31 Days 8/10 (also Variety Pack 6/6, so NC-17)

[AngelOfDeath]

Stands on its own, or it was meant to, but also functions as a naughty little interlude/complication in 31 Days. I love my life sometimes. It seems like there needs to be more SasuSaku sexy lovin'. I'm just filling the gap. . . ::snickers at obvious joke that should have followed that statement::

Ok, I'm childish. I'll admit it.

Only two more chapters of this to go! ^___^

Disclaimer: (see Ch. 1)

Chapter 8


*
*
*


?Ho Ho HO!?

Jiraiya laughed all the louder because Tsunade would catch him soon and spoil his fun. She hadn?t gotten near drunk enough yet to allow him to encourage women to come sit on his lap and tell ?Santa? what they wanted for Christmas. It was only a matter of time though, once the sake hit and the noble president of Konoha Inc. was on her buzz, and then. . . in that glorious moment the vice president would start having his way. You could read the eagerness in his eyes, or the vague desperation.

With a sigh Sakura watched the white haired executive pass by and tried to get into the bowl of egg nog standing beside her in a clear punch bowl on the long and low tables. Someone had spiked it already, to her dismay, but she discovered the bowl next to it to be untainted so she partook liberally. It was thick, spicy sweet, and it tasted expensive. Tsunade wasn?t a stingy person when it came to parties, it seemed, and Sakura wondered how much the catering alone had cost to turn the entire downstairs lobby of the office building into a winter wonderland. Everything sparkled. Sakura wished she had brought sunglasses to avoid the glare and those annoying trailing spots in her eyes where the lights left their ghosts.

A wave at the corner of her eye attracted her attention and Sakura slipped through the crowds of milling people to find Hinata standing with two other people, both men she had not seen before. The human resources offices were not someplace Sakura had been since she had been hired a little over three weeks ago, and Hinata?s previous warnings about her strange coworkers had been another good reason to stay away. Sakura had enough problems in accounting, she didn?t need more odd personalities in the HR department.

One of the men next to Hinata looked cross, his light eyes evaluating her and finding her obviously lacking. The other. . . oh lordy. It was the same sad expression Naruto gave her when he thought she wasn?t looking at him that this tall slender man wore. Naruto had fallen into an easy routine with Sakura, with both of them understanding that she was never going to go out with him no matter how he showered her with attention. Just when she had gotten comfortable she had to deal with another one. Why couldn?t this have happened to her in middle school when she could have handled it with her usual blunt refusals? Adulthood had brought only slightly more tact, but much greater social discomfort.

?Hinata, why don?t you introduce me to your friends.? Sakura understood that Hinata had been looking for an escape from these people, for whatever reason, and she was willing to throw herself to the wolves for her friend?s sake.

The woman quivered with relief and appreciation, and stammered out something like an introduction. ?Sakura, this is Lee and this is. . . Neji. Sakura works for Kakashi as his assistant in accounting. She helped organize things this evening.?

?Well, I didn?t do too much. . .?

?Of course you didn?t, preparations had been made weeks ago. You probably just supervised without providing any real contribution.? The one that Hinata had identified as Neji had already made her black list with that one statement. So this was Neji. ?So you?re that Sakura. . .? Neji smiled humorlessly and she tried not to ?spill? her eggnog violently into his face. Sakura did not appreciate being referred to as if she were a thing.

?Everyone seems to know you but me.? The man with the black hair in an unfortunate bowl cut that Hinata had called Lee gave Sakura an oddly attractive smile. He had very nice teeth, she noted, trying to find something complementary about him. ?But now that I?ve met you I?m sure we?ll get along well. It?s destiny.?

Oh gag. Sakura wasn?t in the mood to entertain the slightly unwelcome approaches of yet another suitor. She had enough problems with romantic attachments she didn?t want, both others? and her own. Hinata had only ever said good things about Lee, but Sakura knew that as nice as he was, there was still no spark. There had to be a spark, and she wouldn?t stand for anything less. Maybe that?s why she hadn?t had a date in. . .

Moving on.

