"Ramen? Really?" Sakura crossed her arms as she walked up to the couple who stood in front of the mall's local ramen shop.

"Don't judge." Naruto looked at her, "it's actually got some of the best ramen I've ever had."

"Hey!" Hinata smiled as Sakura stood by them, "I'm so glad you came, Sakura.."

"It's no problem." Sakura looked in Naruto's direction, "it's nice to hang out with you guys again."

Naruto nodded, "Same."

Sakura smiled sheepishly, "sorry, my 'date' is running a little late. We agreed to just meet here, but I guess he had to make a pit stop."

"That's alright." Hinata shook her head, "don't worry about it. Do I know who it is?"

"I don't think so." Sakura checked her watch, "what an idiot... This is embarrassing."

"He must really be a laid-back guy, huh?" Naruto laughed.

Sakura shrugged, "I don't know if I'd call him that." She glanced over her shoulder towards the mall's entrance and let out a sigh, "and here he is now... About time."

Sasuke panted as if he'd been running before coming to a halt, "Sorry. I had to..." His voice trailed off when he caught sight of the couple, "s-seriously?"

"Whoa!" Naruto grinned, "it's Sasuke!"

"Sasuke?!" Hinata's eyes opened wide, "what the heck? What are you doing here?"

"Uh..." Sakura chuckled awkwardly, "you three know each other?"

"Y-yeah." Sasuke rubbed his forehead, "Naruto's a close friend of mine, Hinata's my cousin..."

"Yeah, you never told me he was gonna be here!" Naruto laughed, "geez, Sasuke! You're dating Sakura? What the heck do you see in him, Sakura?"

"Shut up!" Sasuke growled, "it's not like that! We're here as friends!"

"Man, Sakura." Hinata chuckled, "I had no idea you two knew each other."

"Yeah, well, it was just coincidence we bumped into each other not too long ago, actually." Sakura sighed, "let's just go in and eat already, yeah?"

"Don't have to ask me twice. I'm starving." Naruto rubbed his stomach as he led the group inside.

"You never told me this couple was Naruto and Hinata..." Sasuke whispered to Sakura, who swatted him away.

"Just shut up and enjoy yourself." Sakura felt the annoyance boil inside her as they found a table and placed their orders.

"So how long have you known each other?" Naruto giggled childishly, "it's kinda funny seeing you two together."

I feel like I've had this conversation before... Sakura chuckled weakly, "about a month or two now?"

"Wow, that long?" Hinata smiled, "you two are cute."

"It's not like that!" Sakura defended, "besides, I'm not really into nerds like him."

"Who are you calling a nerd?" Sasuke cleared his throat and gave her a side glance, "you're as much of a Menma nerd as I am."

"Menma?" Naruto looked at Sakura, "I didn't know you liked Menma."

"Crap... Look what you've done, Idiot!" Sakura glared at Sasuke, "now everyone's going to know."

"What's so bad about it? There's nothing embarrassing about it."

"Yeah, sure." Hinata gestured in Sasuke's direction, "except that this guy's totally obsessed with it."

"Oh please." Sasuke sighed, "as I said, there's absolutely nothing embarrassing about it."

Naruto and Hinata laughed as Sasuke stood his ground. He was certain that nothing could make him change his mind about the way he felt for this anime, and he was proud. Sakura laughed lightly at the thought and looked at him, "you have absolutely no room to talk." 

He looked at her, "what's that supposed to mean?"

"Being seen out here with you is embarrassing enough for me."

"May I remind you, you're the one that invited me."

Naruto leaned in closer to Hinata and lowered his voice, "they're kind of cute."

"I heard that!" Sakura slapped her hand down on the table and smiled angrily, "care to repeat that?"

"I-I don't think there's any need to if you heard what I said, you know?" Naruto chuckled weakly and held his hands up in defense, "hey, when we're through with our ramen, let's go out and take a walk somewhere, burn off all those calories."

"Yeah, sure. Sounds nice." Sasuke looked down at his phone, "we've got about another hour before I have to go visit Itachi again."

"Oh, that's right." Sakura peeked over at his phone screen, "want me to..." She noticed the wallpaper of his lock screen was a picture of him and Itachi when they were little, dressed as Menma characters, "pfft! Sasuke! You're such a nerd!"

"I wanna see!" Naruto snatched Sasuke's phone from his hand and burst out laughing, "what the hell?! This is hilarious!"

Hinata laughed as Sasuke fought the blond for his phone and his dignity back.

"Naruto!"

"Sasuke!" Naruto wove the phone over his head just out of Sasuke's reach, "come on, this is fun!"

"I'll kill you!"

_____________________

"Delete them, please...."

"Hell no!"

Three hours had passed and the group of four had completely lost track of time. Naruto was scrolling through his camera roll giggling at all the embarrassing photos he got of Sasuke, whether it be a picture of just Sasuke at random, embarrassing moments or Sasuke with Sakura.

