31 Days 5/?

[AngelOfDeath]

. . .

Sorry, just had a Naruto love moment there. I squeeze you, you cute little boy! I?d squeeze Gaara too but I know he?d pulverize me into nothing. ::sigh::

This is fast becoming the only place I like to post stories. I love you BI community! You make writing so much more satisfying! ::huggles::


Disclaimer: (See Ch. 1)

Chapter 5


First, there was the moment of shock, when all there could be was instinct and all that was felt was pleasure tinged with the beginnings of realization.

Second, there was horror, when reality set in, context was given, and suddenly the world was no longer as peachy as it had been a fraction of a second ago.

Third, there was reflex, when Sakura acted on what she knew was happening but didn?t think hard about what the consequences of that action might be. All she knew was that someone who professed to dislike her was kissing her, without having asked her first. There was a term for what he was doing, and she didn?t have to take it. She wanted to take it, but under these conditions it didn?t feel right quite. Good thing her shoes were sturdy. . .

Sasuke tore his lips off of hers and staggered backwards, face twisting into a pained expression. ?What is your problem?!? As he clutched at his desk behind him for balance Sasuke tried to gauge how much damage could be done from a solid stomp to his instep. Who knew something like that could hurt so much?

?I think that that should be my line.? Indignation had given her back her confidence. ?I?m sure this was just a mistake. In the future you?ll stay out of my business.?

?Since when do I take orders from you?? Under his haughty disbelief Sasuke was trying to understand for himself what had happened but a moment ago. He had upset her. . . and then he went to alleviate some of it. . . and then. . .

Sakura took a deep breath, shaking a little at the end of it. ?You aren?t going to interfere with my life and I?m not going to bring you up on harassment charges.? It wasn?t in her nature to make threats, but Sasuke had never proved to be reasonable in the past and you worked with what you had.

The smirk that stole across his face made her want to slap him. Why were the cute ones always deranged? ?Who would believe that I would have to force myself on any girl??

It galled her that, for all that it was one of the most egotistical statements she had ever heard, it was a somewhat understandable retort. Sasuke was handsome as sin, and obviously aware of it. She exhaled, blowing wisps of hair up in a draft as she tried to collect her wits around her more effectively.

?You have a nasty streak in you. I?ll admit, it would be a hard claim to make. . . but my credibility with Hinata, Naruto, and Ino is impeccable. And of course the incomparable Mr. Shukaku is willing to vouch for me.? The sarcasm of the last part didn?t lessen its bite. He didn?t look like he was up to rejoining any sort of conversation, eyes flashing with the knowledge that she could still corner him. It was too much to deal with today. Sakura was tired of this, she was tired of the animosity and she was tired of having to jump when he called. It was better when they ignored one another.

?I am establishing some ground rules.? Rules were good, Sakura lived her life by other people?s rules on the surface and it was about time she made some rules of her own public. ?One, stay out of my business?past and present. I won?t ask you for any more help and ignoring me should be second nature to you at any rate. Two, you may not touch me.?

Sasuke watched her tick of her quaint rules on her fingers and concentrated on the dulling pain in his foot. If this made her feel good, to enact imaginary barriers against him, then she could lecture him to her heart?s content. His loss of control had only proved to him that she was a dangerous variable in his life. The further away she wanted to be, the better.

While she continued to talk, Sasuke pried his eyes away from where they had fixated on her lips and attempted to reexamine things again now that there was no immediate danger of anything meaningful happening in the next few minutes. The girl liked to talk a lot, didn?t she?

The most likely outline went like this: he had been thinking a lot about Sakura, and coupled with frustrations over his rage at Gaara and his general stifled feelings after having a bad day his body had channeled all that wasteful energy into the most convenient target. Seeing as she was feeling bad and he had wanted to comfort her, (he?d examine why he would even attempt that at a later date) then the energy had found an outlet that was only an extreme version of what he had wanted for an outcome. It could have easily been a hug, or some other equally vile touchy feely reaction. Yes, that was exactly what had happened. It was a misfire of his reflexes. The kiss was a mistake.

Ironically, it had probably been a more convincing way for him to get her out of his life than anything he could have said to her. Sakura was quite a perverse creature when it came to him. Outwardly she seemed to hate him, in that cute way that people hate someone else when they don?t know what hate really means. Sasuke hated people. He knew what it was like to hate someone so intensely that you could only derive pleasure from their pain, and nothing else. Sakura, in her innocence, seemed to derive pleasure not only from disliking him but from all the activities that were involved. An example was how she seemed to be really getting into making these rules. She would have to run out of clauses soon.