?How do you know about me?? Sakura directed her question at the unpleasant one. At least Neji didn?t look like he was about to go down on one knee in front of her and declare his everlasting love. Hinata fidgeted to the side of them. Apparently she thought Sakura?s idea of engaging Neji in conversation was a bad one.

The man sipped at his drink and smirked so slightly she wasn?t sure if he had changed his expression or if it was a trick of the light. ?Whatever you did to Uchiha. . . I had expected you to be prettier.? The evil efficiency expert gave her a look up and down, and Sakura saw red. She was so angry she forgot to pursue that intriguing reference to Sasuke.

This was an improvement to fending off bad pickup lines how?

?That was cruel of you, Neji. Sakura is as beautiful as the flower she was named for.?

They were vying for exploding her brain, it seemed. Maybe she should have gotten the spiked eggnog after all. Hinata was waving again and it was with more than a little relief that Sakura spotted Naruto blasting his way through the crowds to get to their circle of people. Rather like Jiraiya, Naruto had on a lot of red, but without the Santa hat and the lecherous grin he managed to make it look festive rather than perverted. Neji frowned as Naruto approached. Oh yes, Sakura remembered, they had quite a bit of bad blood in between them. She was interested in how this encounter was going to play out. Anything to take the focus off of her, honestly, was welcome. Hinata had to deal with those two every day, as their boss no less?

?Hinata!? Naruto gave Hinata a hug, his cheeks glowing the pink of someone who hadn?t quite had enough alcohol to be excused of insensible behavior. The Hyuuga girl blushed darkly. ?Sakura!? It was gratifying that Naruto had gravitated to Hinata and only saw her second, but there was also the latent sting of resentment at being second. Sakura had always liked being the best even as she modestly claimed that it was not something she had sought for herself. Anyone who knew her knew she worked hard for everything she had, and the modesty she sometimes affected was partially false.

?Still working here? They must be desperate if they felt the need to keep you on in the advertising department.? Neji didn?t deliver his insult to Naruto with bite so much as with the artful swipe of sophisticated callousness.

?I made sure to recommend to the advertising director that he be recognized for all his good work recently, actually. Gai and I talk frequently, as you know.? Lee spoke up when Naruto, for once, decided to take the high road and not respond to Neji?s barb. It was more likely that he hadn?t heard it. Regardless, Naruto was ignoring both Lee and Neji who were now facing off. No one liked Neji, or so Sakura thought from where she stood, but the man seemed to find this funny rather than upset himself.

His light eyes locked with Lee?s black ones and he absently brushed a piece of lint off of his sleeve. ?When I talked with Kakashi the other day, he agreed with me that we should do job evaluations again to see if there are any jobs we can cut.? Slash! Lee seemed to take this badly, as if he had been physically struck. The man, who tugged at hem of his green cardigan sweater as he thought, finally came up with a retort.

?After I talked with Gai, he authorized almost 1.25 times as much bonus money this year for the holiday in his department.?

Neji squeezed the drink in his hand so tightly that Sakura thought that the firm plastic cup was going to burst its contents onto all of them. ?I?m having the water coolers removed because Tsunade thinks we?re getting charged too much for something we can have for free.?

That was enough to send Lee into frustrated and helpless paroxysms of impotent anger. He had no retort, it would seem. Sakura took it as her cue to edge away. Naruto and Hinata had escaped when the fight was starting and Sakura shook her head in wonder at how those two were getting along now. Naruto seemed thrilled that there was someone who would listen to everything he had to say all the time without telling him he was stupid or ridiculous, and Hinata was glad someone had noticed her existence and she seemed to be loosening up enough to gain some personality in his eyes. They were talking to one another in furtive whispers by the large cake that had yet to be cut into with the red and green frosting holly and berries all over it.

Sakura looked at the cake with some longing but decided against it since she knew her desire to talk to Naruto and Hinata was currently based more out of a need for attention rather than because she had anything to say to either of them. Odds were pretty good, at any rate, that they were talking about her. It seemed that it had become an aggravating hobby for her friends here at Konoha Inc. to talk about her as if she were some sort of living soap opera. In a way that was true, but Sakura felt that life on a whole tended to be dramatic only if you made it dramatic. She did enough of it for herself; other people should leave it to her to make a mess of things. . .

