The Better Half

Chapter 1

"No. uh-uh."

"Naruto."

"How about: 'Fat chance.'?"

"But you promised."

Bright blue locked on bright blue in a no-holds-bar glare match. If their guardian had walked by at that moment he might have sworn that one of his precious teens was scowling at their reflection—

—although he might not have been certain which of them it was.

"What the hell is wrong with you anyway?" Naruto growled out with a colorful expletive added to the end for good measure.

"You promised that you would."

"For crying out loud, the ramen wasn't even that good, and you only paid for half of what I or--"

"--That's because you ate too much, idi--"

"--dered. that's because you said I could eat as much as I--"

"--ot! I didn't have enough money to pay for the whole order, you cost me two week's--"

"--wanted. And if you're going to make such a big deal about it I'll p--"

"--allowance you jerk! I don't want your stupid money. Why can't you to keep your promise and--"

"ay you back! Why are you obsessed with making me--"

"DRESS LIKE A GIRL?!"

The silence which followed the verbal explosion was short lived.

"I told Sakura-chan that we were identical twins."

Naruto's eyebrows furrowed a la pensively while he bit his lip wondering this Sakura-chan chick was. After receiving an urr... I dunno. signal from his cognitive memory, he passed the question onto his almost reflection who upon reception grinned.

"She's only the most popular female at Konoha Gakuen."

"And how would you know that seeing as we've been here all of one week?"

"I'm omnipotent."

"Omniscient." The correction was duly ignored.

"Yeah, well... the fact is, while you were emo-angsting about the house this week, I was busy making sure this town was liveable. This included figuring out who's who and what's what."

At this reply, the tension in the room shifted uncomfortably.

"Why bother? I mean, it's..." Naruto didn't bother hiding the resentment in his voice.

"..it's not like you're going to be the one who's stuck here."

"Naruto, you're the one who agreed to this—I didn't."

"Rub it in why don't you?"

It was true though, Naruto had agreed to spending his final year of high school, away from his friends and family. To a boy who thrived under the constant attention of others, indepence was an overrated thing, and this upcoming year was looking pretty grim.

Shortly after learning that he was the Kyuubi heir, Naruto was apprised of his father's wish for him to attend Konoha Gakuen. And he agreed to do so under the stipulation that his full tuition, housing, needs and allowance would be paid for entirely by the board of trustees. Easy living on others expenses and a chance to do something new encouraged Naruto to jump at the opportunity. It was only after committing to this agreement that he would learn that--as sole heir of Kyuubi Enterprises--he alone would be financially supported. And seeing as how his present guardian would have to be an exploitative dictator in an resource rich country to fund his self-proclaimed better half's tuition, Naruto learned too soon that his too good to be true deal was just that—too good to be true.

From what the blonde could discern after reading the brochure and admissions packet he'd been given, Konoha Gakuen was pretty much like any other private school.

Teens with egos as inflated as their wallets.

And tests.

He didn't see the point of separating him from his friends and family just so he could attend a school with tuition rates which could feed a small country. And there was nothing wrong with his old school; it also came fully equipped with tests and egos.

Nevertheless the board insisted on sending him to Konoha, and he had agreed of his own volition.

And Uzumaki Naruto was a man of his word.

Which brought him back to the present.

"So will you do it? You did promise..."

Naruto grinned.

"Nope."

He watched passively as the feminine version of himself open her mouth as if to argue, close it, frown, and then open it again. However before she could speak he added, "You might as well tell Sakura that I'm a guy. It's not like she won't find this out when school starts next week."

"I already did."

Naruto blinked at this new information.

"Come again?"

"I told her already."

Naruto blinked again. Something didn't quite register.

"So what's the deal?"

"She wants to see you in 'girl form.' In fact she's throwing a party at her place in your... well... honor to introduce you to all of the Konoha must-knows. It's her idea of a welcoming gag, and I promised that you'd be there."

So this was all about him becoming a drag queen joke for some high school elites?!

"No.Fucking.Way."

Then came the sniffle --the dreaded sniffle. Naruto flinched at the sound knowing what would follow. Sure enough he watched as bright blue eyes turned to big and glistening bright blue eyes. His reflection pouted.