?. . . and 12, should I hear a single thing about the state of my employment here in conjunction with your name then. . .?

Enough already. ?Are we done now??

With her momentum punctured, Sakura ground to a mental halt. ?Yes. Do you understand the conditions??

Following his line of thought before, disregarding how badly this meeting had gone, Sasuke felt like if this was the last time they were to speak to one another then he should warn her. Gaara was after her, but he was not reasonable like Sasuke was reasonable. Gaara was a predator. If Gaara didn?t get what he wanted, then he would take it. Sakura didn?t understand evil; she couldn?t if this was all she could respond with to Sasuke forcing himself on her. (He wasn?t proud to admit it, but that?s what he had done.) This had been a misunderstanding, so Sasuke would take his lecture like a good boy and walk away. Sakura would need more than lectures to fend off Gaara.

?I. . .? The look she gave him, as if he were the lowest of the low, agitated him. She didn?t want his help, and he was a fool for wanting to offer it after all this. ?Good bye Ms. Haruno.? It was solid, final. He would be cut free and things would get back to normal. By the time he had rounded his desk to get back to his seat he was actually surprised to see her standing there still.

She was proud, too proud. He waited for the last word that he knew she had to have.

?Good bye Mr. Uchiha.?

The door clicked behind her and Sasuke tried to shake off the dark feeling in the back of his mind. Sakura could take care of herself, and she was no longer any concern of his. With her banished to the back of his mind, Sasuke turned to his computer. For some reason he felt like doing work, and quite a lot of it. There was much he had to make up for, after all, but now he could approach it distraction free. Yes, life was back to normal. He was happy.

Right?

Of course. Of course he was happy.

*
*
*

Sakura stormed out to her car. She had showed him. Now, with clear guidelines in place all she had to do was stay as far away as possible from that damn Uchiha. It was only once she had gotten in the car that her rush died away while the engine warmed. Left in its place was the constant replay of what had occurred in his office. It had been sudden, surprising them both she was sure. It hadn?t been premeditated, from what she could reason out about who Sasuke was and how he interacted with others. She thought that it would be a cold day in hell before he would willingly touch her or anyone else. Well, it was cold enough today. . . why didn?t the engine warm up faster?

While she had reacted like she should have, (no one should be able to take advantage of her at this time in her life) there was a traitorous part that begged her to reconsider. It wasn?t merely because Sasuke was attractive that this happened, there was also the fact that she had been feeling more like she was on his side after she learned about him from Naruto. Sasuke Uchiha didn?t seem like the kind of man who would want anyone on his side, but Naruto proved it could be done and she had a feeling that they didn?t have to be enemies.

But a kiss was too much, it took them into realms she couldn?t deal with, and Sakura needed to be where she was comfortable. To her knowledge she had never been in a situation that was out of her depth since she was small and still held on to her insecurities. If she was honest, those insecurities were still there, buried under a slough of facts and the rationalizations that she developed to cope with a life she wasn?t satisfied with. It was ok that she wasn?t the fastest or the strongest because she was very well going to be the smartest.

She didn?t feel very smart right now. She felt lonely and rejected, despite the fact that she had done all of the verbal rejecting. When was the last time she had been kissed and enjoyed it? There were elements to this adventure that she could brag about, if she wanted. He was stunned by her beauty, (she didn?t think that was true), he was acting on a secret crush (it didn?t seem like him), or even that he had been overcome by lust (from a man icier than Ino on the second day of her period this also seemed a little far fetched).

The heater kicked in and Sakura was treated to the blast of warm air on her already blushing cheeks. He was insufferable and closed off, but he had grown up that way. Did that excuse him for being an overbearing ass? No. But it let her feel less upset at him for his actions because she felt like she understood why. That kiss, however, could not be explained.

It was hard to turn the wheel. Her car was old and the power steering sometimes didn?t kick in when she wanted it to. Struggling with that occupied her interest for some time as she flipped switches and attempted to get her heap of a car onto the street. It was so much nicer in Sasuke?s. . . well that ended her peace of mind again. It seemed that today was going to be filled that dark haired weirdo.