?What do you want for Christmas little girl?? Jiraiya?s smiling face invaded her thought patterns.

Quick, think, where?s Tsunade? Sakura scanned the room quickly, her green eyes soaking in information. The president was currently trying to convince some of the department heads, including Gai and Kakashi, that they should all go up to her office for a game of cards. Tsunade?s personal assistant, a harried looking woman with short black hair, tried to make gestures to the two men that they should move along and ignore their boss. There would be no help coming from that quarter it seemed. Naruto was with Hinata. Ino hadn?t chosen to even come tonight, nor would she have much motivation to when she could be on a date with her boyfriend. This Akamichi guy had already lasted almost a month; it was practically time to start the seating arrangements for their wedding.

None of these thoughts got those lascivious waggling white eyebrows out of her face. There was not going to be a graceful way out of this. Then, out of the corner of her eye, she spotted Shino. He was watching her and Jiraiya with his usual observant but detached interest. Save me, she mouthed. He cocked an eyebrow but did not move from where he leaned against the wall. Next time that man needed something copied she was so going to put big black lines down it, she swore to herself as she faced Jiraiya with a smile.

?You can tell me, I promise,? Jiraiya put a companionable hand on her shoulder. ?I know you?re new here, and I want to know more about you.?

You mean, I might be an easy target, she amended for him in her mind. Jiraiya did this to all the new girls, she had heard. ?Sorry, I don?t have time to talk, I?m looking for someone.?

?Ohh? Then let me help you, we can find her together.? He straightened his hat and swept some stray long white strands of hair back from his shoulders. ?Shall we?? The arm he held out loomed large in her mind, as if it were some sort of trap.

?I need you to get something for me.? Shino?s short statement startled both Sakura and Jiraiya. Sakura almost bit through the lip she had been unconsciously worrying at as she had willed herself to come up with an excuse not to take Jiraiya?s arm.

The cavalry had arrived! Shino was in the nick of time. That wonderful man, Sakura was going to make it a point to include him next time she, Ino, Hinata, and Naruto went to lunch.

?Really, Shino, she?s not at work right now. . .? Jiraiya didn?t want his fun interrupted.

?I need my keys. I left them in Kakashi?s office before he locked up yesterday. She has a key, I don?t.?

?Then how did you get into your car, or your apartment?? The VP gave the serious young accountant a suspicious glare.

Shino was unshaken. ?Spare keys.?

?Come on up with me, it won?t take hardly any time.? She tried not to do a skipping little jump in happiness. ?You?ll excuse me, won?t you??

?Anything for a lady.? Jiraiya, his fun spoiled, was already scanning the room for his next target. Sakura knew the older man mostly just wanted the company of the fairer sex, but she wasn?t in a mood to entertain him and learn first hand why it was that the whole building called him a lecher with the same half mocking half shamed tone.

They walked over to the elevator for appearances, but once they got there Shino actually pressed the button. Sakura looked at him questioningly and he darted his eyes behind him accompanied by a slight nod of his head. When she saw that Jiraiya was keeping them in his sight, she understood. The VP may be careless looking, he may like surrounding himself with giggling females and seeming like an idiot some of the time, but he was pretty sharp. If they didn?t go up, he would know it was a lie. What a bother.

?Thanks.? Sakura said on the way up, as bland holiday music played in the elevator.

?Don?t mention it.?

Once they arrived at the top, Shino turned to take the stairs down. He said that it would take enough time for the lie to be plausible that she had helped find his keys. Sakura said she would wait for a few minutes and then come down in the elevator since she didn?t feel like navigating all those many flights of stairs in the nice heels she had gotten out especially for the party. She never wore them except on special occasions and already her feet were aching a little.

They parted as she thanked him once more and his form disappeared into the stairwell with an automatic slam of the door. The accounting department at night was a scary place to be, Sakura decided and she rubbed her bare arms and her skin prickled with nervousness. The only light on in the whole place besides the few dim ones that were always on was the beam illuminating the floor underneath Sasuke?s office door.

