Radio Tokyo

A/N: Hey you guys! Thanks for reading this far! I hope you didn’t get too antsy for the next chapter, but if you did, I think you should like this one just fine. And just to be different, I’ll answer a couple of reviews…

SaSa: yes, well. Sasu/Saku is probably the least likely pairing that one could imagine with Sasuke in it, simply because he’s got almost nothing but contempt for the poor girl. I’m giving it my best shot, though!

Tank: *sobs* That was music from my own personal collection…But I did pick the most emo music I had, and once you put it all together, I guess you could say that the total of those is lame. He’s so emo it’s just disgusting. But I do so love Radiohead! It’s great to listen to while I’m writing Sasuke. Oddly enough, Sasuke’s favorite Radiohead song is “Exit Music (for a film)”, but maybe that’s because it has the line “we hope you choke” in it. Meh. Sasuke’s an emo pussy.

Michiru: cute is what we aim for. And you were in Tokyo? Ah, I’m jealous. Never been there myself. Hehe. I hope that I don’t get anything wrong, though. If I do, please let me know! My research is usually pretty thorough, but it isn’t always perfect.

--

Chapter 2: Mornings

There was light, pain, and an awful taste in her mouth. “Ugh…” Sakura’s hand shook free of the sheets, covering her eyes as she sat up. It was official. She had the worst hangover ever.

From not far away, she heard a miserable groan. Okay. Maybe she wasn’t as bad off as whoever had made that noise? Gradually opening her eyes and uncovering them, Sakura found herself laying on a futon, spread out on Naruto’s living room floor. Only a few feet away lay Sasuke. He had thrown his arm over his face to block out the light. Looking down at herself, she saw that she was still wearing her clothes from the bar. The silk camisole was wrinkled, and the skirt felt constricting. Her bag was in the corner. It was more tempting than she could deal with. Getting very quietly to her feet, Sakura crept over to the corner. Having pulled a clean pair of blue jeans from the bag, along with her favorite red t-shirt and tiptoed to the bathroom.

--

Sasuke heard a strange noise. He cracked one eye open and moved his arm slightly, turning his head. Sakura was in the small kitchen of Naruto’s apartment, taking out cups and a tray. She was making tea. Sasuke thought very quickly. Did she remember? The way he saw it, there were two options: he could pretend he didn’t remember, or he could ask her about it. And he sure as hell wasn’t going to ask her about it. So he would feign ignorance.

When he stirred, sitting up and trying to ignore the horrid taste in his mouth, Sakura said, “Tea?” She was smiling. How could she be smiling? The woman had drank herself under the table, and surely had a hangover.

“Please,” Sasuke grunted, trying to be polite. He stood and stumped to the bathroom. Once inside, he gripped the edges of the sink, staring at his reflection. His hair stood out in all directions from sleeping on it, and there was still lipstick on his mouth. “Shit,” he groaned. If Sakura had seen it, then that explained her amusement. But the question remained: did she remember?

Sasuke could remember. In grueling detail, he recalled the feeling of her, the way she fit just so against him…and he hated himself for how much he wanted her. He tried without success to put it out of his mind as he splashed his face with water, dampened his hair to make it manageable, and then dried both. Exiting the bathroom, he found Naruto and Sakura sitting on the couch. There was a twinkle of mischief in Naruto’s eyes, and Sasuke was sure that he would die of embarrassment if the idiot had said anything about his little lapse in self-control.

That way, he wouldn’t have to deal with the agonizing feeling of being attracted to someone that drove him absolutely barking mad. Even if Sakura did have a hangover, she looked beautiful in the morning…it was all he could do not to actually slap himself.

--

Sakura leaned away from her microphone, yawning. Sleep was not a commodity that was becoming easy for her to get her hands on. Looking into the studio room, Sakura watched Naruto and Sasuke. They were arguing about something to which she was paying little attention, but they seemed to be doing fine with minimal interruptions. It had taken her all of five minutes after she’d finally gotten around to making a pot of tea to figure out that she couldn’t remember anything after that sixth shot of whiskey.

After waiting another ten seconds, Sakura said, “Ding! Round one! Now, a word from our sponsors.” Pressing a few buttons, a commercial came on, and she pressed the off-air button.

Naruto took off his glasses, dropping them on his desk. Squinting and giving a long stretch, he said, “You okay, Sakura?”