At what was assuredly the back of a gargantuan line of cars, Sakura turned on the radio and tried to orient herself once more. Would it have been so terrible if she had let the kiss happen? It wasn?t half bad in of itself, even if the circumstances of it weren?t quite what she wanted. With Sasuke being as emotionally (and socially) stunted as he was, that could have been the only way to let her know that he felt something. What if that was an attempt to reach out to her and she had crushed him? The idea of Sasuke, brusque and emotionless, being crushed by anything she could do seemed like another leap into a world of fantasy.

The urge to call up Naruto to talk or Ino to (ha) gloat, was strong. Getting Naruto involved at this juncture was unwise. None of his predictable reactions to the information would help. Ino would get through her shock and make excuses as to why it didn?t mean anything and Sakura had been away from the dating scene for too long if that was enough to get her riled up. Hinata would stutter and apologize for not having any idea of what to do or think about this. Sakura didn?t need solutions. She pushed the gas pedal softly, wishing for empty roads which to blast down instead and clear her head, and stared at the sea of red tail lights.

Even if she was having complex emotive reactions to Sasuke, she had shut down the possibility of anything with her condescending speech to him. To his credit, he had stayed silent and seemed to accept her words. The kiss had been a mistake. Sasuke was no longer any of her business, if he had ever been in the first place. For some reason she felt like eating ice cream and watching bad television. She would have to stop at the store on the way home.

*
*
*

Hinata was out of breath by the time she reached Naruto?s office. She hadn?t bothered to wait for the elevator and had taken the stairs at the fastest run she could manage. Even in her urgency, she felt paralyzing apprehension halt her limbs from knocking. The soft tap she tried didn?t even make enough noise to her sensitive ears. Sakura, she had to do this for Sakura. The knock she gave felt like it bruised her knuckles and she was cradling the injured hand when Naruto threw open his office door, pencil in his mouth and pens tucked behind each ear.

?Hinata?? His face lit up in pleasure, as it did whenever someone visited him in his office. ?I can?t go eat with you all today, Gai has me busting my butt because I messed up on some layouts and they need to be reworked before. . . yeah??

She had been tapping her fingers together, as if they carried some sort of charge that had to be reaffirmed with each gentle touch. Eventually she forced herself to look at him, to meet those eyes of his that carried his state of mind on the surface. The surge of fright she experienced was again only overpowered with the knowledge that something had to be done, and fast. The breath had returned to her lungs incompletely and Hinata?s voice was even more breathy than usual.

?Naruto. . .? He nodded, expectant. ?I went to see Sakura. And. . . she was talking to. . . I mean, I think it must have been. . . Gaara.?

There were few things that could have gotten Naruto to desert his job, but that was one of them. Grabbing Hinata?s hand they rushed back to accounting, while Naruto tried to get even one more scrap of information out of Hinata.

?Gaara? You?re sure?? Naruto looked back at her face, flushed, and thought she looked prettier when there was a little color on her face.

Hinata tried to nod in a way to make it obvious above the general bouncing of her body on the stairs. ?He kind of seemed like Sasuke. . . only scarier. And with reddish hair.?

At that, Naruto managed to bark out a laugh. Sasuke would hate that description. It was typical of Hinata, though, since she rarely looked anyone in the face, to describe people by her impression of their personality. In fact, where was Sasuke in all this? If he had protected Sakura once, then he would do it again wouldn?t he? Of course, having barricaded himself in his office over the past couple days might have left him out of the loop. Sasuke might not be aware that his dreaded enemy was even within fifty feet of him.

?Next time, Hinata, don?t hesitate. You could totally have intercepted him yourself! I keep telling you, if you don?t stand up to bullies like Gaara and Neji then you?ll be miserable!? He turned his head and saw the shame etched in her face. Oh man. He had messed up again somehow. He stopped them, a door away from their destination. Putting slightly sweaty fingers under her chin, he turned her face up so he could look at her. As usual she didn?t resist. ?I know you?re strong, Hinata. You can do it.?

Strange words to hear, vague and clich?, but somehow it did make her feel better. Getting them and any attention at all from Naruto was enough to give them more impact. There he was, smiling down at her, and she wished it would never end. It was all thanks to Sakura.

?Sakura!? Hinata exclaimed and brushed past Naruto into the accounting department. He was fast enough to follow with little delay and they converged on Sakura slumped in her chair at the same time. ?Sakura?? Hinata grabbed the pink haired woman?s hand and she finally seemed to notice them.

?Hinata? Oh Naruto, you too? I thought you had work to do.?

Naruto crossed his arms over his chest. ?I did, but this is more important. What did he do to you?? His hands dropped to his sides in tightly bunched fists.

