Radio Tokyo

A/N: Hey! I guess it’s pretty silly to be updating quite this soon. But since I won’t have the ability to do so for the next week, I figure I should get it over with now. So, I hope you enjoy this chapter. Writing Sasu/Saku is hard! Because let’s be totally honest: Uchiha Sasuke is asexual. He never will like girls. Won’t like guys, either (the inner yaoi fangirl dies at that one, yes?). He just doesn’t give a crap. Sakura, I feel for her. Poor girl. *tosses Sai and Naruto at Sakura* I hope she enjoys this, because it just won’t happen for real.

Warnings:

FL--Foul Language!

Legal Stuffiness: I do not own Naruto, or any of the characters therein. Kishimoto Masashi, sole proprietor. I do not own the lyrics to the song “Smooth” by Rob Thomas and Santana.
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Anonymous reviewers! Thanks for your reviews! Login next time, so I can reply to you individually! I love talking things out, so if you have any ideas for my stuff, let me know. I don’t always use them, but they get my brain going!

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Chapter 1: Holding Your Liquor

“What?!” Naruto asked, the tiredness falling away from his face. Sakura couldn’t help but smile. He was gaping at the speakerphone on the table. “Syndication?!”

Kakashi chuckled on the other end of the phone. “Yes, Naruto. Your show has been picked for syndication. The first show that will broadcast from six stations in Japan and Okinawa will be next Saturday, when you’re at the Bauhaus.” Sakura was overjoyed. This meant that soon, she could move out of her mother’s house. It wasn’t that she didn’t love her family, but her little sister wasn’t exactly the world’s best roommate. She had three sisters, herself, and her parents all living in the same apartment, and it only had four rooms (1)! She was starting to get claustrophobic.

Sasuke looked the way he always looked: bored and annoyed with the entire world. Why couldn’t he be happy for once? In the six years she’d known him, Sakura wasn’t sure she’d ever seen him really smiling. Naruto’s voice broke into her thoughts. “This is awesome! Since tonight is our night off, I think we need to rest during the day and go out to celebrate!” Sakura agreed immediately, and after some nagging on Naruto’s part, Sasuke approved, as well. Of course, that was only after saying that he didn’t have anything else to do. Kakashi bid them farewell, and with another congratulatory remark, he hung up.

“Make sure you rest up, Sasuke. We all know you can’t handle your liquor.” Naruto sniggered, earning a smack to the back of his head from the dark-eyed man.

“If there’s nothing else, I’ll be going.” Sasuke grabbed his black leather jacket and slipped it on over his dark blue dress shirt. Taking out his cigarettes, he shook one from the pack and tossed it in the air, catching it in his teeth. “Later.” The two remaining members of Radio Tokyo watched him leave. Sakura beat her hands on the table in frustration.

“Damn him!”

Naruto’s bright blue eyes were filled with concern. “Are you okay?”

Sakura’s fingers raked through her hair. It was pink for the moment, but she’d been contemplating dying it again. Maybe purple would be fun. Sighing at her own idiocy, she lay her head on the table. “He’s so infuriating!” A hand began rubbing soothing circles on her back. “Why does he do that? He intentionally insults me. What the hell have I ever done to him?”

The snort Naruto made echoed off of all the wood and glass in the conference room. “You don’t have to do anything to get on Sasuke’s bad side. Just existing is enough.” Now, ain’t that the truth, Sakura thought. He was just way too much to deal with sometimes. But then there were times when he could be really decent, and that’s what made her so confused. Which was the real Sasuke? Was he really the asshole, or the guy who chased off her ex-boyfriend in the bar last week? Groaning, she got to her feet. It hurt her head to try and figure him out.

“Sakura, if you don’t want to go home, you can always stay at my place.” Naruto said, and Sakura instantly brightened. He didn’t have a huge apartment, but it was just him living there. Maybe a little bit of un-crowding would do her good. She nodded. “Good. Now, let’s go find you something to wear for tonight in the shops. Maybe we can get something that will make Sasuke apologize?” He waggled his eyebrows, and Sakura smacked him. “What? I mean, use your ‘feminine wiles’ or whatever the hell they’re called.”