"But big brother…"

"Dammit, Na-chan, that's playing dirty." His eyebrow twitched as he watched his twin execute her all powerful 'how could you refuse anything this cute' justu.

"No."

The eyes got impossibly bigger.

"No."

"But nii-chan…"

"Hnn…"

Unlike their guardian, and every other man in existence, Uzumaki Naruto was immune to his sister's uber-adorable attack.

"…let me think about it."

Completely immune.

~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~

"I look stupid."

"You look hot."

Naruto stared at his reflection. Two of him stared back. One of him had long hair pulled in two ponytails, a round bust covered with a white baby-tee. The baby-pink text on the tee spelled out 'hypercute' although 'hypersexy' might have been more suitable considering its curve-show friendliness. An army green khak'd out mini rode low his reflection's hips and hugged curvy thighs. The other reflection had short spikey hair pinned in random places with dark colored hairclips. Pretty pouted lips were glossed in a crystal pink sheen and complemented the reflection's rose cheeks to perfection. Slimmer and less voluptuous than the other him, this Naruto wore a similar white baby-tee but the word "jump" was spelled in colored tangerine complementing an orange-dyed denim skirt. The low slung hip of the skirt revealed a little of the reflection's belly tattoo.

"Jiraiya isn't home is he? I think I'll die if he sees me like this"

"Nope, and I told him that we'd be out late. I also stashed the makeup remover and change of clothes in car."

"This will never work."

"The night is young, nii-chan, it's too early to despair."

"Whatever."

"Now close your eyes so that I can put on your mascara."

Naruto obeyed cursing the lengths he'd go for free ramen.


~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~


"Sasuke-kun. Would you come here for a sec?"

Sasuke turned slightly from his one-sided conversation with Kiba –led by Kiba—to see Konoha High's pink haired princess waving at him.

Without bothering to excuse himself he left Kiba in mid-sentence and went to see what the girl wanted.

Sakura beamed at his approach. She was surrounded by a slew of admirers, but he wasn't quite sure if they were hers or his considering the way they were eying him.

"Sasuke-kun." Sakura stood on the tips of her toes and gave him a soft peck on his cheek.

"Sakura."

He watched with cool detachment as the mixed expressions of the girls varied from awe to envy to outright hatred.

"Sasuke-kun, more guests should be arriving, will you help me bring out some more hor d'oeuvres?

Sasuke nodded realizing the princess needed rescuing yet again.

In the kitchen he watched her fumble with a hot karaage tray. With a yelp she dropped the tray on the counter; her curse was drowned out by the loud clatter.

He walked up slowly and wrapped strong arms around her slim waist. She closed her eyes and leaned into his embrace.

"Why are you doing this?"

"We'll all be seniors next week. I wanted to celebrate."

Sakura sucked on her burned finger. Sasuke didn't release her opting instead to nestle his cheek into the soft pink hair. He felt her shiver when he breathed across her ear.

"Why are you doing this?" he repeated.

Sakura shifted in the embrace.

"I wanted to throw a party; isn't that enough?"

Her skin was warm, and he could feel the tension in her shoulders, a different but familiar tension.

His lips brushed her ear.

"Sakura, you--"

They were interrupted with a loud crash. Sakura jumped and Sasuke released her slowly turning to identify whoever had interrupted them.

It was just another face without a name. One of the many that Sakura had invited to this party.

"Hehe, sorries!" said the nameless face. "Don't let me interrupt you two love birds!"

Sasuke noted that Sakura blushed.

"Oh no it's okay, we were about to rejoin the party anyway."

He raised an eyebrow at this.

The face eyed the trays of food, "You need help with those?"

"Sure."

"Hey, E---" Sasuke listened to the nameless face call out a string of names. "Foods up! Come and get it!" The face laughed at his own joke and moved towards the trays.

"Be careful, the trays are hot." Sakura warned.

"No worries."

In seconds the kitchen was full. It was as though the party simply branched off. The trays never made it to the living room.

"Sakura-chan!"

Sasuke resisted the impulse to roll his eyes when he saw Sakura's traitorous groupies had gotten over the display of affection and were back to fawn over her again.

"This is a waste of my time." He muttered disgusted with the scene as much as he was disgusted with the party itself and agreeing to be a part of it.