?Oh nothing, nothing. We just talked.? She gave a humorless laugh, there was no need to clarify who ?he? was. ?Just talked. . .?

Being unusually assertive, Hinata crossly demanded. ?Don?t try to be so strong. Tell us! We?re your friends!? Then, surprised at herself, she clapped a hand over her mouth and looked back down at the floor.

The experience of being yelled at by one of the most passive people alive gave Sakura some impetus to tell them, as well as an amused feeling. The whole situation, her life, was amusing. Maybe not amusing to her, but there were several trickster deities across the world and at least one of them must have taken an interest in her.

?If you insist. . .? Sakura leaned back in her chair, stretching her stiff arms and legs. She wouldn?t be leaving for lunch today since her appetite had miraculously vanished in the face of new stresses. ?Gaara walked up to me, demanded we go out to dinner tonight, and I didn?t have to gumption to say no. I don?t think I need to go over the details.? The lazy grin she gave them, mimicking Kakashi, was another front to hide the tumult of thoughts in her brain. She folded the piece of paper in her hand with contact information. ?Ichiraku, eh??

Hinata trembled in empathy for the situation Sakura had found herself in. ?You. . . don?t have to go.?

?She?s right!? Naruto hit the edge of the desk for emphasis and knocked over an empty coffee mug by mistake. ?You don?t have to do anything you don?t want to!?

Sakura shook her head. There was no escaping this. She knew Gaara and his tenacity too well. It seemed like she could not escape her old life. This new freedom, finally feeling like herself and having personal relationships with her coworkers. . . it had been a nice dream while it lasted. If Gaara got back into her life, he would swallow it up, and it would be back to passive and overworked Sakura. As a boyfriend, it would be even worse than when he was her boss. The blitz he had run on her mind had taken her back to an earlier meek time. Where had her confidence gone? Maybe it had rolled under the desk.

?What are you doing?? Hinata watched Sakura as she thought to herself and then inexplicably began looking under her chair for something.

?Nothing, nothing. You two don?t need to worry about me.? She wrote something down and then grabbed a piece of tape. ?If Mr. Hatake asks, I went home early because I wasn?t feeling well. If I?m going to do this, I need time to prepare.?

Naruto scratched his head, and realized his pens and pencil had gone. Who knew where they had landed on the run to get here. ?Does it take that long to get ready for a date??

The pink haired woman gave him a withering look. ?To you it may look like dinner. But I, I am preparing for battle.? She sighed and taped the sign to Kakashi?s door telling of her absence. ?A battle I don?t think I can win.? She picked up her things, not even going through her leaving ritual of assembling her outfit and checking her purse. It was a bad sign when she forgot to be obsessive compulsive. Naruto and Hinata gave each other a concerned look for her sake. Naruto?s face widened into that grin she had seen him get before he did things that inevitably ended in a lecture from Neji.

?She said Ichiraku, right?? he rubbed his hands together.

Hinata picked up the coffee mug from where it had dropped and replaced it on the desk. ?I think so.?

?Go on and have your lunch. I?ll give you a call at the end of today with the plan.? He winked at her and she blushed in pleasure. ?Now if you excuse me, I need to get to work on things.?

?What about your work.?

Naruto laughed. ?It can wait! Friends are the most important thing, after all. Right??

She nodded and wandered off in a haze after the busy fifteen minutes she had spent. Meanwhile Naruto threw open the door to Sasuke?s office before yelling:

?We?re going out tonight, and I?m not taking no for an answer!?

*
*
*

If it hadn?t been a Friday, there was no way Naruto would have had a chance to talk Sasuke into going anywhere. The blond idiot did this now and again, with varying degrees of success. Most of the time, Sasuke could care less about a movie coming out or whatever sport Naruto was currently fascinated by (it changed every year). Dinner seemed harmless enough, and Sasuke was too tired to protest hard enough to get Naruto to go away. He had slept in his office the day before to speed along his work, and getting out of the building seemed like a good idea.

He should have known better, in retrospect, than to trust Naruto when he was that excited about anything.

?No.?

?Come on. We?re already here. The car has been parked somewhere by some poor valet you scared half to death. They weren?t going to do anything to that hunk of metal of yours.?

?I don?t care.? Sasuke stood in the lobby, straightening his tie. He hadn?t bothered to change after he had gone home, and even if a suit was part of the dress code, the rumpled state of his was certainly not good etiquette. Naruto looked like Naruto and therefore he was never strictly dress code, but somehow he got away with it.

