing them away but we’re going to have to.”
“Is this Sakura?” Naruto pointed at a canvas that was propped against the wall on the floor.
“Yes. Cherry blossoms of course. But I wanted the pink to be more like her hair so I’m going to have to fix that.”
“What’s that?” Sasuke pointed to one of the top most branches on the cherry blossom tree in the portrait. It looked like a bird.
“A hawk.”
“Why?”
“Because this isn’t just a portrait of Sakura. It has a twin. I usually name each piece after the person that inspired it. But I’ll probably leave the two as Taka and Hana,” Sai answered giving him a knowing look.
Fuck. Naruto was right. He was fucking obvious.
“You should have seen the look on her face after the volleyball hit her face,” Suigetsu snickered. Karin smacked the back of his head with her textbook for Computer Science.
“She could have gotten hurt Sui. She has glasses,” Jūgo said softly. He usually tried to keep the peace between the two of them before they took their spats far enough to irritate Sasuke.
“I hate this school. Why does two years of Physical Education have to be a requirement? I’m the only senior in my class.”
“You could have done weight training with the rest of us,” Suigetsu shrugged. Karin scowled at him. He knew she wasn’t a fan of gym equipment either. She wasn’t good at sports even though she loved running. If it were up to her she would just run circles on the track and listen to her iPod for gym class.
“Or stayed in Oto.” Sasuke watched as Karin’s face twisted into one of disgust. She shot him a glare, clearly unhappy that he brought their old school up.
“I don’t hate gym class that much,” she muttered. She stopped walking with them and looked somewhere behind them, craning her neck.
“Who are you looking for?” Sui crossed his arms in front of his chest and loomed over her small frame. Everything about it screamed possessive to Sasuke. Sasuke sometimes wondered who was smaller, Karin or Sakura.
“Sakura. I’m too short though. Can you see her anywhere? I wanted to wish her luck before I left. I’m not going to get a chance to see her before I come back to watch the game. She doesn’t think they’ll win their match today and that means it will be the end of their season.”
“Haruno in tiny spanks? Count me in!” Suigetsu chortled. Karin scowled and pulled on his ear. She yanked hard and then let go.
“Don’t objectify my friend! She’s too good for you or anyone else here.”
Sasuke frowned at the way she seemed to look at him when she said that. He was going to have to talk to Sakura later about how cryptic Karin was being lately.
“Lady crush much?” Suigetsu waggled his eyebrows and then ducked another incoming hit from Karin.
“Don’t be a perv! Sakura’s just really nice.”
Sasuke watched as a somber expression took over Karin’s face and the way she pulled at the sleeves of her sweater. Besides their height, there were plenty of similarities between Karin and Sakura. They both had odd colored hair and unique eyes. They both wanted to do something with medicine, Sakura wanted to be a doctor and Karin wanted to go into medicinal chemistry and be a pharmaceutical scientist. They both had suffered abuse at the hands of bullies, Sakura when she was younger and Karin in the dorms of Oto Prep.
Although Karin was loud and brash, she was small and weak. She didn’t stand a chance when she was ganged up on. She was stuck in the dormitories until Suigetsu offered his couch up to her and Sasuke made the connection between her and Naruto’s mother, a long lost relation, a daughter of a distant, late cousin of Kushina’s. She was a ward of the state, her mother’s parental rights having been terminated a long time ago, and Kushina and Minato lawyered up and took custody of her.
Sasuke might have helped Karin find her family but he didn’t feel as though he could take credit for saving her. It wasn’t until she had made friends with Sakura that she seemed to have gotten better and started trusting people around her more. Just another person that Sakura’s presence made everything better for.
It was why when his mother had dragged Sakura to his house the other day that he took her to see Itachi. Itachi needed to be surrounded by more people that were gentle and warm. Sasuke would invite Naruto but he was boisterous and just being around him drained him of energy. He wasn’t sure how Itachi would handle it.
“Why don’t we all go watch the game with Karin?” Jūgo suggested. “It’s been a long while since we’ve all done something together.”