She hadn?t thought it possible he could be any more heartless, but it seemed Ebenezer Scrooge lived on in the form of a certain Uchiha. Sakura wasn?t sure why this annoyed her so much, but it did. Working on Christmas Eve when all of your colleagues are downstairs at a party seemed too cold and remote even for Sasuke. If she had been Naruto she would have barged in on him and demanded he go down stairs and enjoy himself or at least appreciate all the work that had gone into making the party happen. Still with the engrained responses of a professional assistant rubbed into her mental workings after several years of that kind of work, she knocked first before barging in.

?What do you want?? Sasuke?s face was illuminated by the computer screen he faced, eyes lit up like a demon?s from the glare. Once he saw it was her, and the door shut after her entrance, he cautiously put his glasses back on. She already knew about that little secret, so it did no good to pretend to do work if he couldn?t see it. This way he could actually go back to work and ignore her until she left. Now he looked like he had no eyes, mathematical figures reflected in distorted images back at an angle to Sakura?s eyes.

Sakura leaned forward resting her palms on the edge of his desk. ?I can?t believe you. Locked away in your fortress of solitude it seems.?

He didn?t respond, he just typed and clicked the mouse beside him every so often. When he did speak, it was several long moments later all of which had consisted of her staring at him with a measuring glance. ?Unless you?re going to be useful, you can leave.?

?Can I?? Sakura?s voice held enough sarcasm to bring Sasuke?s face away from the computer screen once more with a grimace.

?Look, I?ll see you tomorrow when we have dinner with Kakashi. Be ready.? Her shocked expression forced him to give her a generally fed up grimace. ?You didn?t get the memo I sent you, did you??

?Memo?!? Sakura walked over so that she could stand there and scold him properly from her superior standing position. ?Why wouldn?t you tell me in person? And what if I had plans??

Her plane ticket had been canceled as soon as she had started the job here on the first of the month. She would have needed to take two days off to make the timing of her visit home work, and she didn?t want to push her luck in a new job by demanding vacation days she didn?t have yet. That call home had been heartbreaking, and she hadn?t liked the idea of a Christmas spent alone, but this was not what she had in mind when she thought about finding company. It wasn?t the act itself that bothered her so much as Sasuke?s dictatorial and aloof way of going about things. Not even Kakashi, his adoptive father figure and her boss, someone who should have had concern for. . . wait, he had alluded to things over the course of the week. Urg. Things had been so busy that she hadn?t even tried to put his cryptic statements together.

?I don?t think now is the time to discuss this.?

?What?! The dinner we may or may not be having tomorrow is certainly something we should discuss right now.?

Sasuke swept his glasses off and held them by the stem with his face drawn into a puckered frown. ?Did you come in here to be mad at me? If so, you could just as well leave it until tomorrow.?

?I came in here to try to cheerfully convince you to come down and join the party. But now I see that you never would have come down anyway. You?re too. . .? She tried to find the right word. Stubborn didn?t sound mean enough. ?Pig headed.?

Frantically, Sasuke tried to think of a way to get Sakura out of his office. He hadn?t been totally averse to the idea of the party. At the beginning, before other people had shown up, he had made an appearance much to Tsunade?s surprise. She had nodded and he had nodded back and wandered around like a caged tiger until the first few people showed up. True to form, Sakura had been one of the first.

In that tight little red top and short forest colored skirt he could see even more of her long legs than usual all the more accented by those tall black heels that made her hips twitch in a way that made his mouth go dry and palms break out into a sweat. Those dreams he had been having, those vivid and agonizing dreams, flashed in front of his mind?s eye as if someone had taken a strobe to his most hidden desires. He tried not to grip his glasses so hard that they broke.

With her eyes flashing, mouth lusciously pursed, and hips and chest jutting forward in defiance above him he thought his eyes were going to start watering from all the images that played in his mind of her: Sakura unbuttoning those businesslike little shirts of hers, Sakura teasingly sliding her skirt up her thigh, Sakura running a tongue the pastel pink of her hair over glistening lips. He had to quickly face his desk again when he realized that his body was having a natural and slightly embarrassing response to these instinctive urges.

