Disclaimer: I don’t own Naruto!

They wanted the guys sitting across from them to ask them out, too. Sure, TenTen hadn’t voiced it, but it wasn’t too hard to read the expression on her face. When their food came, the girls were chattering excitedly, and the guys were just sitting there, looking at the girls in amazement. They’d never seen them talk this fast, and they didn’t know that it was possible. They couldn’t even understand what they were saying.

Ino turned towards the guys and asked them something, but they didn’t understand.

“Ino, could you slow it down a little, we aren’t quite used to talking at the speed of light.” Shikamaru said.

Ino giggled, “Sorry, I was just asking Sasuke and Neji if they were going to the Homecoming. We know that you and Naruto are, Shikamaru.”

“Hn. I don’t know. Not with all those girls that will be there stalking me.” Sasuke said.

“Possibly.” was Neji’s reply.

“Oh, come on! You guys should definitely come! It’s going to be so much fun!” Ino said. “You’ve never been to a Konoha High dance before, so you have to come to this one!”

“I suppose.” Neji said.

“Hn.” was all that they got from Sasuke.

“Ok, then. I’ll take that as a yes, Sasuke.” Ino said, and before he could object, the girls were back to their chatter. When they had all finished their food, Sakura walked with the girls back to her limo.

“I hope you guys don’t mind, but I’m going to be going over to Sasuke’s. He invited me over to study for that test in P.E. that’s coming up. He said he’ll photocopy the pages about basketball for me.” Sakura said with a huge grin on her face. She and Sasuke hadn’t hung out since their project had been finished.

“Oh, go ahead!” Ino exclaimed.

“Maybe while you guy are studying he’ll ask you to the homecoming!” TenTen said.

“I hope.” Sakura sighed. “Well, I’m going home with them. So I’ll see you guys later, ok?”

“’K, by!” The girls chorused, and Hinata added, “Sakura, don’t forget to call your mother. You promised her you’d be home after a couple of hours.”

“Oh! Thanks, Hinata! I almost forgot! I’ll do that before I head back over there.” Sakura said as she pulled out her cell phone and quickly dialed her mom’s number.

“Hello? Sakura?” her mother’s voice came over the phone.

“Yea, mom. I was just calling to tell you that Sasuke invited me over to study for a test in P.E. I didn’t want you to worry so I decided to call.” Sakura explained.

“Sakura, you’ve been out so much lately. Well, I guess since you’re studying it’ll be all right. And that Sasuke is pretty handsome. Go and have fun.” Mrs. Haruno said.

“Thanks, mom!” Sakura exclaimed. “I’ll call you when I’m done, ok?”

“Ok, sweetie, I love you.” Ms. Haruno said.

“Love you, too, mom.” Sakura replied as she hung up.

“And you’d better call us with all of the details.” Ino said.

Sakura giggled, “I doubt much is going to happen, but ok, I will.” Sakura quickly hugged her friends and thanked them for coming over, a habit she still couldn’t break even though they lived at each other’s houses. She then turned and walked over to Sasuke’s limo.

Sasuke was leaning against it waiting for her. “Took you long enough.”

“Sorry, I had to call my mom.” Sakura said with a smile.

“It’s ok. Come on, let’s go.” Sasuke replied as he opened the door for her. Sakura stepped into the car, surprised to find it empty of Sasuke’s friends.

“Um, Sasuke?” Sakura asked when he had sat down across from her.

“Yea?” He asked back.

“Where’s Naruto, Neji and Shikamaru?” Sakura asked. She hoped she hadn’t taken their spots in the car.

“Oh, they went home in Naruto’s limo. We kind of had this race thing on the way here, so they decided to take his limo home.” Sasuke replied nonchalantly.

“Oh, ok.” Sakura said, a bit relieved. “So what’s been up lately, other than homework?”

“Nothing really. Just the usual. All those fan girls shoving their notes in my locker gets really annoying.” Sasuke said.