Another smack. “Naruto, you and I both know that Uchiha Sasuke doesn’t give half a crap about me, or my feelings. No amount of cleavage or leg will make him apologize.”

A cat-like grin spread over the tall man’s tanned face. “Well…even if it doesn’t work, it’ll give me something nice to look at.”

“Naruto!” Sakura screeched, smacking him again.

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“Nine o’clock…at Hobgoblin (2). Yeah. That’s right.” Naruto closed his bright metallic orange cellular phone. “Oh, Saaaaakura…he’s going to actually show up this time.” There was a noncommittal grunt from the dressing room. “How does that outfit look?”

Sakura kicked the wall on the inside of the dressing room. “I look like a hooker.”

“Let me see.”

“No!”

“Come on, Sakura. I’ll tell you if you look like a whore or not.” Naruto said in his most charming, least perverted tone. The door creaked as it opened. When Sakura stepped out, Naruto had to practically scrape his jaw off of the floor. His first thought was: Legs. The reason for that was the fact that Sakura was wearing a black leather mini skirt, with a dark red camisole and a pair of black leather boots that buckled up to the knee. “Nope. You don’t look like a whore.” He was grinning the entire time he said this.

“Liar.” Sakura frowned.

“You don’t! I swear!” Naruto waved his hand in front of him. “You just look really, really good. But if you want, you can get a longer skirt. The red looks really pretty, though. I like it with the black. And the boots are fan-fucking-tastic. If you really think you should, go for a longer skirt. It would still look great. And if it doesn’t have ice bastard begging for forgiveness, then I don’t know what will.” Sakura just shook her head.

Sakura looked at herself in the mirror, and Naruto watched her considering. Then, she turned to him. “Longer skirt. Size four.” Grinning widely, Naruto ran off to get the requested item. He loved shopping with Sakura. It was like he had his own Barbie Doll to dress up. She always tried on everything he threw over the door (with the exception of the time when he’d tried to get her to put on lingerie), and every now and again, she liked his stuff. He returned the favor, and as a result, Sakura had been his personal fashion consultant since partway through his junior year of college.

On his way back to the dressing room, he grabbed a couple of other small things. “Heads up!” he cried, tossing the skirt, a sheer beaded scarf, and a beaded gauntlet bracelet over the door.

Three minutes later, Sakura emerged from the dressing room. Naruto whistled lowly. He breathed on his nails, polishing them dramatically on his shirt. “Ah, what a lovely lady. And she’s going home with me.” Sakura shot him a deadly glare. Naruto turned her around rather forcefully to look at herself in the large mirror. She stared at herself. “I think I’ll have to bring a set of brass knuckles. Sasuke and I will be beating men down so you can have enough time to get a drink.”

Sakura made a flapping motion with her hand as a blush came over her face. “So you don’t think I look like a hooker?” Naruto took in the knee-length skirt. He shook his head. Sakura’s uncertain expression melted in favor of a bright smile. “Ladies and gentlemen, I think we have a winner!”

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In a dark back booth of a smoky bar, there sat a very annoyed young man. He glared at the general patronage of the establishment, and sipped a pint of room-temperature Guinness, the only beer he could stand to drink. The waitress asked him a few minutes ago if he needed anything else, and he’d just grunted. She went away. He’d been watching the door for the past half hour. How long did it take for them to get here from ten blocks away? It wasn’t that far to walk.

“Shut up, you wanker!” Black eyes looked away from the door to see the beginnings of a bar fight two tables down. Two British men were arguing over which football team would do better in the coming season: Leeds or Birmingham. He just sipped his Guinness, and watched as the bar’s bouncer broke up the fight and dragged both of the piss-ass-drunk men out of the back door to deposit them into the alley. Snorting, he turned back to waiting for his friends.

Uchiha Sasuke considered himself a patient man. He hadn’t killed Naruto yet, which was a miracle in and of itself. That proved his patience, didn’t it? But there were some people for whom he had very little tolerance. One of those people was his brother, but that was neither here nor there. Itachi was studying law on Hokkaido, so he didn’t have to worry about him. The person he was losing his sanity because of—at the moment—was Haruno Sakura. She was getting on his last nerve.