Everyone agreed except Sasuke. He was distracted thinking about the last time he saw Sakura in her volleyball uniform. The top was tight and sleeveless and Suigetsu was right about her spandex shorts. Tiny. The last time he had seen them on her his hand had been down them. He quite liked how her bottom looked in her spanks.
“Sasuke? Dude?” Suigetsu waved a hand in front of his face.
“Yeah. I’ll go.”
Sasuke avoided Karin and her sharp eyes as she gave him a sly smile before she walked away to look for Sakura.
Chapter Six: Like You’re The Back Of My Hand
Love at first sight. That’s what Mebuki Haruno described the first meeting of Sakura and Sasuke Uchiha. Sakura found it hard to argue against that when she couldn’t remember a time when she didn’t love him.
They were one and curled up under each other’s baby blankets. They were three and holding hands whenever they walked in new places. They were seven when the world first split them apart as boy and girl. They were twelve and changing. Then fourteen and for the first time finding out what the other’s mouth tasted like. Barely sixteen and molding and clicking together like puzzle pieces. Then they were seventeen and hurting, both from different heartaches.
As comfortable as Sakura was in their exclusivity, she couldn’t help the days she felt like Sasuke’s dirty secret. She knew it wasn’t just his fault for that feeling and that she was overthinking things but when she was alone with her thoughts it hurt.
“Taro boba tea and tomato mozzarella panini.” Sakura dropped off her customer’s meal at their table and ignored the way he stared at her too long. She was use to the looks from new patrons because of her hair. It was once a subject of ridicule when she was younger. With a little help from Naruto and Sasuke she grew to love her hair.
“Sak is like a flower.” Naruto had once said when they were ten. She use to wrinkle her little nose at the name he chose for her. She still did. “Very pretty.”
“They’re just jealous.” Sasuke would glare, face turned away. “You have something that makes you special and they don’t.”
Of course the two had been just a few years late in coming to her defense. Being separated into different classes and making new friends caused them to leave Sakura behind. Ino Yamanaka had been her first saviour.
“Wow, they weren’t kidding. Your forehead is huge.” Ino had pushed Sakura’s shaggy hair out of her face. Blue green eyes widened in awe. “You’re eyes are the greenest things I’ve ever seen. And this hair! You need a new cut but it’s soft and pretty like flower petals. What’s a pretty little fairy doing hiding out here all alone?”
Sakura spent the next half hour listening to Ino’s consistent chattering and having her hair tugged on as Ino weaved tiny white flowers from the forest floor into it. It was the happiest Sakura had been in school in the longest time. After that Ino and Sakura were inseparable. A fact that Naruto and Sasuke weren’t happy about when they were finally all assigned to the same class the following year.
“No one’s paying you to stare off into space.” Mebuki snapped her fingers in front of Sakura’s face. Her mother sighed and handed her the order for another customer. “You haven’t daydreamed like this since you were twelve.”
“Sorry,” Sakura muttered.
“How’s the pain?” Her mother whispered. Sakura sighed and shook her head.
“Barely manageable.” Sakura was cramping bad. It was always worse on the first day.
“Go home early today.” Mebuki stroked Sakura’s hair and patted her shoulder, giving her a reassuring smile.
Sakura stopped running food and wiped down a few tables before heading off. On a normal day she wouldn’t mind taking a bus or taking the five mile trek through one of the hiking trails that ran through Konoha’s forests that led to her neighborhood. Because her menstrual cramps were bothering her, Sakura walked a couple of blocks through the more condensed, commercial part of town to the Yamanaka’s flower shop.
“What’s up, Forehead?” Ino had her hair tied up in a high ponytail and was wearing one of the beige shop aprons. She sat behind the floral counter in the center of the shop where arrangements were made, stringing garlands of marigolds.
“I need chocolate,” Sakura grumbled giving her a pout. Ino made a tutting noise and put aside the flowers she was working on.
“Mom! I’m calling it a day.”