That?s why he had retreated to his office, his inner sanctum, a space he felt safer in than even his own apartment. Her presence, (the real reason he had even shown up to the party, he now admitted to himself) was throwing everything off. He equally anticipated and dreaded seeing her. And now that he was here and so was she, in his private office on an empty floor, his brain was screaming for him to be harsh enough to get her out while other parts of him were urging other words to pull out of his throat.

During his long silence, seeing the disturbed expression on his face and thinking that maybe she had hit a nerve, Sakura tried to calm down and soften her words. She was still angry, true, but unless she planned to outright refuse him she should deal with this in a civilized manner. It had not been Sasuke?s way, in the time that she knew him, to think about others first. This behavior should not be a surprise. She had to be rational.

?I will go with you to dinner tomorrow, that?s fine, but you have to do something for me.?

His mind twisted the words to be something they weren?t. The way his knuckles whitened from clenching on the desk only signified to Sakura that he dreaded having to do anything for anyone. Sasuke was such a loner, and she was going to bring him some human contact if it killed him. She had planned it anyway, but having his willing cooperation made it all the sweeter.

?You?re coming with me,? Sasuke almost choked. ?We?re going to the party and you need to be social.? What she didn?t tell him was how she had convinced everyone to bring up any and all embarrassing personal Sasuke stories. While most of everyone drew a blank, Naruto had a handful and Shino had remarked with his usual air of mystery that he might have one too. This mini-roast was not going to be very public, but she knew the expression on his face would be priceless, and the camera in her purse was to capture that savory moment.

?No. I?ll see you tomorrow. Leave.?

She tried to be playful, biting her lower lip and giving a coy little look. ?You?re not going down with me?? Sasuke closed his eyes and bit back yet another groan. His muscles were clenched so hard his arms were shaking. Sakura finally noticed. ?Is there something wrong? You look like you might be ill.? With all the work he had been doing for the past few days she wouldn?t surprised if he had given himself a cold from stress and exhaustion.

?I?m. Fine.? He couldn?t even manage sentences anymore now that he looked over to where she was bent over, her pretty red bra and the lovely flesh it restrained were clearly in his line of sight. There couldn?t be any more blood in his brain, but if that were true then he wouldn?t feel so warm. She put a hand on his forehead and he almost jumped out of his seat, only stopped by the fact that his condition would be instantly revealed to her.

?You?re burning up.? His hand flew up and caught her delicate wrist. Sakura?s concerned words ended in a squeal of pain and Sasuke forced himself to let go before he hurt her. Maybe he was too late. He had thought there was no way to hate himself more, but he had found a way. Getting her out was his intention, not injury. ?If you have a fever then I?m not going to leave until you get home and get to bed.?

It was funny now, somehow. Sasuke, who had always taken seriously himself and every situation he had been in since before he even reached double digits, broke out into a wide self-deprecating smirk. It wasn?t a full on laugh, but it was a start. What was he doing? Why was he thinking like this? More importantly, what did he have to lose?

Sakura watched Sasuke smile, the heat in eyes which she had mistaken for fever turned on her and her breath caught. ?Stay or leave, Sakura.?

?What?? The confidence with which she lived her life, her unfailing certainty, was telling her to get out before things spiraled out of her control. Her perception, her intuition, was good but she wasn?t sure why it was firing. Sasuke was sitting in a newly composed manner at his desk with his self assurance in place like a wall between them.

He rose, their eyes locked, and Sakura took a step back from him. As usual the intensity that Sasuke possessed was beyond her when she wasn?t angry and meeting him jab for jab. Those charcoal eyes of his in the half light that his computer gave off were giving her an anticipatory and shaky feeling. He was predatory as he continued forward, forcing her to make stilted shaky steps back in those heels she wasn?t used to. The cool press of the wall through her shirt didn?t alarm her half so much as Sasuke?s lazy but steady strides towards her.

?You?re clearly sick. You have to get home and drink plenty of water. Tomorrow you can call me and. . .?