He seemed to be looking for something. Apparently Naruto had made a reservation, or so he said. This all seemed suspicious. ?Loosen up for once. You?ve been a wreck ever since this month began. And I know it can?t all be over your moth??

If looks could kill Naruto would have been dead many times over long ago. ?You don?t like fancy restaurants, and you know I don?t like expensive restaurants so why are we here??

Naruto gave a little cough and covered up his uncertainty with a loud laugh. That was a bad sign. It meant that Sasuke had already been drawn into something he didn?t want to be in. The last time Naruto had done that laugh with the same strained smile, it had been before Sasuke had walked into the apartment they had been sharing at the time to find it flooded. That first week of college had been hell, and he never regretted the cost of breaking lease and finding his own place the day after.

?No no no! Please nooooo!? Naruto grabbed onto Sasuke?s sleeve and stopped him from walking out. He looked frantic. ?I just wanted to try something new! This place is one of the hardest to get into right now, elite you might say.? Naruto knew how to push certain buttons very well, and Sasuke felt his resolve crack at the word ?elite?.

Sighing, Naruto added. ?I?ll even pay for dinner.? This was a big deal. He must honestly want to eat here badly. Why turn down a free meal at the hippest restaurant in town?

?As soon as we?re done eating, we?re leaving.? Sasuke made his way back inside and Naruto went limp with relief behind him.

They waited for another ten minutes before they were seated. Naruto fidgeted, bouncing his legs, picking at the seat cushions, looking around at everything. Sasuke thought it reminded him of sitting with a small child. Children bothered Sasuke. Why couldn?t they act like adults? With their constant questions and annoying tendencies. . .

?Oh man, I need to go to the bathroom. Why can?t they seat us faster??

. . .they were just like Naruto.

?Mr. Uzumaki?? Naruto practically sprang up when the waiter came to fetch them. They were led through a twisting path past many plants, tables, booths, and pieces of sculpture. It didn?t smell like ramen, so what could Naruto care about what this place had to offer?

They had only been seated and handed menus when Naruto jumped up to find the bathroom he sorely needed. Sasuke was free to browse the menu and maliciously chuckle at the prices. Naruto had offered to pay, and that was his own mistake. His eyes skimmed over the price of steak and fell away from the menu to instead scan the room. It looked like it was filled with well dressed young professionals and bored rich families. Food was the same everywhere, to Sasuke, so the idea of paying so much for calories that could as easily be acquired elsewhere at a far cheaper price was ludicrous. What sort of people wasted their money like this?

?Why Sasuke, what a surprise.?

?Ino.? He tilted his head to the side, his frown never changing from where it had been when he had been examining the people dining. ?Hinata.? The way he said it was less a greeting and more a passionless statement of information. How much of this was coincidence?

?I never thought he would actually get you here.? She waved a hand around, indicated the interior and its contents. ?Isn?t it lovely? It?s Chouji?s second restaurant, technically, not that many people know about his first one. It only opened a few weeks ago. Still very exclusive. Naruto and Hinata owe me big for the strings I had to pull to get them reservations.?

Hinata and Naruto? And why was Ino here, as her presence didn?t seem to be needed once the favor was performed. Suspicion had been his first instinct when he had walked in here tonight, and he should have kept going with it. He must be really tired to get this sloppy.

?Look Hinata, Mr. Uchiha here seems to still be in the dark. I told you Naruto was too much of a coward to tell him.?

Bursting onto the scene, loud as always, Naruto arrived in time to catch Ino?s last statement. ?I?m not a coward. I just hadn?t gotten around to the details.?

?Did you see them?? Ino spoke low and urgent to Naruto, who responded with equal seriousness. Sasuke, and her mocking of him, had already been put aside.

?Yeah, they?re near the big blobby thing that might be a duck and a giant fern.?

Ino nodded. ?I know where you?re talking about. I?ll be right back and see if we can?t be moved to a more convenient spot.?

Sasuke tried not to let his temper flare up. He was running on little sleep, and even less patience. ?What is going on? And you better have a good explanation for this little set up.?

Confronting his long time friend, Naruto wasn?t sure how to put this. ?If you get up and peak around that big bush over there, then I think you?ll understand.?

He wasn?t stupid. If the three of them were here, then Sasuke had a good idea what was going on. Even prepared by his logical conclusions, the sight that met him was so wretched that he almost bit through his cheek.