“What? Did you finish your box of garlands?” Ino’s mother Noriko appeared from behind the group of large potted plants, narrowing her brown eyes at her daughter. Sakura was surprised to see her mother stressed out, brown hair falling out of her usually tight bun.
“Started on a second. My hands are orange now.”
Noriko sighed and nodded her head. Ino hopped off her stool and led Sakura back outside to use the stairs that led up to her family’s apartment. Ino stopped by the kitchen to grab a couple of spoons and a tub of ice cream. They entered her bedroom and both collapsed onto Ino’s canopy bed.
“Ow!” Ino groaned. She clutched her abdomen and whimpered. “I’ve been trying not to complain since my mom has that order of marigolds for a wedding tomorrow to finish up but I can’t take the pain anymore.”
“I couldn’t finish my shift today.” Although grateful for the break, Sakura had really wanted to spend the day at work with her parents. Weekends were really the only chance she had to see them. “Can you drop me off at home later? I don’t wanna take the bus.”
“Sure. The worst part is that I’ve been really horny but I also feel super gross so I’ve been staying away from Sai the past two days so that I don’t get any ideas.”
“More than I needed to know, Ino.”
Sakura grabbed one of Ino’s pillows and cuddled with it. She understood the feeling gross part but Sakura usually didn’t feel the increase in arousal during her period but the week leading to when it started. She had been crawling into Sasuke’s bed every night to help ease the frustration.
Sex was starting to complicate things for Sakura. It was starting to feel like it was the only way she could be close to Sasuke, like it was all they would ever have. But she couldn’t just stop either. Even if she tried to separate her feelings from the act, she still clung to the affection she received from Sasuke.
Ino was starting to notice her frustrations with not being in a fulfilling relationship and was starting to meddle. She and Sakura had gotten into a fight the week before because Sakura was fed up with her plans of trying to set her up on blind dates. Sakura packed her schedule with tutoring hours to fill her requirements for the National Honor Society. Ino was initially excited hoping a cute boy would need Sakura’s help but Sakura had gone to the middle school section of Konoha Secondary to find students.
“So Naruto has a girlfriend.”
“Um. Okay?”
Sasuke had mentioned that Naruto had been talking to a girl over a month ago but Naruto had never brought it up whenever she saw him around school. All she knew was that he had stopped being flirtatious when he talked to people but that could have just been a sign of maturity.
“You’re not curious?” Ino raised a delicate blonde eyebrow. “Sai said she’s mousey. Plain looking but really sweet.”
“Not really? If Sai thought she was pretty he probably wouldn’t tell you.”
“A normal boy wouldn’t but he’s blunt as hell. Trust me. Sai didn’t hold back from describing how large her rack was.”
“Ino?”
“Yes?”
“Why are you bringing this up?”
Sakura turned her head to look at Ino. Ino was staring at her tub of ice cream, poking at it with her spoon. Sakura poked her leg until she looked at her.
“Are you sure you don’t like Naruto?”
Sakura snorted. She sat up and snatched the tub of ice cream from Ino’s hands. She stuffed a large bite of it into her mouth and let the sweet cream melt into her mouth a bit before chewing and swallowing.
“I still don’t see why you thought so in the first place. I was practically babysitting him and treating him like a five year old when we all hung out.”
“Well,” Ino huffed, eyes narrowing in annoyance. “Anyone would assume so with how you guys were practically joined at the hip when we first started attending K.S.S. And he sure acted like he was your boyfriend.”
“Ino. I’ve been avoiding him whenever possible for the last year and a half. What would make you think I like him?”
“I thought you might be avoiding him because of his new girlfriend.”
“No. That’s not why.” Sakura was starting to get irritated. Ino hadn’t been one of Naruto’s supporters when he was trying to get her to go out with him but she knew what was going on and never tried to warn Sakura. And for that, Sakura felt that Ino had been just a tad disloyal. “I’ve been avoiding him because I turned him down. And he didn’t take it that well. We’re trying to be friends again but he did something I didn’t like and he hasn’t fixed it yet.”
“What did he do?”
Sakura exhaled deeply through her nose and handed the ice cream back to Ino. She was going to need it more than Sakura in a moment.