?Stay, or leave.? He asked again without asking. No longer was she the one in control of the situation. This was his territory. This was his ultimatum. And she? Well, she was his woman. The hot buzzing warmth driving him towards her was the one that told him that last bit. The thought had a certain appeal to it so he didn?t dismiss it right away. In how many little ways had he been trying to prove that to both of them since nearly the beginning? He had given up. No more lies no more fooling himself into thinking he no longer had desires. What he desired was giving him attractively hunted looks from underneath thick eyelashes not three feet away from him.

The deep steady breaths he made, the look of fire behind ice that his eyes shot her with, Sakura came to a sudden and disturbing realization of what he intended. He had kissed her once and she had rejected him, but this time she had a choice. That made all the difference. It put the weight of the consequences on her shoulders. It wasn?t fair. She didn?t want just a night of lust.

Yes you do.

No, I don?t. I want more than that.

Several nights of lust? He looks up to it right now. . .

Yes! I mean, NO! I want someone who cares at least a little for me.

Who you know well?

Yes.

Who is willing to protect you?

Sure.

Who wants to take you to meet his family tomorrow on Christmas?

I hate you.

Admit it, you don?t like it because it?s too real. Too possible for you to get hurt.

Shut up.

He?s right in front of you now.

?Hnnn!? her bit back squeal as she exited her inner conversation seemed to amuse him. Sasuke was a foot away from her and not moving closer, but she could feel how completely her personal space was violated as if they had been skin to skin.

Bad choice of mental words, good thing there was no way her cheeks could flush any more.

?So?? His hissed question blew at her hair gently. He smelled like coffee. Sakura wondered if he tasted like it too. She sighed, for all their attempts to separate themselves from one another it seemed that they were bound together.

I hated him at first sight, she cried out in a last grasp at sanity, and he isn?t any better now than he was then! He?s worse in some ways!

But you also wanted to do exactly what you?re about to do since the first time you saw him too, a voice cackled in victorious glee. You can?t hide from me! I know all that anger hid behind it more sexual tension than you could possibly ever control!

?St-? The word hadn?t even left her mouth before Sasuke had angled his lips over hers greedily.

His hands grasped her head, fingers messing up her carefully combed and arranged pink locks. A bobby pin or two fell to the floor, but she only felt them scrape against her scalp before they were dislodged, Sasuke?s fingers massaging as they went. Then again, if they were in her hair then they wouldn?t be getting into any other trouble. Or the nape of her neck. Or the swell of her. . .

?Sasuke!? She exerted force against his chest to push him back rather than fist handfuls of his shirt as she had been doing. ?What if I had been about to say ?stop???

The man looked at her as if she were speaking in tongues. Then he pressed a hot kiss to her neck as he gave her his version of speaking in tongues. Sakura gave a strangled choke of pleasure as he sucked and probed at the sensitive areas of her neck that were tight from the stress of her job and strung like a bow now as she arched into him. The humidity of her breath began to register to her as she felt how dry her mouth was. Surely Sasuke?s wandering hands were helping that along as well.

Sakura lifted limp arms from where they rested at her sides and pulled up Sasuke by his hair so that she could have access to his mouth. He wasn?t stopping, and she didn?t want to no matter how she brought up semantic arguments. If her mouth was dry and he was leaving wet trails over her skin. . .

He did taste a little like coffee, she decided, as she rubbed her tongue over his in swirls that prompted him to press her so hard into the wall that she struggled a little to breathe. Sasuke only backed away enough to gain some room between them to undo the buttons of her top. He traced an unforgiving trail with his fingers from her collarbone down through the dip between her breasts, briefly parting from her as he bumped over her bra and then stopping at the dip of her bellybutton.

The way she looked at him, curious, challenging, Sasuke knew this was probably a bad decision on his part. This wasn?t a woman he could use and discard, and he wasn?t sure he could even if he wanted to. Slowly, watching for her reaction every aching inch of the way, Sasuke moved her leg up by a knee to wrap around him. This brought her body flush against his at the hips and straining erection pressed at her panties. Sakura closed her eyes and bit at her swollen lower lip, looking so painfully erotic that he wanted to animalistically tear off the rest of their clothes and finish this on the floor.