“I know how you feel. All the fan boys that I have have been leaving notes in my locker asking me to the homecoming. I can’t stand it.” Sakura said. “It wouldn’t be so bad if they’d ask me to my face, but if they can’t even do that, why should I go with them.”

“I could do without any of it.” Sasuke said. “I don’t even really want to go to the dance.”

“Yea, I could kind of tell. I’m sorry that Ino shoved that on you back there.” Sakura said. “She’s really into the decorating. Boosters is in charge of that.”

“So you guys are decorating?” Sasuke asked.

“Yea, it always falls to the sophomores to decorate for homecoming.” Sakura replied. “We’ve been looking forward to it since last year.”

“I’ll bet. That seems right up your alley.” Sasuke replied.

“Yea, but it’s a big responsibility. Homecoming is the most attended dance. All four grades attend it normally, while most Juniors and Seniors don’t attend winter formal for some reason, and none attend spring formal because of prom. So the decorations have to be almost perfect.” Sakura said.

“That shouldn’t be too hard. You did a great job with our backboard for our science project, so you should be able to do wonders with a whole gym.” Sasuke said. “So what’s the theme you guys decided on for the homecoming?”

“Well, after a lot of debate it was decided on City of Lights.” Sakura said. “Although some people don’t like the idea.”

“Who doesn’t like it?” he asked.

“Oh, just that girl Sara from homeroom. She really seems to hate me and the girls.” Sakura said.

“I wonder why.” Sasuke said.

“No clue.” Sakura replied.

“Well, we’re here.” Sasuke said as he got out of the car, holding the door open for Sakura.

“Thanks.” Sakura said as she grabbed her purse and exited the car. She followed Sasuke to the front door, which he promptly inserted a key into and turned it, unlocking the house. They walked into the front hall, and Sasuke went over to a little table and picked up a note.

“They went out to dinner.” Sasuke said. “And Itachi should be home soon. He’s visiting from college. You can wait in the family room; I’m going to go grab my P.E. book from my room.”

Sakura nodded, vaguely remembering where the family room was located. Thankfully she found the big wooden doors that she remembered easily. She entered the room and sat down on the couch. She looked around the room, seeing that not much had changed in the time that she hadn’t been here. After a little while she was starting to wonder what was taking Sasuke so long. She finally heard the door open and stood up, ready to meet Sasuke at the door and take the book from him, only to find someone who looked a lot like Sasuke, but wasn’t him.

“Hello. Who might you be, and how did you end up in this house?” The man asked her.

“Um, I’m Sakura, Sakura Haruno. I’m waiting for Sasuke to come back from getting a school book.” Sakura explained, then added, “We’re going to study.”

“Ah, so I see my brother’s finally brought a girlfriend home.” The boy smiled wickedly at her. “I’m Sasuke’s brother Itachi, by the way.”

“Um, actually, Sasuke and I are just friends. He offered to help me study for a test in P.E. that’s coming up.” Sakura said.

“And you’re the first girl that he’s ever offered help to. So therefore that means that he cares about you to some extent.” Itachi said.

“Itachi, what are you doing in here?” Sasuke asked as he stepped into the room holding the book and some pieces of paper that Sakura assumed were the photocopies of the pages she would need.

“Ah, hello, little brother.”  Itachi replied. “Last time I checked, I lived here for most of my life and was coming home during a brief college break. And I was just talking to your girlfriend here.”

“Itachi, get out, now.” Sasuke said, sounding annoyed.

“Ok, little brother, I’ll just leave you and your girlfriend alone to ‘study’.” Itachi put air quotes around the word study s he smirked. He then exited the room, shutting the door behind him.

“I’m sorry about him.” Sasuke said to Sakura.


Oh don’t worry about it, he’s quite um...” Sakura trailed off, not knowing what to say.

“Annoying fill in your blank?” Sasuke asked as he sat down on the couch.

Sakura laughed as she said, “That, but I was thinking more along the lines of interesting.”

“Ok, let’s start studying.” Sasuke said. “Do you know anything about basketball?” Sakura nodded her head yes, and explained the little that she knew about the game. Sasuke then began going over the rest, following the major points from the book.