“I haven’t told you something because I knew you wouldn’t take it well.” Sakura ran a hand through her hair and sighed. “I’m sort of seeing someone. He’s not my boyfriend but pretty close to it. We’ve never actually discussed if that’s what he is but he seems to be that. I was already involved with him when Naruto started trying to date me. He didn’t know I was seeing someone already but I think he knew I liked the person I’m talking about.”
“Sakura. Who are you seeing?”
Sakura stared at Ino for a while. Ino was staring back at her, eyebrows furrowed in what looked like a cross between concern and anger. Sakura guessed that her friend wasn’t happy to have information kept from her.
“Sasuke Uchiha.”
“What!?” Sakura covered her ears as Ino shrieked. Because she had covered her ear she wasn’t prepared for Ino to start smacking her with her pillow.
“What do you mean Sasuke Uchiha is sort of your boyfriend? You guys don’t even talk in school unless you have to!”
“Well, you can sort of blame Naruto for that.”
“What. Why?” Ino stopped smacking her, curiosity halting her actions.
“Okay, he’s not the main reason. Mr. Uchiha doesn’t like me.”
“Everyone likes you.”
“Well not strict fathers that think you will get pregnant and ruin their sons’ lives apparently.”
“I should have figured it would be something like that. That man scares me. He never smiles.” Ino shivered. She seemed to relax for a moment but then she smacked Sakura again one more time. “Now tell me why it’s a secret at school. What does Naruto have to do with it?”
Sakura let out a huge sigh. She fell back onto the bed and stared up at it’s canopy. She knew it would sound stupid when she told Ino what Naruto had to do with the secret.
“I wanted Naruto and Sasuke to stay friends. I wanted the three of us to stay friends.” Sakura recalled how Naruto avoided Sasuke for weeks after she told him the one she liked was Sasuke. “I thought maybe their friendship could be saved if we waited for Naruto to get over me and then we could go back to hanging out. He went through so much trouble to keep us apart when he had the suspicion that Sasuke was the one I liked and then he gave us both the cold shoulder when I confirmed it.
“He eventually started talking to Sasuke again and we slowly started to be friends again without him trying to start anything between us. But he still would go hang out with Sasuke and exclude me and vice versa. I wanted him to feel comfortable with us all being in the same room again. Naruto still hasn’t tried hanging out with both of us at the same time. I sometimes feel paranoid like he’s still trying to keep Sasuke and I from being around each other. But it’s not like that ever worked. Even though he knew about how I felt about Sasuke I never told him the whole truth. He never knew that the entire time he and all of you were scheming to get us together I was already sleeping with Sasuke. No one knew we were involved because Sasuke went to Oto and I felt weird bringing that up. I don’t think we should let him know that his best friend was fucking the girl he liked behind his back.”
Ino’s jaw dropped, blue-green eyes wide. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath in. She held for seven seconds and then slowly exhaled. She repeated that process three times.
“You guys…are fucking idiots.”
“I know,” Sakura mumbled. It sounded even stupider when she had said it out loud. “But how am I supposed to believe he’s over me if he won’t invite Sasuke along when he asks me to hang out with him? When we were fifteen he tried to make me think Sasuke didn’t care about me.”
“I still don’t get how he could possibly do that. And are we talking about the same guy?”
“Yes,” Sakura groaned out, exasperated. “After Sasuke and I first had sex I was feeling kind of vulnerable. I just wanted to talk to him and figure out what was going on with us. I couldn’t walk over to his house because I was worried Mr. Uchiha wouldn’t let me talk to him. He use to tell me Sasuke was busy if he answered the door. And I couldn’t reach him by call or text because Naruto had blocked me from Sasuke’s cell phone when they hung out the day after. For a moment I thought he didn’t want me anymore.”
“I wouldn’t be friends with him after that,” Ino said bluntly. “Fuck Naruto. Doesn’t matter how much you like someone, you don’t mess with their relationship with someone else.”
“But Naruto isn’t just anyone, Ino. He’s like family to me.”