Sakura looked perfect. Her hair was styled in a way that looked artfully tousled, and the sleek black dress she wore showed off her slight form in a way more advantageous than those skirts and blouses she came to work in. Bracelets flashed, the sway of earrings caught his eye, and he felt perfectly safe in watching her openly like this because her partner across the table from her seemed to be just as taken in by her appearance.

This was a date.

This was, more specifically, Sakura?s date with Gaara.

Naruto was a dead man.

It didn?t take long to storm back. Sasuke was good at storming from place to place. It came naturally to him, like looking down on others or inspiring women in insane acts of adoration with his brooding good looks. Naruto was prepared, countering Sasuke with a smile and a slightly defensive stance.

?Why am I here?? He turned the force of his gaze on Hinata who promptly hid behind Naruto. ?Never mind, I?m leaving.?

Ino had returned to find this delightful scene in action. ?Before you run away, like the coward you accused Naruto of being, I?d like to remind you that my current boyfriend runs this restaurant and the odds of you getting your car back from the valets is pretty low at the moment.?

?I?ll get a cab.?

The flash in her eyes, the challenge, didn?t escape him. A contest of wills with Ino was not something he wanted to embark on. She had a streak in her that couldn?t be broken, and this situation was bringing it out for whatever reason.

?Go to the table with us, sit down, and if after fifteen minutes you still want to leave then I won?t stop you.?

He remembered why he didn?t like Ino. Fifteen minutes. A short wait, and it would save him the trouble of trying to force the issue. He would drink some water and then leave. There had to be something microwavable at his apartment. Then he would take an aspirin and go to sleep. Fridays were fast becoming his least favorite day.

The way Ino glanced over, that expression on her face, he knew she was enjoying this far more than she was letting on. It was probably her way of punishing him for ignoring her all those months ago, when she had taken up the favorite sport of the building?s female population: trying to catch him. They met eyes while sitting in their new spot, as he tried to infuse his irritation into her.

?Stop looking like you?d love to see my head on a platter as the entr?e and look over there.? She hissed, pointing to Sakura. Naruto and Hinata were talking to one another, not paying attention to Ino?s dealings with Sasuke.

He glanced. ?She looks happy enough. You don?t need to baby-sit her.?

?Stop acting like a spoiled brat and actually look.?

Sasuke gave a long suffering look and turned his chair to get a proper look. There she was, looking as carefree as always. It just proved he was the only one she couldn?t stand, even under the best of circumstances. Then something happened that caught his interest. Her hand was on the table, resting next to her water and as she laughed Gaara took the opportunity to slip his hand over hers. Sakura reacted instantly, snatching back her hand as if she had held it over a fire. She tried to cover up her sudden rejection with another laugh and a swipe through her hair to push it back from her face, as if that was what she had been intending all along.

It wasn?t a big deal, but it opened Sasuke?s eyes. The way her back was perfectly straight was not a sign of being relaxed or happy, and from this vantage point he could see her twisting her napkin in her lap. When Gaara was speaking she was biting her lip, and when she was speaking she followed every comment with a glance down at her plate before she looked at Gaara again. Sakura was not happy, in fact she looked miserable.

As for Gaara, if Sasuke hadn?t known him so well he?d say the man didn?t care about how nervous she was. That was a lie, however, because Sasuke knew what to look for and the flash of rage on Gaara?s face as Sakura had stolen back her hand from him had been a clear warning sign to Sasuke. If she wasn?t careful, she was going to set off the anger that Gaara had been once infamous for. He controlled it now, but she had gotten under his skin just as she had done with Sasuke and she awoke something primal and unreasonable in both of them.

This was beyond what he should be caring about; he was probably breaking at least three of her stupid rules by merely sitting here. She didn?t need him here, and Gaara had threatened him if he interfered. There was no logical reason why he should monitor and protect this woman from his most notorious and long standing enemy and rival.

?Are you in or are you out?? Ino?s voice was far away, drowned out by the chatter around them.

Then again, he knew he was the only one who would be able to protect her when the time came. Damn her rules, and damn him for sticking his nose where it didn?t belong. He wasn?t doing it for her, he rationalized, he was doing it to spite Gaara.

?I?m in.?

[nightkat01]

I am loving this story so far. I'm usually not one for AU's, but this is just great. I like how you managed to keep everyone's character in a different setting. Keep up the good work! ^_^

or even that he had been overcome by lust (from a man icier than Ino on the second day of her period this also seemed a little far fetched).

LOL, this is probably my favorite line in the chapter.

[Oyuki]

he's just doing it to spite gaara... yeah right!