“Yeah. I’m just tired. How can you be so…perky?” Her amusement at seeing Sasuke wearing lipstick that morning had faded long ago. He had apparently found someone to make out with, which didn’t really surprise her. Sakura had seen so many girls come and go with him. Sasuke just seemed to have bad luck. That last girl, though, had been really nice. Sakura had rooted for her, right along with some of their other friends. But in the end, it turned out that something had gone sour, and they’d split up earlier in the week.

For a little while, she contemplated setting him up with one of her friends from school. Karin was a medical student, and she was doing really well. She would be able to keep up with Sasuke’s attitude, as well, which seemed like something he needed. There were times when she just wanted to kick him up and down the street, and would have done it on numerous occasions, had it not been for Naruto’s intervention. In fact, now that she thought about it, Sasuke had never really dated a girl; in all the time that Sakura had known him that truly had the right kind of attitude.

He needed a girl that could keep up with his sharp tongue, and who was smart enough to hold up her end of a conversation. Unlike that German girl he’d dated the month earlier. Cauliflower had a higher IQ, and probably spoke more articulately. But Karin…she had a tendency to try and tell people what to do, and that wouldn’t go over well with him.

Maybe Hinata? No…far too passive. Or Tenten? Sakura snorted to herself. He’d end up being a pin-cushion. Tenten was not one to be trifled with. She knew several forms of martial arts, and had a collection of knives that somehow fit into the strangest places on her person. No, she didn’t want to kill Sasuke. She just wanted to make him happy so that he’d stop being bitchy all the time. Sighing as the commercial ended, Sakura pushed a few buttons. “We’re back. May the fight resume.”

--

Naruto eyed Sakura through the glass. She’d been staring out into space for the last few minutes, and seemed almost like she was on auto-pilot. He didn’t really feel like continuing the argument that he and Sasuke had been engaged in, which was basically them debating the differences between soccer and American football. His eyes narrowed for a moment…a split second, really. During that split second, he made a decision.

“Oh! I have the very best idea in the world!” His voice came out almost sugary-sweet.

Sakura snapped out of her little trance, and said curiously, “What would that be, Naruto?”

Sasuke just stared at him. Naruto put on his most innocent face. “I think we need to get Sasuke a date!” It was truly hilarious to watch Sasuke’s face in the next 3.5 seconds. First, it was completely blank. Then, after the comment had sunk in for a second, shock painted his features. But at the end of those three and a half seconds, Sasuke’s face had turned a dark red that bordered on magenta, and a vein was popping out on his forehead. He even had a little twitch under his eye!

There was a faint “Oh, shit,” from the production booth before he heard a small thump as Sakura pulled off and dropped her headphones. She rushed in through the door, and stood between Sasuke and Naruto. Naruto was grinning broadly now, an evil look in his eyes as Sasuke glared daggers at him over Sakura’s shoulder.

The blonde pushed his glasses up with his middle finger and mouthed the words, This is for your own good. That only served to make him angrier. He lunged forward, heedless of Sakura’s presence, but got Sakura’s elbow in the stomach for his trouble. “Naruto,” Sakura said dangerously, the microphones picked up her voice and Naruto became wary, “I’m sure Sasuke is perfectly capable of getting his own dates.”

“Oh, I know he is. He could have any girl his little heart desired. He just doesn’t ask the right ones.” Sasuke was snarling at him now. Naruto grinned wider. “Ladies and gentlemen, let me enlighten you as to the situation. Our dear Sasuke has no trouble finding women. If I were gay, I’d probably jump him. He’s pretty. But…I’m not, so you little yaoi fan girls can stop your squealing. That aside, he has his fair share of admirers. But none of those girls are really the kind of girl he needs, know what I mean?”

Sakura was holding Sasuke’s shoulders now, pushing against him with all of her strength. She was pressed against the dark-haired man’s broad chest, and Naruto watched amusedly as the anger in Sasuke’s eyes faded to a smoldering annoyance, coupled with a frustrated embarrassment. There was even the beginning of a blush coming over his face. He stopped pushing against Sakura, and she looked up at him to see if he would try anything else. After apparently deciding that it was safe, Sakura stepped away from him. “Naruto, I think it would be a good idea if you changed the subject.”