Out of the three of them, growing up, Sakura was the loneliest. Her parents both worked full time so she was always over at Naruto’s house or Sasuke’s being taken care of by their mothers whom were both housewives. The two of them were her world growing up. Just because her love for Naruto wasn’t romantic it didn’t mean it was any less than her love for Sasuke. It was just a different type. Much different but just as important.
“Okay. Enough with the melodrama. Tell me about how you started, you know,” Ino made a whistling noise and a crude gesture with her hands, “Sasuke Uchiha. Because I love Sai from the bottom of my heart and wouldn’t want anyone else but goddamn! And this was when he went to Oto? So this was when he was wearing that uniform and looking all proper and innocent and shit? I can’t believe you took Sasuke’s virginity. Amazing.”
“I think it’s time for me to go home.”
“Noooo! Talk to Ino!” Ino wrapped her arms around Sakura to hold her in place. Sakura sighed heavily not wanting to start wrestling with Ino and having her mother come up to hear Ino pleading with her to tell her all of her dirty secrets.
“Let me go and I’ll tell you.”
“Yes! Let me get some popcorn. I already know this is going to be good.”
Sakura wasn’t expecting Naruto to be at her doorstep when Ino pulled into her driveway. He paused his knocking and turned to see Ino’s baby blue VW Bug and waved at the girls.
“I can stay if you want,” Ino offered. “He tries something and I go for the eyes.” She held up her manicured nails. She wore her nails in an almond cut so they looked somewhat like claws.
“Nah. Sasuke is watching.”
“What?”
“Don’t stare,” Sakura warned. “He likes to sit on his roof.”
Ino subtly tilted her head upward and looked out of the corner of her eye. She almost gaped openly when she saw Sasuke Uchiha just sitting on his rooftop, eating a tomato like an apple.
“Why are all the hot guys I know weirdos?”
“I’ll see you at school, okay?”
“I’ll probably call later tonight about the questions for the reading in Topics. Remind me again why I took Honors History courses?”
“Bye, Ino.” Sakura giggled and waved at her friend. She watched Ino back out of the drive and head out of the cul-de-sac before turning to Naruto.
“Hey, Sak.”
“If you continue to call me that I will stop responding to you completely.” Sakura was tired of reminding him that she hated that stupid nickname. It sounded way too much like he was calling her Sock. “What are you doing here, Naruto?”
“I have something for you.” Naruto reached into his back pocket and pulled out a rectangular strip of paper. “A Flames ticket. For next weekend.”
“Naruto─”
“I’m not asking you out on a date!” Naruto cut her off. He waved his hands frantically in front of him, desperate for her to listen to him. “Well, technically I am─but not with me!”
“Naruto, you’re just confusing me now.”
“A double date.” Naruto pulled out his phone and showed her his lock screen. It was a photo of an average looking dark haired girl. The only thing not average about her was her silvery eyes that should have commanded attention but what stood out the most to Sakura was her shy yet gentle smile. “I wanted to take you and Sasuke to a Flames game. This is Hina, she’s kind of my girlfriend and I want to be able to take her out but her dad’s pretty strict. Like worse than Sasuke’s dad. I usually can’t go anywhere with her unless she’s running an errand with her older cousin or out shopping with her younger sister and I just tag along.”
“And she’ll be able to go out as part of a double date?”
“Well…we can’t call it that and she’d have to call home often, at least once per hour, but she would be able to go without her cousin or caretaker if you come along. You know, ‘cause you’re a girl and kind of known around town for being such a good girl.”
Sakura crossed her arms in front of her chest and stared Naruto down, looking him over for any sign that he could be lying to her. Naruto gave her a puppy dog stare complete with watery baby blue eyes.
“Sasuke is going?”
“Yep. I just gave him his ticket.”
Sakura plucked the ticket out of Naruto’s hand. Naruto beamed and pumped his fist in a cheering gesture.
“Hina and Sasuke better be going Naruto. This is your last chance.”