Sakura turned and blinked at him then rolled her eyes.

"Yeah, yeah, Sasuke-kun, no matter what we do you always say 'boring,' 'sucks,' 'yadda yadda.' If Ino-pig were here..."

She trailed off, and Sasuke watched as she frowned apparently trying to rethink her words. Then she shrugged and grinned a forced and lopsided grin.

"Ah, well... I guess that what makes girls think you're so cool."

Sasuke stared at her for a moment in consideration. In a split second he grabbed her wrist causing her to wince. By this time other girls had pushed their way throw the crowd of people and had reached them.

He ignored the bug-eyed stares.

"We need to talk, Sakura."

The nameless face was close enough to hear him and laughed dirtily. "So that's what they call it now!"

Sasuke ignored him and started to push through the crowd still with an iron grip on Sakura. She remained silent.

The nameless face called back "Don't do anything I want to do!" again laughing at his own joke.

"What's going on? What happened?"

"Let's just say when I got here, I saw more than food cooking in this kitchen."

"Hee?!"

"What's going on? Hey!"

"Is there anymore food?"

The voices from the kitchen faded in the overall din of the house. Eyes followed the pair as Sasuke dragged Sakura up the stairs.

It was quieter upstairs but not by much. Her parents' room was locked, and the other doors were closed.

Sasuke flung open the door to Sakura's room to be greeted with the full view of an exposed back and a bared ass. These were attached to yet another of the nameless faces and the body of the nameless face seemed to be connected plug and socket to an equally naked girl who --at the moment-- was on all fours and clutching Sakura's headboard.

The coupling teens froze in mid stroke and gasp, their eyes wide in horror.

"Out. Now." Sasuke said not bothering to raise his voice.

"Sasuke-kun!" The girl all but squeaked; she looked as though she would cry. The boy seemed less embarrassed but still looked a good deal as frightened.

"Sorry Uchiha-san! Didn't know this room was taken."

"It's… it's okay, T----- kun."

Sasuke glanced at the speaker to see Sakura staring at the door frame to avert her eyes.

He turned again to look at the two bodies that were still in the bed although the girl had slipped from her prior impalement and was clutching at Sakura's sheets trying to cover her essentials.

"Out."

His voice seemed to break their momentary paralysis and in an instant they were scrambling for their clothes and rushing past them. Sasuke noted the girl no longer looked as though she was crying; she had settled for the real thing instead.

In two swift movements he had thrown Sakura on the defiled bed and slammed the door.

Sakura watched him warily as he glared down at her.

"Let's get this over with."

"What are you talking about, Sasuke-kun?"

"You know exactly what I'm talking about."

He watched as her eyes went from wary uncertainty to realization to disappointment.

"Sakura, you didn't think--" The edged anger in his voice and expression dissipating with the dawn of understanding.

Even after all this time...

Sakura looked away from him. "No, of course I didn't."

...their friendship wasn't enough.

Sasuke moved to the bed and pulled her up roughly in a tight embrace.

"Try not to ruin my shirt."

He had never been good with words.

But somehow all the things he had meant to say, the words of comfort that he'd been meaning to give since the end of their second year at Konoha when their small clique became even smaller were conveyed in his blunt demand.

All that was left for him to do now was hold the pink-haired girl while she cried.

Sakura cried quiet muffled sobs into his chest until all that were left were dry sniffles. Nonetheless Sasuke continued to hold her feeling a sense of duty...

...and fear.

She had scared him.

The girl who seemed to have an endless supply of optimism, having lost her better --or worse-- half in a spat of silly pride, had jumped from the highest ledge of her psyche to fall to apathy.

She had tried to commit emotional suicide.

And she had almost succeeded.

It had been close. Too close for Sasuke's --albeit rather stoic-- comfort. For the past month he had watched as her smiles turned plastic, as her conversations fell just short of insipidity, as her silences lingered too long; he had watched and assumed that she would stop herself, get a clue, return to herself --and to him. But seeing the culmination of bad shift to worse at this pointless and grossly lavish party, Sasuke realized he had been wrong in his assumption.

The Princess of Konoha High needed rescuing --even if only from herself.

And he had sworn to protect her.

She was his precious friend; he could not let her fall.

He would not let her fall.