Sasuke’s mind began to wander. It dallied over the day’s events, the general annoyance of being in a crowded place, and then to the somewhat distant past. His thoughts strayed to the day he and Naruto had met Haruno Sakura.

“Oi…Sasuke.”

The pale-skinned young man looked up from the doodle he was making in his notes. The instructor was so boring that he just couldn’t seem to pay attention, no matter how interesting the material was. “Hm?”

Naruto’s face was split in a grin, and what that grin said was that he was up to no good. Sasuke raised one eyebrow. The blonde jerked a thumb to the other end of the classroom. “Check out the Easter egg.” Across the room was a girl that looked like she’d stepped straight off of Malice Mizer’s (3) tour. Her hair was dyed in shades of black, red and pink, and her clothing…

Naruto jabbed him in the ribs. Sasuke waved him off, grunting that he should pay attention. For the remainder of the class, he watched the girl from the corner of his eye. She wore a red knee-length dress, with black and white striped stockings, thick-soled spats, and a black lace shirt under the dress. There was a black leather jacket draped over the back of her chair. Unlike himself, this girl was paying rapt attention to the professor, taking notes at the speed of light.

When the instructor told them that he would see them again on Wednesday, he snapped out of his funk and began gathering his things. Naruto said that he would meet him in an hour for lunch, and took off, and Sasuke took his sweet time in getting his things together. A sharp rap on his desk brought his attention away from his backpack, up to a pair of exceedingly green eyes. They were actually rather close to his face, and were set in a face that was just as fair as his, though admittedly, much more pleasing to look at.

“You do know that it isn’t polite to stare, don’t you?” The girl’s voice came out sounding annoyed.

“What?” Usually, he was so much more articulate, but really…surprise, mild irritation, and those eyes just made him unable to formulate a decent reply.

A large black bag slid from her slender shoulder down to the floor as she planted her hands on his desk, leaning down into his face. “You want to stare at the freak, fine.” Her lips curled into a sarcastic smirk, “But you should know I charge admission.” What the hell was she talking about? He gaped at her, resembling a carp with the way his mouth worked open and shut. “You’ll catch flies like that, baka.” One delicate finger pushed his jaw until his teeth clicked together. “I’ll see you, baka-oujisama (4).”

When he met Naruto in the student union, there she was again. Now, she was talking rather animatedly with the blonde moron about something. Sasuke thought he was going to die of embarrassment. Here was this girl…that had rendered him utterly speechless. That was, in all honesty, a feat that was not easy to accomplish. He needed to be sure that it didn’t happen again. So, when he got to the table where the two were now talking about Naruto’s favorite food, he had an entire monologue on politeness prepared.

“Oi! Sasuke! Remember I pointed her out to you in class?” Sasuke almost groaned. Naruto was never known for his delicacy. He could only nod in reply. “Well…here she is! Her name is Haruno Sakura. Sakura, this is my very best friend, Uchiha Sasuke. He’s a bastard most of the time, but he’s actually okay.”

Sasuke opened his mouth to say that not only was he not a bastard, but that he’d already met Sakura, and that she was a complete and total ice-queen. But none of that came out. The second those eyes settled on him, he was utterly unable to speak. Instead, he just sat down and pulled his lunch from his bag.

“It’s polite to say hello, at least,” Sakura said, leaning her face into her hands.

Looking up from his lunch, Sasuke fixed her with a glare. “It is also polite to give someone their personal space instead of leaning down into their face and accusing them of staring. Which I wasn’t.”

There was a very devious smile curling at her lips now. “Oh, but I beg to differ, sir. Can you tell me anything about what Dr. Higurashi was lecturing on?” Once again, he was speechless. “My point exactly. But one thing I would like to know is this: what do you find so interesting about me that warrants staring?”

All the while, Naruto was looking really and truly confused. He began to shrink back in his chair at the hostility between two people that for all he knew, only met just now. And it only got worse when Sasuke opened his mouth again. “Well. It isn’t every day I see someone dressed like a circus performer.” Sasuke hated being made a fool of. And already, she’d done it twice in one day. His pride wouldn’t settle for anything less than revenge. But as he discovered, revenge went both ways.