Sakura?s eyes opened slowly, a calculated pace with plans filtering past sensation and bringing new strength to her body. Fast, clever fingers began to work at the armor of Sasuke?s clothing. Jacket, vest, shirt, she made quick work of. The tie took more concentration, but she managed to get it off of his neck without strangling him in her haste. She dropped her shirt down with his and unclasped her bra as he watched her, intent and still but for the occasional involuntary twitch of his member.

The first moment of complete insecurity snagged her as she found herself on display before him. The half light of the computer was all they had to go by, and he was backlit in such a way that she wasn?t entirely sure what she was seeing on his face. When he finally reached out to touch one dusky nipple, making it pucker almost instantly, she sagged more of her weight onto him with a gurgled moan.

Something snapped in Sasuke, but then he had given up reigning in impulses for the evening and when he swirled their joined forms around and laid her down on his nearly empty desk she didn?t seem to find anything unusual about it. The fevered and expectant look in her eyes made him smirk. He would get her to senselessly cry his name before the night was over. Sakura gave him a curious look when he pressed her legs together but then when he pulled her panties over her hips she got the clue and accommodated him. One pump encased foot dangled the black lacey creation from a polished tow and Sasuke rubbed his hands over her calf before he watched her flick them away entirely. His body shook with anticipation.

When she leaned up, he assumed she was going for the belt, but she just used it as a hold so that she could pressed soft open mouth kisses on his stomach. The muscles jumped and he pulled back slightly only to be yanked back by the loop of belt with which she had caught him. He had to fight not to try to press her head lower. . .

And then her hands were on him. He hadn?t even recalled when she had taken down the zipper but there was no ignoring the way her hands caressed him almost shyly then with increasing boldness as he moaned and strained forward.

?Sakura.? She liked the way he said her name like this. Like he was dying and she were the pleasurable cause. That sharp tongue of hers could shred his ego but it was being put to much better use right now. Sasuke was a beautiful man, a proud one, and she saw his knees quiver when she took him that extra inch down her throat. He was so full, pulsing, and she had control over him, guiding his reaction with the slightest of movements.

?No. . .? He was losing control, but that?s not what he wanted right now. Reaching up a hand to even the score, he sought what lay between the legs that straddled him while she sat on the edge of the desk. Suddenly he was freed from the sweet prison of her mouth as she arched back and thrust her hips at his probing fingers. She was slick, warm, and he enjoyed watching her squirm under him.

She keened when his fingers withdrew but he leaned over to plant a kiss on her lips and look into her wild green eyes as he leaned his body forward and drove into her quickly. Even if she had been prepared her body had to stretch a little in ways it wasn?t used to in an attempt to accommodate him. But the full sensation, the completion, was enough to drive her to knock her head back on the desk with a throaty laugh. The laugh turned into a choke as he began to move inside of her.

Sakura flailed out, bumping things as her hands sought a grip, but they had no choice but to hold on to the sides of the desk as he pumped into her with enough force to joggle the desk back with the vibrations. Gods she was tight, and Sasuke tried to hold himself back from crying out his release before she was done.

?Sasuke!? It wasn?t a breathy murmur, it was a near scream. He liked it much better than a murmur, and sweat beaded their bodies as they reached for satisfaction.

Frantic, thinking she was much further away than he was, he quickened his pace to see if that helped her along. She had been closer to the edge than he thought and her body quaked around him, muscles pulling him into his own orgasm, his knees hitting the side of the desk with enough force to hurt him. He was beyond caring.

Buried in her body, dark hair in strands and face shiny with sweat from their workout, Sasuke looked down at her with something gentle, almost fond. It was gone as soon as she had spotted it, a self satisfied and sated smile taking its place. Sakura had seen it though, and he couldn?t take that from her. They watched one another as their breathing returned to normal and her pattering heart stopped beating hard in her ears. Their bodies disengaged and they began to dress once more with no more words exchanged.

The silence was oppressive. Someone had to say something. Sakura opened and closed her mouth, gaping like a fish as she tried to find words to express something. Every time she was stopped by the possible implications of her words. She had to find something that wasn?t joking, something impersonal maybe, then again she didn?t want him to think this is something she did all the time. . . .