The whole world could come crashing down in jagged shards, but he would not let her fall.

He would be her prince, and he would save her.

The way --years ago-- she had saved him.

"I wasn't kidding, Sakura. You'd better not have snotted on me."

Sakura made a hybrid noise of a giggle and a final sob before lifting her head to stare at him with puffed red eyes.

"You're a real jerk sometimes, Sasuke-kun."

She would be okay.

The muscles in his shoulders and back seemed to give sigh as the invisible weight of worry lifted.

Sasuke smirked.

"Hnn... you say that about all your friends."

"Not about Lee."

The smirk widened.

"Yeah, I know."

Silence.

"Sakura, do you want me to get rid of the people downstairs?"

Sakura sniffled again before shaking her head.

"They haven't come yet."

Sasuke raised an eyebrow.

"Who?"

"I met someone at the mall last week. Her..." Sakura paused grinning a little, "sister is going to be in our senior class."

He had told himself years ago that he was too mature to stoop to rolling his eyes, but at this moment he was sorely tempted to recant.

"Another one of your social climbing groupies?"

"I don’t know about her sister, but I doubt that that is the case."

Sakura smiled a soft wistful smile, "Anyway, the girl I met reminded me of Ino-pig."

Sasuke frowned.

They sat quietly for some time before Sakura spoke again.

"So umm… Sasuke-kun, since we're in bed already..."

There was a soft snort in the room that could have been mistaken for laughter.

"You're not my type."

"That's not what everyone downstairs thinks."

"That's why everyone downstairs is stupid." Sasuke released the girl and stood up. They smiled at one another in understanding.

The smell of sex was still strong in the room.

"You should ring and make sure your latest friend is coming. If she isn’t, then let's end this now."

"Okay, whatever. You can go out, I'll follow in a sec."

Sasuke arched a brow inquisitively.

"I want to change my sheets."

He nodded and left the room not bothering to scathe the gaping mouths and wide eyes that followed him back down with his glare.

~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~

"I still can't believe I'm doing this."

Naruto tried to ignore the leering faces as he and his sister approached the door. A face with details obscured in the darkness whistled a low cat call.

"Remind me to put a pillow on your face and hold it there while you're sleeping." Naruto growled under his breath.

He could practically feel his sibling grinning.

"It's not my fault you look so sexy."

"...and then light your mattress on fire."

"Girls shouldn't talk like that, Nee-chan."

Naruto shot her a sideways scowl that spoke in volumes about his current feelings towards her.

She turned to him and stuck out her tongue. Then grabbing his hand and intertwining their fingers she dragged him to the door.

Naruto had only a moment to muse along the lines of one hell of a night before the huge oak door flew open and he was assaulted by a haze of light noise cigarette smoke booze and frightful teenage hormones.

He grinned at the carnivalesque atmosphere in morbid fascination recalling briefly the parties that he used to throw. Perhaps… despite the fact that his skirt hung to low and was cut too high, and his feet were killing him already --and that he was supposed to be a girl…

Perhaps…

…the night wouldn't be so bad after all.

~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~

Sasuke brooded.

Sasuke brooded well.

Sasuke was brooding and ignoring everyone who observed and admired his art of brood when the door swung open.

He hadn't meant to look up. Really. He could have cared less who was coming in and out of Sakura's house by now. The mess of gyrating loud bodies was her problem now that he knew she could handle it, and she had rejected his offer to help clean it up anyway. She had come back downstairs and--with a scrubbed face and reapplied makeup--walked right past him whispering "Thank you" before waving at a group of faces.

Knowing he would be stuck at the party which now seemed like it was never going to end irked him to no end. And as far as he was concerned everyone who came in and out of the house now could go straight to hell in a bento box; which is why he hadn't meant to look up.

Nevertheless look up he did, and for a moment he froze.

Two blonde look-alikes stood at the door bathed in light and a smoky haze. While the helter-skelter party fun in halls and rooms in view of the door never ceased in its commotion, there was a definite stutter.

Sasuke watched as one of the girl's scanned the crowd until she caught sight of him then shot him a wink and a grin that offered more than a casual hello. Girls didn't play bold with him, they knew better. The only girls who never bothered to follow that rule were Sakura and In—

"She reminds me of Ino-pig."

