Friends & Family   von dragonfighter
                           (The Clumsy & The Lonely)
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                    Kapitel 30: Step 30 - Old Acquaintances
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Throughout our lives we keep meeting new people. We talk to each other and at
the end of the day we are acquaintances. However, we can’t tell whether out of
this acquaintanceship will develop something more, or if we will just end up
staying acquaintances. Most of the time we choose to strengthen the bond and
become friends. We end up doing a lot together, maybe even all the time. We may
become best friends forever, or the day comes when everything changes. The
friend, or you, suddenly have no more opportunity, no time, or maybe your life
goals and dreams separate each other over time. You lose sight of each other and
years go by. Most of the time we end up never seeing each other again. But
sometimes, for some people, it happens that they meet again, but then they will
be nothing more than old friends or past acquaintances
 
"Come out already, Sakura." Sasuke has been standing and waiting in front of the
changing cabin for a while now, his hands hidden in his trouser pockets and his
eyes fixated on the dark curtains of the cabin. His wife isn’t making any
signs as if she would be opening those curtains anytime soon. "I don't know."
She then replies after another moment of silence, before finally pulling the
curtains open. Her beautiful face is showing a soft and unconvinced pout. "Don't
you think that the dress should be a bit simpler?" Looking down at herself, she
lets out a hum at her own question, only to make a pirouette in order to present
the dress to her husband. Sasuke in the other hand looks at his wife baffled. "I
don't understand what is your problem. The dress is simple. It doesn’t have
any ruffles, no accessories like bows or a belt. Nothing. Just the silk and the
slight decorations on the upper part." He replies, still quite stunned. "Yes,
but these pearl decorations on the back somehow look like wings." She turns her
back once more on her husband, in order to show him the back of the dress, which
is purely made out of organza. "It's perfect for the gala, Sakura." He tries to
dispel her concerns, only for her to turn back to him with another pout. “But
I look like an angel! Isn't it way too exaggerated?” He understands her
uncertainty. People love to judge, especially the higher the social status is
and she probably is just worried that they would think of her as smug.
“Sakura, look at me.” A smile pulls on the corner of his lips, as he takes
her hand into his, only to pull her a bit closer to himself. “You are working
so hard day in and out, in order to give those children a future and maybe even
a family. For these orphans you are an angel. The dress is perfect for you and
for the fundraising gala.” Lifting her hand up and over her head, he makes her
rotate once more. "Okay.” Her lips curl up into a warm smile as she comes back
to a halt and looks up into his dark grey eyes, watching him as he comes closer.
"But I'm not going to wear a pink shirt or a pink tie." He then adds softly,
making her giggle, before his lips meet hers for a quick kiss.

“And now you go and find yourself some suits. I still have to look for the
other two dresses and then have my measurements taken. Afterwards i will help
you with the colors for your shirts and ties.” With a smile, the young woman
pushes her husband gently towards the men's section, before she turns halfway
around. “We still have to go shopping after all that, so don’t dawdle
around!” She calls after him for a moment, before going back inside the cabin.
"Hey! I wasn’t the one who made you wait to finally get ready and get out of
the house!" He replies in disbelief and turns back to her as she closes back the
curtain. "And I wasn't the one who didn't find my way out of bed." He could
practically hear her grin through her words, even though he couldn’t see her
at all. Letting out a slight snort, he then continues on his way to the men’s
section, in order to get his suits and his own measurements done.
 
It's the first Saturday in December. Santa is celebrated in many other
countries, but since the dresses will have to be customized productions, they
must all be ordered now. The suits too. Both of them got invited to a gala and
are holding one of their own as well. It’s impossible to arrive to such
occasions with clothes bought right from the peg. Their social status is just
way too high for that. It is now noon. Sasuke just didn't want to get out of bed
and Sakura had taken her time in getting ready, which ended up in them leaving
their home only after 11am. Until the evening they still have a lot to do. They
have to buy suitable shoes, then choose suitable evening handbags for her
evening dresses, and afterwards do the normal shopping.
 
Sakura stares spellbound at the dress that covers her body. She smiles. This is
definitely the dress which would fit for the Christmas gala. Even the color fits
perfectly. After a few more turns to the left and right, she takes the dress off
again and goes in search for another, third dress. The third dress doesn't have
to be as spectacular as those for the gala’s, since it’s meant just for the
Christmas party, but it still should be fit enough nonetheless. not much later
she already finds one, which she immediately tries on and ends up loving. After
taking the dress off and getting back into her own clothes, she lets the
employees do their work, which makes a note of the clothes and then takes the
exact measurements of the Haruno, before said woman can make her way to her
husband.

The Uchiha slips into his vest with a silent sigh, before pushing the curtain
aside to leave the cabin. As soon as he steps out, his eyes meet those of his
wife, who is just coming to a stop in front of him. "Are you already done
searching?" He asks, surprised at her sudden appearance. His wife gives him an
innocent smile, shrugging her shoulders once, which he comments with a shake of
his head. The time of her looking for her dresses must have probably balanced
itself out with his time trying to fit his suits and measuring his sizes. “And
what colors did you chose for your dresses?” He then explores with interest,
while they make their way to the shirts. Sakura walks next to him with a smile,
holding her fingers up to count the colours to him. "Ink blue, white with a bit
of gold and that pale pink one which i tried on in front of you." Her eyes move
around to look at the display, before picking out a white tie, another one in
matt gold with shiny stripes inside and one in pale pink with burgundy and
white, crossed patterns of different widths on top, before handing them to her
husband with a slight smile. “No pink." He immediately contradicts her choice
for the tie which he is supposed to wear at the fundraising gala and holds the
tie out to her again. "Nobody will see it anyway, but it stands out slightly
from the white shirt and the color is falsified by the red pattern anyway."
After her little explanation, she just pulls him gently by his arm and goes with
him to the employees in order to order the customized shirts. One shirt they
order to match the dress and the other two in white.
 