Sakura’s left eyebrow twitched in irritation, but her voice came out as sweet as pie. “I’ll see you later, baka-oujisama. Naruto, you as well.” With that, she had gathered her things, leaving her sandwich untouched. Naruto just stared.

Upon entering the small, shabby studio that the boys used for their late night show that same night, they were met by their staff sponsor, a German man named Karl Weinstein. “Good evening, gentlemen. I was hoping that you’d be on time…” They looked askance at their professor, and he said, “Because I have a new crew member for you. Meet your new producer.” The big man stepped aside, revealing this new person, none other than the girl with whom he had butted heads earlier.

Weinstein left the room, and Sakura raised an eyebrow at him. “I told you I’d see you later.”

And that was when the war had begun.

Someone fired up the old jukebox, and a Latin beat swept through the pub. The front door opened, just as the voice of Rob Thomas began to sing. Man it’s a hot one…Sasuke looked at the people framed in by the doorway. His eyes widened fractionally, which was the only outward sign he showed of his surprise. There stood Sakura, dressed to kill, and Naruto, next to her. Blinking a bit, he looked her over as she scanned the bar. A silky red shirt with lace around the neckline was easily visible under her open black leather jacket…and he just stopped thinking after he saw her boots. Naruto was dressed all in black, devoid of his usual bright wardrobe. His long black coat buttoned over a black dress shirt and tie, and a pair of leather pants. He looked like a bodyguard.

Sakura finally saw where he was sitting and managed to make her way across the bar. Naruto repulsed no fewer than three men who were all attempting to approach Sakura. Sasuke thought that it was going to be a long, long night.

When the two finally got to the table, Naruto allowed Sakura to slide into the booth before him. Damning the blonde man silently for his gentlemanly tendencies, Sasuke tried not to notice the way the dim light made Sakura’s skin glow when she took off her jacket and lay it neatly between herself and Naruto. That old frustration came back, and out of his mouth in what could be considered a Turrets Syndrome (5) worthy outburst. “Think you could show any more skin, Sakura?”

Sakura turned to look at him, her red lips drawing up into a sarcastic smile. “Not in public,” was all she said in reply before flagging down the waitress. The woman came over and Sakura said, “Can I get an Irish coffee? And my blonde bodyguard here will have…Bass, is it?”

Naruto nodded vigorously. The woman gave him a wink, and then sauntered off toward the bar. Sakura laughed and said that she might have to beat women off of him with a stick. That gained a snort from him. “You might need to borrow the one that’s stuck up Sasuke’s ass.”

Just when Sasuke was going to make a retort, Sakura flicked Naruto’s ear and put a warm hand over Sasuke’s mouth. “Play nice, you two. We’re supposed to be celebrating. No fighting.” That was something new coming from her mouth. They made a living out of fighting on the radio, and that spilled over into their personal lives. Or was it the other way around? “Now,” Sakura said as she leaned on Naruto and toyed with a shiny scarf that was wound around her neck, “Anything fun happen before we got here?”

Taking up his beer, he drew a long sip before putting the bitter drink down. “There was a bar fight.”

Naruto perked up. “Really? Did anyone get hauled to the hospital? Jail?” After he explained that they were only dragged out back, the blonde wilted. “Damn. That would have been fun!”

Sakura made a face. “What’s fun about a bar fight?”

Just then, the waitress brought Naruto’s beer, and Sakura’s Irish coffee, so they began sipping their drinks in companionable silence. Sasuke watched Sakura play with the whipped cream on her drink, dipping a finger into the fluffy white stuff and then putting it in her mouth. He looked away. “Can I have some?” Naruto asked, and Sakura said he could.

“What about you, Sasuke?” When he looked back at her, there was a finger with whipped cream on it being held in front of his face. Had he not already been pink from the alcohol he’d already consumed, Sasuke would have blushed.

He shook his head. “No. You know I don’t like sweet things.” Sakura shrugged and ate the stuff. Sasuke just grumbled and finished off his beer. Raising a hand, he flagged down the waitress, asking for another beer. He felt like he was going to need it.

Three hours later, Naruto was the only sober one left in the group. Sasuke never could hold his liquor, and Sakura…well, she was an extreme lightweight. It never really helped that she drank the hard stuff. “I think it’s time to get you kids home. Sasuke, gimme your keys.”