Sasuke could feel the corner of his mouth tugging downwards. He frowned at the girl but wasn't sure she saw him as both of the girls were suddenly bombarded by a horde of boys.
He moved from his sulk position against the wall and from a less open area and watched the girls push their way through the first throng of boys. News of the twins seemed to travel fast, and the first floor thickened with the male population of the party.

There would be another swarming.

Sasuke watched the bolder of the pair scan the room frowning with a pretty pout. He knew undoubtedly that he was the reason for it and the thought bothered him. This girl seemed to know him and decided she wanted to claim him before he even knew her face. He never bothered with names, but at least he could recognize faces.

He'd never seen this girl in his life.

His eyes shifted he noticed that the other girl was scanning the crowd as well. Not in a determined seek and destroy manner, but in a slow lazy musing fashion. As though this talk of the town party was something she was well acquainted with. The girl had a relaxed smile on her face and allowed her sibling to drag her along.

Interesting flitted to mind almost as quickly as the dark haired teen shoved the thought into his mental recesses substituting it with a safer thought Drink.

"Did you see them yet?"

Sasuke tensed as loud voices and large bodies brushed past him. It was Masahiro ‘Fuujin’ Yamano and his brother ‘Raijin’ Akira. These boys were the judo brothers he'd had the pleasure of getting his ass kicked by when he was a freshman. Their nicknames were attributed to their brute force on the mats, and like the Shinto-Buddhist deities they were named after, they were both revered as athletic gods and feared as demons by Konoha’s rival schools.

"Oi, Sasuke, didn't see you," the larger of the hulking pair said. He smiled good-naturedly in the way that one who could squash a human like a mere bug could.

Sasuke's shoulders relaxed and he nodded with civil politeness to the judo brothers. "Akira-sempai, it's been a while."

"Yeah, it has been. Hasn’t it, Masa?” Fuujin nodded agreeably his eyes squinting as he too smiled; Raijin’s smile widened in response.

“So, Sasuke, how's the team? You're taking them to the Nationals again this year, right?"

“He had better.” Fuujin added laughing; his brother laughed with him. Sasuke nodded his head.

"I will do my best, Akira-sempai.”

Sasuke was elected captain of the judo team in his sophomore year, as by then he'd not only defeated all of the seniors in his judo squad but all of the seniors in the National tournaments as well. His team had been a good team then--the best team, but all of the strongest players had been seniors and, like the Fuujin-Raijin brothers, had graduated this year. In actuality he wasn't looking forward to another year of competitions, as he'd only signed up for the team to measure his strength.

"There they are!"

"Oh man, they are exactly as you described them!"

"Let's introduce them to some real men."

"I want the supermodel."

"That's fine because I wanted the porn star anyway."

The two judo boys with impossible large bodies started to their way through the mess of people.

"See ya, Sasuke. We'll cheer you on at Nationals," the other judo boy called.

Sasuke didn't reply. Instead he watched the large bodies clear through the crowd with little difficulty and approach the girls. Porn Star, the bolder of the pair, said something to Raijin that made the boy blush and the crowd laugh.

Supermodel looked bored. The amused interest that he had seen earlier had faded, and the girl stood aloof looking tired of everyone and everything.

Another adjective came to mind as he observed the girl, and if Sasuke could he would have scowled internally. 'Stupid hormones.'

"Naruko!"

Sasuke continued to watch as Sakura ran up and kissed Porn Star on the lips with a soft peck. The other girl beamed and started talking animatedly with her. Porn Star let go of Supermodel's hand and took Sakura's instead. The girls walked off leaving Supermodel surrounded by a bunch of boys that could pass for wolves. The bored expression quickly changed to panic as the other two girls weaved through the crowd. Sasuke had enough time to see Supermodel duck between two looming boys before his view was blocked by a close-up variation of her.

"Sasuke-kun, you are as gorgeous up close as you are from afar."

Sasuke frowned.

"Do I know you?" he asked icing his tone with formality.

"Sakura-chan! You didn't tell him about me?!" the girl pouted as she mock-glared at Sakura.

Sakura only grinned and shrugged her shoulders.

"Mou…" the girl stepped closer to Sasuke. He scowled at her and dropped the temperature in his tone another five Celsius.