“They’ll be there. Believe it!” Naruto skipped down her drive and dialed a number on his phone. Sakura could hear him talking cheerily to someone he called Hinata. Hina must have been a nickname. Sakura hoped Hinata at least liked hers.
Sakura unlocked her front door and headed straight to her bedroom. She just wanted to curl up in bed and whine about how much her cramps were hurting her. She had just finished changing into a pair of cotton shorts and a baggy navy blue sweatshirt that almost completely swallowed her body when there was a knock on her window. She walked over to open it and Sasuke came in, tossing a drawstring bag on her bed.
“Hey.”
“Hi,” Sakura barely got out before Sasuke cupped her face in his hands and pressed a kiss on her lips. “Um, I can’t…”
“Hm? You can’t what?”
“Not today,” Sakura said softly. She flushed pink and bit her lower lip. Sasuke snorted and rolled his eyes. He walked over to her bed and opened up the drawstring bag he had brought over. He pulled out a thermos and a hot water bottle wrapped in a small towel.
“It’s like clockwork.” Sasuke handed her the thermos and she opened it up. The smell of hot chocolate filled her room. “And that’s my sweatshirt.”
“I stole it.” Sakura grinned mischievously and took a healthy gulp of the hot chocolate. The heat felt good sitting in her stomach. “I forget sometimes that my cycle is really predictable.”
“The wonders of the pill,” Sasuke muttered.
Sakura set down the thermos and grabbed the hot water bottle from him. She curled up in bed with clutching it to her abdomen. She had an electric heating pad she would use later for her lower back pain but she appreciated the gesture. Sasuke kicked off his shoes, lifted up the covers, and slid underneath to join her in bed. He wrapped an arm around her waist and pulled her closer, careful not to touch the hot water bottle with his stomach.
Sasuke’s smell was more intense than usual and his hair was still kind of wet. Sakura figured he must have showered earlier. She was about to scold him for being out in the cold with wet hair when she felt a familiar tingling sensation from her nether region. Talking earlier to Ino about what she and Sasuke use to get up to and now his presence was doing awful things to her and her out of whack hormones. She pressed her palm against his crotch and watched his eyes widen a fraction. She continued to rub him through his sweats until she felt him start to harden.
“I want to touch you,” Sakura murmured. She watched him swallow, his adam’s apple bobbing.
“Okay.” Sasuke slid his sweatpants lower on his hips, just enough for her to see the top of his black curls. She used a finger to trace the line of hair that licked his navel, feeling his abdominal muscles clench, down until she was fingering his waistband. Slowly, she slid her fingers underneath and pulled him out.
Sakura inserted two fingers into her mouth and laved them with her tongue before releasing them with a pop! and running them over his length. She stroked him at a slow pace, pausing every now and then to rub her thumb over his tip, causing Sasuke to let out a hiss. She continued that process until she had pooled enough of his precum to use as lubrication.
“I want to look at your tits while you do that.” Sakura paused to let Sasuke pull the sweatshirt she was wearing over her head. Sakura picked up speed and pumped him at a nice even pace. She didn’t want to go too fast and finish Sasuke off so soon. Sasuke cupped her face and pressed a hard kiss to her mouth. He parted her mouth, giving her hungry kisses, dipping his tongue into her mouth.
“It’s been a while since we just fooled around, hasn’t it?” Sakura panted after Sasuke pulled away for air. He nodded dumbly, black eyes hazy with lust. He let Sakura’s breathing even out and then pressed another hard kiss to her mouth. He started bucking his hips, trying to get even more friction.
Sasuke pressed his forehead to hers, hot breaths puffing out onto her face. His hand that wasn’t attached to the arm tucked between their bodies came to rest on her hip, gripping hard.
“Fuck…” Sasuke moaned softly. Sakura liked him like this, when he grunted and moaned and even whimpered with pleasure.
“I like playing with your cock, Sasuke. Do you like when I play with your cock?” Again, Sasuke nodded dumbly. Sakura pressed kisses along his throat, nipping and licking as she followed it down to his clavicle. She sucked hard there, hard enough to rupture blood capillaries. She was going to mark him up.