The pale man was leaning back against the vinyl of the booth, his head lolling to one side. He rummaged through his coat pocket and produced a set of car keys. “Careful you don’t scratch my baby, idiot.” That made Naruto snort. When the blonde left, he looked at Sakura. She was draped over the seat, one leg on, one off. That black leather skirt had ridden up, revealing leg to mid-thigh, and she had her head tilted back, eyes closed. She looked disheveled. Disheveled and beautiful. Sasuke damned himself every time he looked at her. “Why?” he asked no one in particular. Why did he have to be attracted to her, of all women?

Truth be told, it wasn’t that Miko had dumped him. He’d kicked her to the curb. No matter how many women he dated, there was always something missing. There was this…spark that he just couldn’t find. It was elusive, like trying to grab hold of the smoke from his cigarettes. Miko, just like Helena the month before…they’d both been very nice girls. But nice wasn’t exactly what he needed. He wasn’t one for dating mega-bitches by any means, but he didn’t think that he’d want to be with someone who couldn’t keep up with his verbal sparring.

And that led him back to the woman that was practically leaning on him. He could feel her body heat. It radiated out from her, and he soaked it up like a sponge. Sasuke brushed dyed strands from her face. Sakura’s eyes opened, bright green irises contracting as they focused. She smiled. Sasuke blinked slowly. “You…” Sakura said in a low tone, “You’re so pretty,” Her fingers came up to brush over his cheek. “So much prettier than me…”

“No,” Sasuke heard himself say, “Not prettier than you.” Her eyes looked unfocused, and he couldn’t really say that he was much better off. “Sakura?”

“Hm?” She snuggled closer to him, and made a small noise of contentment. Sasuke bit his lip. He leaned down hesitantly, his lips barely grazing hers. Sakura’s eyes widened, and Sasuke pressed a bit more firmly against her mouth. A sound of surprise came from her, and he felt her hands on his chest. They pushed him away. “Sasuke,” her voice came out breathless, “What are you doing?”

A lazy smile came over his face. “Something I should have done a long, long time ago.” Leaning in again, Sasuke gently pressed his mouth against hers. Sakura opened her mouth to protest, but he quieted her, taking her face in his hands and nibbling at her lower lip. Her lips were so soft…unlike the words that came from them much of the time. As he kissed her, he felt it. There it was…that spark. Sakura finally stopped resisting, and gripped his shirt in one hand while threading fingers through his hair with the other.

Pressing herself against him, Sakura gave a little moan. After what seemed like an eternity, he released her. “Sakura, I—“

“All right, lover boy, get your ass up.” Sasuke looked up to see Naruto leaning against the entrance of the booth. The smirk on his face said he saw everything. For some reason, Sasuke just knew that he was turning about as red as a tomato. “Come on. Oh, look. That’s so cute.” The blonde pointed at Sakura, who was now apparently asleep. “Ten thousand yen says she doesn’t remember anything in the morning.”

Sasuke groaned. In a way, he hoped that Sakura did forget everything. This could get very, very complicated very quickly, and he really didn’t want to think about it. Not right now. The next thing he knew, Naruto had thrown the sleeping woman over his shoulder, and was leading him to the parking lot. “Naruto,” Sasuke said as he slid into the passenger seat of his own car, “if she doesn’t remember anything, don’t tell her.”

He was already slipping into unconsciousness when he heard Naruto say, “Fine. Just try not to be an ass about it.”

Cultural notes.
1) Sakura’s family all live in the same apartment. Five people in four rooms. This is not uncommon in Japan, though some people have a much more crowded arrangement.
2) Hobgoblin is an English-style pub in Tokyo. From what I understand, they occasionally have cheesy 1980’s music sung in “engrish” by poorly-studied Japanese bands.
3) Malice Mizer is a really great J-rock band. All the guys in it are really pretty. They look better in dresses than I do!
4) baka-oujisama is basically “idiot prince”. Anyone want to dispute that? My translation might suck, but that’s pretty literal. The connotation I’m using it for is basically Sakura calling him an enormous idiot.
5) Turrets Syndrome is the disease that has you twitching and yelling obscenities. One famous example is the bartender in the movie Boondock Saints.