"You're in my space."

The girl blinked for a moment surprised at the statement, then her eyes watered.

Sasuke wondered how long it took her to master that act.

She moved closer to him, her breasts brushing across his chest as her nose almost touched his lip. Sasuke stared at the wide endlessly blue eyes that were almost comic in their affected 'pity me' cuteness. He didn't step back, nor did he change his facial expression. In his peripheral view he could see Sakura smirking, and he wondered if she was recalling when she and Ino used to be this annoying.

"I came here just to meet you, and you only, Sasuke-kun. But you're being so cold. I could just cry."

Instead of crying however, she threw her arms around him and pressed up against him. Sasuke shot Sakura a daggered glare before his arms flew up and none to gently he forced the girl off of him.

"Sasuke-kun, this is my friend, Naruko."

Naruko stepped back and smiled at Sasuke with affected coyness.

"Nice to meet you. Let's become good friends." The 'good' was stressed and the innuendo was not lost.

Never taking his eyes off of her Sasuke murmured, "You're right, Sakura. She is like Ino…"

"…uncute and annoying."

He turned heel and left the girl to gape. However as he was walking away Naruko called out to him.

"Sasuke-kun, a word of advice..."

He stopped to hear the obnoxious girl out.

"Playing hard to get is so last season."

Unbelievable...

~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~

Sakura watched as her friend disappeared into the crowd.

"Well?" Naruko asked.

She grinned, "I think he likes you."

Naruko smiled brightly. "Of course he likes me!"

Sakura sweatdropped.

"Let me introduce you to some of the others."

"You always say the right things, Sakura-chan!" Naruko clung to Sakura's arm, and the two girls started to weave through the crowd again.

She was glad that she had waited for Naruko to arrive. Now it seemed the party was just beginning, a real party. It was just like old times when she and…

"By the way, who's Ino?"

Sakura turned to stare at the adorable face next her, and she smiled softly.

"Nobody important."

~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~

"Hyuuga."

Pale eyes looked up from the neck and mouth of the beer bottle being nursed.

"Uchiha."

"What are you doing here?" Sasuke sat beside Konoha's now former senior class president and valedictorian. He’d most likely be filling that role this year because Sakura had let her grades drop.

"What’s it to you?" the long haired boy asked coolly.

Sasuke didn't rise to the bait.

"Where's TenTen?"

"She wandered off a while ago saying something about meeting one of Sakura's new friends."

Sasuke stared at the coffee table. There was an untouched bottle of Bowman's along with other assorted alcoholic beverages. All the glasses on the table were used.

"Want a paper cup?"

"No glass?"

"Nevermind."

Sasuke stood up and moved towards the small shot bar in the corner of the room, there were still a few empty glasses. He grabbed one and then returned to his position on the couch to pour himself a generous shot of the single-malt liquor.

"Nothing but the best for an Uchiha, eh?"

"Hn.”

Hyuuga Neji smirked.

No other words were exchanged. They sat in comfortable silence as Neji continued to sip from his beer and Sasuke let the scotch slide down his throat to drown out the noise.

It was about the time he reached his drinking glow when a shock of blond hair passed by the room.

"Who invited the drag queen?"

Sasuke turned to his circumstantial drinking friend, "Huh?"

Neji seemed to study him for a moment before shaking his head and replying "Nothing."

Whatever.

After a few minutes the blonde returned poking her head into the room. Seeing that the room was almost devoid of people she settled herself against the wall in the corner and, after taking a swig at her beer, frowned prettily.

Sasuke noted that she was slender with less curves than Naruko, but still more than pleasing to the eye. Her wild hair was covered in bow clips and hung around her face perfectly. Sasuke wondered if she really was a model of sorts. She had the figure, and she definitely had the looks.

The girl looked up from her drink and for a moment their eyes locked across the room. Even from the distance Sasuke could see the rich blue. He couldn't break their stare. Another thought sneaked past his rational barriers and plopped into the forefront of his mind. This time however, Sasuke let it remain there.

Supermodel was gorgeous.

The girl broke the pseudo star-crossed gaze for him, and her face twisted in a scowl before she returned her attentions to her drink.

"Got a thing for her, Uchiha?"