?You broke my mug.? Sasuke, dressed only in his pants, was holding up the broken pieces of his coffee mug. She must have knocked it down when she was trying to find something to hold on to. He didn?t seem angry with her, so much as making an observation. Apparently, even Sasuke couldn?t stand the silence.

?I could buy you a new one.?

He shrugged. ?Don?t bother.?

It was strange, true, but the moment felt intimate. They smiled at one another and Sakura enjoyed the moment of peace before the doubts set in.


*
*
*

The way down in the elevator Sakura spent reapplying her make-up, glad Shino had forced her to bring her purse as if she had really needed her key to the office. She was a mess, honestly, with tousled hair hopelessly tangled in at least a couple places and great plush kiss bruised lips. A smear of lipstick had survived her heavy sweating on her chin somehow and there was the beginning of a hickey on her chest and another couple on her neck. Those were just the visible ones. She?d have to break out a turtleneck for tomorrow. Until then, she?d just button up her shirt all the way and hope no one noticed her long absence.

True to form, most of the people left at the party were drunk and jolly with warmth and conversation punctuated by the odd designated driver tolerating their pseudo philosophical ramblings. Hinata, one of the designated drivers, found Sakura pretty soon after she had exited the elevator.

?Where were you?? The wonder in the other woman?s innocent eyes made Sakura feel all the worse for having abandoned everyone at the party to do what she had done. She hadn?t even managed to get Sasuke to come down and talk to anyone. His gruff sendoff had been softened by a kiss to her temple and in the afterglow she couldn?t help but feel charitable towards him.

Hinata had been talking and Sakura finally began to pay attention. ?. . . and then Gai broke it up, but everyone had seen Lee throw the first punch anyway. But then Kakashi, who had been holding back Neji, said something and Gai had gone all purple. . .?

But had she made the right choice? To initiate a physical relationship with Sasuke seemed like a leap in a shaky direction. What if he was just doing it to trick her and make some sort of point, or even just because so many other men in this crazy building seemed to want her and it boosted his ego to. . .

No, the doubts did no good. She couldn?t live with herself if she started to think like that. All this would be answered in time since she couldn?t very well march back up there and demand that he clearly define their relationship to one another. They had tomorrow, and that would probably be informative. At least she wouldn?t have to worry about him calling the next day.

?. . . and then Kakashi and Gai had to be separated by Lee and Neji but they couldn?t do it so Tsunade threw all of them out into the snow. She?s really strong. Jiraiya helped her, though.? Hinata had run out of words. Sakura wasn?t sure she liked the strong Naruto-like influence in that rushed soliloquy. ?Um, Sakura??

?Yes??

?Your buttons. . .?

Sakura looked down and tried to fight the urge to go absolutely stiff in mortification. One of her buttons had popped off in the middle it seemed, and her red bra was showing in the bulge her shirt made. Worse than that, she had misaligned the buttons that were left. Why not just go around introducing herself: Hi, I?m Sakura Haruno, I just had wild sex with Sasuke Uchiha during the office holiday party, how are you?

?Did something happen to you?? Hinata looked more worried than shocked, which was a good sign.

Sakura suddenly wished Ino were around. This was the kind of thing she was excellent at advising for. ?I?ll tell you later.?

[nightkat01]

Mmmmm, smexing....

Good job. That was hot. *breaks out fan and fans herself* Whoo....Words cannot describe this chapter.

Why not just go around introducing herself: Hi, I?m Sakura Haruno, I just had wild sex with Sasuke Uchiha during the office holiday party, how are you?

*laughs* I love this line. *snickers*

[bookworm]

I was wondering when the last of the variety pack was gonna happen. Not bad, though. Not bad at all.

[Baby Girl90210]

Love It!!!!!!!!!!!! The Sasuke Sakura is always good! I loved the whole Variety pack storys! I wish the sires hadn't ended I love the whole thing!!!!!!! But mostly the Naruto Sakura!

[Oyuki]

finally! i thought they would internally explode from all the pent up sexual frustration and tension!