Sakura chuckled inwardly remembering Sasuke’s reaction to the first time she gave him a hickey. It had been an accident.
Sasuke scowled, looking at the mirror on his closet door for a better look at the small red bruise sitting on his collarbone. He would have to button his uniform button down shirt all the way up for the next few days until it went away.
“Sorry,” Sakura mumbled, again, for the tenth time since Sasuke had come to his senses after she had jerked him off.
It was her first time touching him, payback for him touching her the last time he had pulled a better score from the practice tests Itachi had drawn up for them. He was suppose to only look, satisfy his curiosity as to what color the hair between her thighs were when he took a finger and traced her slit. The afternoon had ended with her squirming from her seat between his legs as he pumped his middle and ring fingers in and out of her, digging the heel of his palm against her clit.
“I kind of just…heat of the moment type of thing…” Sakura looked at her feet, her eyes feeling that familiar itch, signaling tears.
“Lift your shirt up,” Sasuke commanded.
“What?” Sakura’s eyes widened in surprise. Sasuke sighed and slid his hands under her t-shirt and pushed the shirt up as he ran them up her torso. He leaned down when the shirt was pooled over her breasts and sucked on top of the left one until he bruised her just like she had bruised him.
“Now we’re even.”
“That was good,” Sasuke panted. Sakura pulled a box of baby wipes from her nightstand to clean her hands and his stomach. They had used tissues once but that had caused more mess than cleaned anything. Sasuke furrowed his eyebrows and frowned at her. “What do we do about you now?”
“I’ll take care of it later in the shower. I’ll just think about this.”
“You’re going to think about jerking me off when you touch yourself?”
“What would you rather me think about?” Sakura asked hotly, face flushing red in embarrassment and slight annoyance. Sasuke smirked and pulled his pants back up. He pulled Sakura close again and buried his face in her hair.
“So. We’re going to go watch the Flames play the Tornadoes?”
“I guess so.”
The two stayed quiet for a moment, content with just lying next to each other. Sasuke broke the silence, catching Sakura off guard.
“I always thought Naruto was pretty shallow. I guess I was wrong.”
“What are you talking about?”
“His girlfriend. He showed you a picture, right?” Sakura nodded, still confused. “Because of his crush on you I thought he only went for looks.”
“What’s that supposed to mean!?” Sakura pulled away from him. Her chest constricted, not liking what she was hearing. She couldn’t look past the implication that there was nothing else to like her for. “You should leave Sasuke.”
“Can you just listen to everything first?” Sasuke narrowed his eyes at her. “I mean that he really liked you but didn’t really try to understand you that well. He use to use a lot of flattering words to try and get on your good side but he was always making you upset or ignoring your feelings. He kept doing things that annoyed you even when you asked him to stop. Hell, he didn’t even notice how you were all tense, wincing in pain, as you were standing in front of him earlier. It was just weird that he would like you but be completely oblivious to everything going on with you even when you were right there by his side. But then with this Hina girl he’s more attuned to what’s going on in her life. Tries a whole lot harder. And you should see him when he talks about her. Like he actually sees her and not just a face.”
“And what about you?” Sakura asked. “Are you attuned to what’s going on with my life? Do you know me Sasuke Uchiha? Do you actually understand me?”
“What do you think?” Sasuke adjusted the hot water bottle, the movement easing more of Sakura’s pain. “We should probably switch sides so you can use your heating pad.”
“Not now. After my shower.”
“Your parents won’t be here for a few more hours. Want me to join you?” Sakura wrinkled her nose in disgust and shook her head. She didn’t want him to see the blood going down the drain.
“We should probably come up for a reason why you’re going to be going out, especially with me of all people, next weekend.”
“Already taken care of.”
“Really? What’s the plan?”
“My mother. She wants me to socialize more and she misses you and Naruto. There’s no way my father is going to say no to her and risk her finding out what he said about you.”
“Sounds like a gamble.”
“Trust me. My mother is the best thing we could have in our arsenal.”
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