Sasuke stiffened for a moment before shrugging.

"Maybe."

Neji laughed. "You must be crazy."

"Yeah, you're right," he agreed coolly, "considering who I keep for company."

"Whatever, Uchiha. Nobody's keeping you from better company."

Sasuke glanced up at one of the more prominent members of his clique, who he --at the best of times-- tolerated, to find the older teen staring across the room. He followed the meaningful gaze.

"For once in your life, Hyuuga, you're right."

He rose slowly and moving with cat-like precision he headed towards the girl who had looked up again and was staring at him. Her eyes narrowed as he approached her.

"Uchiha Sasuke."

She didn't respond.

Sasuke sat down beside her.

"Before you ask, I like girls. So, no. Not now. Not ever. Not even in your dreams."

He wondered at husky feminine voice that was so unlike her sister's.

"Just your name would've sufficed."

The girl stared at him as though he were an idiot before saying softly "Na—yami."

"Nayami, eh? Unusual name. What's the kanji for it?"

"How the hell should I know?" she snapped.

Sasuke blinked.

"Look, umm…."

"Sasuke."

"Yeah, whatever… look, if you see a girl who looks a lot like... well... me, can you tell her that I'm going home and that our brother will come and pick her up when she calls. And while you're at it, try your luck with her. I'm sure you'll get better results."

Sasuke frowned at what the girl was implying. She narrowed her eyes and looked him up and down for a moment before clicking her tongue in disapproval.

"You know what... on second thoughts... don't."

The frown deepened as attraction turned to indignation. How dare this chick imply that he was like all the other slobbering hormonal guys at this party. Sasuke didn't chat up girls; he didn't have to even if he wanted to. Despite the fact that Nayami was --in all fairness-- breath-taking, and despite the fact that he found himself in the surreal situation of talking to a girl other than Sakura or Ino --moreover initiating the conversation-- a line had to be drawn before he found himself acting way too out character.

Uchiha Sasuke was not about to sit around and be insulted by some random pretty face.

"Don't flatter yourself, princess."

The girl looked at Sasuke as though he'd grown a third eye before grinning. The tension in their corner seemed to dissipate with the easy shrug of her shoulders.

"So I've finally met someone who can resist my 'irresistible charm'" Thick eyelashes fluttered mockingly.

"Hn. Likewise."

Nayami blinked for a moment and then laughed snorting a bit. "Funny guy."

'Did she just snort?'

Sasuke wasn't sure whether to take offense or not at her 'funny guy' quip, but he couldn't help but grin at the snort. He couldn't be blamed for thinking this obnoxious girl was cute.

The noise came again as the laughter continued.

...make that really cute.

Sasuke glanced up and noticed Neji watching them. He noted that others who had come in were also staring at them as well.

"Do you want me to walk you to your car?"

Nayami's mirth changed to surprise.

"Huh?"

Sasuke, for the second time in the evening, refrained from rolling his eyes.

"You said you were leaving, right?"

Nayami studied him speculatively for a moment before shrugging and smiling.

"You don't give up do you... umm…."

"Sasuke."

"Sasuke." She finished.

"I'm not hitting on you."

Eyes narrowed at him. "Really?"

Sasuke shrugged not sure whether he was trying to convince Nayami or himself of his indifference.

"Whatever. Let your fan club escort you then."

Nayami looked up seeming to notice the attention they were receiving. Her brow furrowed in consideration. Then she muttered something along the lines of 'it can't be helped.' Sasuke was about to ask her what it was that couldn't be helped when she turned to him and smiled...

...the most dazzling smile he had ever seen.

Sasuke swallowed a dry gulp hoping beyond hope that he did not look like a besotted idiot at the moment.

"Okay, sexy boy. Let's get out of here."

Standing up, Sasuke extended his hand. Nayami ignored it, rising a bit ungracefully and giving him an hearty view of extra thigh. She walked past him towards the hall entrance before stopping with a turn and staring expectantly.

Sasuke spared but a glance to the long-haired boy still sitting on the couch as he followed Nayami out, so he never saw the mouth of the former Konoha ace turn down in a disapproving frown, nor did he hear the question whispered in the lip of a fresh beer bottle.

"What the hell are you doing, Naruto?"