"Damn it..." Sasuke groaned, "I missed visiting hours..."

"It's okay." Sakura patted his back, "this was fun. And I'm sure Itachi would've wanted you to hang out with us anyways. I can imagine him saying," Sakura pressed her fingers against her cheeks, imitating the poor eldest Uchiha, "'oh no, Sasuke, you need more friends, you should be with those guys before you die all lonely and depressed!' Or something like that."

"That..." Sasuke smirked, "was pretty accurate."

"Right?!" Sakura cackled before turning to Hinata and Naruto, "I hope you guys had a good time. For a first date, that started out kind of rocky."

"Yeah, but in the end." Naruto slung his arm over Hinata's shoulders and pulled her closer to him, "it was a good time. We definitely gotta go out again."

"Mhm!" Hinata smiled and looked at Sakura, "thank you guys for making it fun."

"Our pleasure." Sasuke nodded, "we'll be heading home, now."
"Uh, 'we'?" Sakura rose a brow, "I'm heading to my own home, just for your information."

"Right. Of course." Naruto giggled childishly, "I'll be taking Hinata home, so you two have fun. But not too much fun, 'kay? Love you, Sasuke!"

Sasuke felt his blood boil, "he's dead..." 

"Calm down." Sakura sighed, "It's embarrassing being seen out here with you as it is. Being seen out here with a pissed off you is even worse."

"Whose fault do you think that is, huh?" Sasuke pursed his lips, "never mind. Let's go."

"Huh?"

"I'm taking you home."

"Heh." Sakura smirked, "don't want Naruto to show you up?"

"Yes. Now, let's go."

I thought he'd be joking... Sakura pouted as she followed behind him.

The two were silent for a long time before Sakura cleared her throat.

"I don't know about you, but that was a lot of fun." She smirked, "think it could be me?"

"What makes you say that?"

"Whenever I'm involved, things are always fun."

"Please. It's gotta be me." Sasuke rolled his eyes, "it's whenever you're with me that you have such a blast."

"Well, whoever it is." Sakura shut her eyes, "we should hang out like this more often."

Awaiting his rebuttal, she stopped along the sidewalk with a smug grin on her face. When she didn't hear a response, she opened her eyes and found him standing right in front of her, staring. She jumped a little in surprise, "h-hey, at least answer my--"

"Scared?"

Her face burned, "n-no!"

"Heh." Sasuke smirked, "I agree. We should hang out more often."

Sakura pursed her lips and shut her eyes again, leaning her head down, "I wish we could, but..."

"Hm?"

She coughed slightly before shaking her head, "i-it's nothing, I swear."

"Then..." Sasuke looked at her, "that dinner Itachi was inviting you to. The one next week."

"Yeah? What about it?"

Sasuke looked away, embarrassed, "he wasn't... Really kidding when he said I'd appreciate you being there."

"Really?"

"I mean. It'd be fun if you were there." He looked back at her, his face a little red, "look, it's hard enough for me to say this as it is, don't just stare at me like that."

Sakura smiled with a nod, "of course I'll go."

"Good. Because I already told my parents, so they're expecting you."

"What?!" Sakura gritted her teeth, "already?!"

"Well, yeah. I kind of figured you'd go anyways."

"Th-that's not entirely accurate!"

She's so loud. Sasuke chuckled to himself as he continued walking, enduring the yelling he was currently receiving from Sakura. But hey, that's what I like about her. So she'd better be there. I don't want her to spend another day on her own. At least... Not during this time.

Sasuke shut his eyes and imagined those past few moments he saw Sakura.

She's a strong girl. But... How long does she have? After all this time, I've completely forgotten about her Leukemia. I guess we don't like to talk about it. Hell, we never talk about it. If I bring it up, she'd probably punch me. But if something happens to her out of the blue... She's one of my closest friends... I care about her. I'd rather get punched in the gut than wake up the next morning not knowing if she was alive or not... Hell, I'll do it. I'll do it for her.

"Hey, Saku--"

"Anyways, I'll see you tomorrow, Sasuke!"

He'd completely spaced out, he didn't realize they were already standing outside her house, "ah..."

"I want to visit Itachi tomorrow, so I may as well go with you, right?" She smiled, "it's a lot easier that way."

"Y-yeah, uh... Sakura, I--"

"Did you want to say something?"

Those eyes... Sasuke stared at her sparkling eyes, smiling up at him. He couldn't handle it. He covered his face and exhaled, the cold air surrounding his face, "n-no... I'll see you tomorrow."

"'Kay! Later!" She waved as she turned on her heel and headed to her front door.

He watched her go, a tight feeling in his chest. 

Damn it... I failed. Maybe... Tomorrow. Yeah. Tomorrow. I'll ask her. It has to be done before the dinner. I'll ask her. 

...

Crap.

~~~

Written by xX_Fang_Xx