Giving a little salute, he said, “Yes, ma’am!” Sasuke sat back down, and Sakura left the room, casting a worried glance back at the dark-haired man. She looked like she wanted to say something, but couldn’t think of how to phrase it. When everyone was back in their chairs and a tentative peace restored, he said, “Well, I suppose now would be as good a time as any for us to say that we’ve been chosen for syndication…”

--

It was difficult for Sasuke to talk to Sakura for the rest of the show. He took long, deep breaths while Naruto spoke, and replied as he normally would have. But in his interactions with Sakura, he felt like he was being stretched past the limits of his sanity. On one hand, he wanted to just curse and spit, yelling at her that he could defend himself. But at the same time—and he knew exactly what Naruto was up to—it had felt so good to have her against him that he’d wanted to put his arms around her.

--

Six a.m. rolled around soon enough, and Sakura watched the boys packing up to leave. Naruto was fine. It was Sasuke she was worried about. And if she said anything about what Naruto had said, or how many phone calls she’d had to hang up on with girls offering to have Sasuke’s children…he’d explode at her. Honestly, she didn’t want to fight right then. Instead, she approached him on the way out the door. “Hey…Sasuke?”

“What?” He snapped, rifling through his pockets and in obvious need of a cigarette.

“Are you hungry?” She asked this in hopes that he might want to go and get something to eat, and meanwhile, Sakura could calm him down. He made a non-committal grunt. “I know a good place for breakfast,” her hand closed on his arm and started pulling him to his car, “come on.” After a moment of him staring at her like she was going to burn a hole through his expensive leather coat, he relented. Sakura smiled broadly.

--

How had he gotten himself into such an awkward situation? And for that matter, why were they eating at a McDonald’s? Sasuke watched Sakura eating pancakes. He had a rather bad cup of green tea and one of those greasy breakfast sandwiches, but he hadn’t really eaten much of his breakfast. No, he was too busy watching Sakura’s lips and being annoyed at himself for it. Currently, she was trying to lick syrup off of her fingers. “Sashuke…” she said around her thumb, “are you okay?”

Taking another sip of bitter green tea, he said, “I’m fine. Why are you even asking me this?”

Laying down the little fork that she’d been using to eat her pancakes, Sakura said, “Because you nearly jumped on Naruto. I’ve never seen you that angry before.” That much was true. Naruto had managed to cut about half the length off of his already short fuse. “You want to talk about it?” There was a little, tiny, insignificant part of the back of his mind that was telling him that yes, he did need to talk about it, and that they really should do so. He thought that it probably would have to happen at some point, but for now, sleeping dogs should lie exactly where they were. She didn’t remember what happened, and he wasn’t going to let her in on that little secret.

Instead, he said, “Just frustrated, I guess.”

Sakura’s fork paused an inch from her mouth. Her eyebrows rose, and she said, “You expect me to buy that?”

His temper was starting to flare up again, as it always did where Sakura was concerned. “What the hell do you care?”

Pointing her fork full of pancake at him, Sakura said, “Look, asshole, I’m just concerned. You are my friend, even if you act like a complete jerk ninety percent of the time.”

Sasuke snorted. She was going to try and play that game, was she? “This coming from the ice-queen herself?” Green eyes flashed dangerously, and Sakura dropped her fork back into her plate. Pushing herself back in her chair, she stood. Sasuke waited for her to slap him, as she had on several occasions when his mouth ran away with his temper and sanity. But the blow never fell. Instead, she just turned on her heel and walked directly out of the door, leaving him blinking in confusion.

After about five seconds, he jumped up from his seat and ran after her. She was halfway up the block, running. “Damn it!” He hissed. Sakura was fast. Once, he remembered her mentioning something to Naruto about being the Kanto Prefecture high school champion for long-distance running. It appeared that she was pretty good with short-range sprinting, as well. He pelted after her, dodging old ladies with canes and a woman with a stroller. A group of schoolgirls giggled as he passed.

“Sakura!” He yelled, but it had no effect. He ran faster, finally closing the distance between them when they were six blocks from the restaurant. His fingers grabbed her arm and pulled her to a stop. She was still facing away from him. “Sakura,” he spoke hesitantly, “I—“

Suddenly, Sakura turned on him, her face stained with tears, eyes filled with a stinging anger. Her voice was choked. “Is that what you really think of me?” Sasuke could feel her shaking through the grip he had on her arm. “You think I’m a bitch, don’t you, Sasuke?”

“Sakura, I don’t—“

“Shut up!” She screamed, shaking his hand off. “You asshole! I have never done anything that bad to you! Sure, I might have teased you. I even argued with you at the drop of a hat, but I thought that we were friends!” Her face had turned red, and people were staring now. “I swear on my grandfather’s grave, Sasuke, that if you speak to me outside of work, I’m going to make you regret it.” Those words hit him like a ton of bricks. It hurt him to see what his rash words had done to her, and he felt something that he rarely did: regret.

They stood there for a long moment, Sasuke gaping in shock, and Sakura shaking with rage and something else he couldn’t identify. After nearly a whole minute, Sakura turned away, walking as fast as she could and using the sleeve of her jacket to scrub away the tears from her face. “Don’t follow me, Sasuke. I can’t promise that I won’t do something horrible to you.”

Sasuke stared after her, his eyes actually welling up with frustrated tears. “Damn it.” He felt like banging his head against something. Hard. “I’m an idiot.” Or an asshole. Maybe both.

--

Sucking a tooth, Nara Shikamaru looked across the booth at his companion. “You mean to tell me that I trashed an entire batch of specimens so that I could come here and listen to you bitching?” He had sixteen petri-dishes that had gorgeous colonies of gram-negative bacteria on them that he’d had to put through the sterilizer, because Sasuke had sent him a very miserable voice message. Shikamaru, I need to talk to someone…please? The bastard never asked for advice, and he sure as hell never said the p-word.

“Shikamaru, this is not a joke.”

“No, it isn’t. My dissertation is not a joke. My research has been set back a week because of your ill-fated love life. Now come clean, idiot.” Sikamaru was not in a mood that would allow him to play nice. Not with Sasuke. “This isn’t just some stupid fight you had with Sakura, is it?” Sasuke shook his head, his eyes landing on the ashtray in front of him, which he’d already filled with butts. “Well then, care to enlighten me?”

It wasn’t as if he didn’t already know what the other man was going to say. Sometimes, he really wished he weren’t so observant. The two of them had been dancing elementary-school circles around each other for more than five years, and it was really annoying. So he wasn’t surprised when Sasuke said, “I really like her.”

Giving a snort, Shikamaru said, “And?”

Sasuke flinched. That was a sure sign that he wasn’t finished with what he needed to say. He took a long drag from the cigarette he held. Letting the smoke out in a slow stream, he said, “I…I think I’m in love with her.”

Shikamaru leaned back against the vinyl cushions of the booth. “And it took you this long to figure it out?”

“Shut up, Shikamaru. I came to you because you’re the smartest person I know.” Shikamaru nodded. “And…because I thought you might be able to tell me what I should do.”

The dark-haired microbiologist sighed. “What makes you think that I’m qualified to give you advice? I haven’t had a date since I started grad school.” There really was no telling where this was coming from. He was the last person—short of Shino, the entomologist in the lab next to his—who should be giving guidance where love was concerned.

Sasuke snuffed his cigarette, then dragged his fingers through his hair, groaning. “I don’t know. But I can’t talk to Naruto about this.” Shikamaru’s eyebrow rose, his curiosity piqued. Sasuke continued. “He’s…not helpful.”

That translated to Naruto being the one who got him all pissed off to begin with, and he took all his anger out on Sakura. Sakura was at the center of this simply because she was the one who caused his frustration. But, Sasuke was really the one to blame, because he was too chicken-shit to actually tell her how he felt. After basically repeating this line of thought to Sasuke, Shikamaru said, “You know that pride your family is so famous for?”

“Yeah.”

“Order a nice big glass of beer, and swallow it.” He put down money on the table for his drinks, and stood. Shoving his arms into his coat, he looked at his friend. “You’re going to have to apologize, and tell her everything. That’s the only way this won’t go on forever. And I’m sure you would prefer to have your sanity in tact.” With that, he picked up his beer and drained it before walking out into the mid-morning sun. His friends were more than troublesome.

--

A/N: Ah, Shikamaru is my true love. He’s smart, hot, and he knows how to tell Sasuke off! Hehe. Oh, I know I didn’t put in any notes, but just in case anyone is wondering (and I’m certain that you aren’t, but I’m gonna tell you anyway), a “gram-negative” bacteria is one that is resistant to penicillin. They’re “gram-negative” because the test they go through is a “gram stain” test, and they come out negative. Yes, I was a science major for a while. One of my favorite things to do in Microbiology was to culture bacteria. Hence, Shikamaru’s major. Yay for nerds!