The couple pays straight away and take the bag with the ties, before they make
their way to their next destination. The shoe store, where she sends him
straight to the men's section and goes to the women's section herself. The
search for the shoes turns out to be more difficult. Especially for Sasuke, who
doesn't understand at all why he should buy new shoes, a different pair for each
evening. To him it's just nonsense. Nobody is gonna pay any attention to a pair
of shoes if they fit to the clothes and black shoes always go with everything,
especially with a black suit.
 
"Hey, do you think two more ribbons are too exaggerated for the dress?" He can
hear his wife asking, right before a pair of pale pink shoes appear in his field
of vision, on which a bow adorns each of the two synthetic leather pumps. The
Uchiha slowly lifts his eyes to his wife, who looks at him questioningly. "I
don't think so, but will they even be visible underneath that dress?" He replies
with a counter question, watching as she shakes her head. "No, but you know and
that's why I have to be pretty." She winks boldly at her husband, gaining a
baffled reaction in response. However, when he sees her turning around to go
back into the women’s section, he immediately rises his voice again in order
to stop her from walking away and draws her attention with a nod to the shoes,
which he selected so far. "Say, which pair of shoes do you think I should take?
I would take the black one here." He explains while holding said pair up.
“What color are the suits?” She explores, which he answers by holding the
shoes up a bit more. "Black." His wife raises an eyebrow sceptically at his
answer, turning back to him properly. "So, you are telling me that you actually
went and tried a suit and ordered that three times?" She looks at him in
disbelief, because no one would buy the same clothes three times. Sasuke in the
other hand just shakes his head. “No. One is slightly shiny, the other has a
slight bluish cast and the third is matt black.” The corner of his lips rises
slightly, which she replies to with a shrug of her shoulders. "So why only one
pair of shoes?" In the next moment she already disappears again, leaving him
alone with all the pairs of shoes. Sasuke has to shake his head with a slight
laugh. The logic of women. Find it weird to buy the same clothes thrice, but
find it okay to buy different shoes for each outfit.


~ > * < ~


"Tell me, how do you like this one?” Sasuke raises his voice in order to get
his wife’s attention, holding a figure of a polar bear with it’s cub in his
hand. "Sweet." Sakura smiles and looks up from the figure, into his dark eyes.
"Where did you get them?" Her husband points behind himself at a small section
which is filled with Christmas decorations and she takes a look at it, before
looking back up at him. “Do you want to take them with you?” She then asks,
while taking two packs of napkins. "Should I?" Sasuke replies, just as
questioningly. Sakura has to smile, as they approach the shopping cart where she
stows her shoppings into with a smile. "Of course, if you want. Take with you
whatever you like. After all you should like it too when i’ve decorated the
house." Her gaze moves around the place again, taking a look at the light
chains. A small smile pulls on the Uchiha's lips as well and puts the figure in
the car, before he looks around some more. She is always making sure to do
everything in a way so that he likes the outcome as well.
 
Sasuke keeps spending some time in the Christmas section, while Sakura is
looking for everyday things, like candles, handkerchiefs and other stuff and
puts them together in the cart. But the fact that her husband keeps staying in
the Christmas section the whole time actually surprises her a lot. The Christmas
section isn’t even a big one, consisting of nothing more than three short,
built-up slopes and two cross aisles. But at the same time she thinks it is kind
of cute. After quite some time, she then takes a look at the clock, before going
in search of her husband. "Sasuke? Come on, we have to move on.” She calls out
to the place where she last saw him, as she can see her husband's head
immediately peeking out from one of the corridors. “Already?” He asks, a
little surprised. “Yes, you've already been in there for an hour and we still
have to buy the rest.” A soft laugh escapes her lips. It doesn’t happen so
often to catch him so off guard. He really must have been quite deep into it.
Sasuke in the other hand looks at his wife quite perplexed. He never thought
that it has already been an hour since he got in there. "Come on, you will get
your cookies too." As soon as those words leave her lips, she can already see
him standing next to her and ready to go. She has to chuckle softly at her
husbands childlike manner when it comes to cookies. 
 
Together they walk through the wholesale market, past the other aisles, which
represent their own sections and into the grocery store. The pink-haired woman's
gaze wanders over the fruit and vegetables, looking for the things she has put
on the shopping list, while in between she just puts some of her or Sasuke’s
favourites into the shopping cart. Sasuke seems to have vanished in the
meantime. With a sigh she shakes her head and continues on her way to the bread
and then to the sausage and meat sections. Again and again she crosses out the
things from the list in her hand, while she is deciding between the different
types of sausages.
 
Sakura turns around in shock, when someone suddenly drops some packages into the
shopping cart. Perplexed, she looks at her husband and then at the cart in which
he has put some packages of his favorite biscuits. "Oh good, i see you took some
with you for tonight too." Sasuke looks at her a bit confused, back at the
cookie packs in the shopping cart and then again at his wife. One of his perfect
eyebrows jerk up in confusion at her words, before his lips open just a tad.
"What are you talking about? These are all mine.” A frown shows up on his
handsome face, watching as she stares at him in disbelief, before letting out an
amused huff. "Okay, then please get some for tonight as well and take some chips
and snacks with you too." Sasuke lets out a brief hum, while his wife turns back
to the sausage seller, and walks back to the confectionary displays, in which
different warrieties of chips and the like are deposited, which aren’t even
sweets.
 
With a sigh he drops a few bags of snacks and biscuits into the shopping cart,
while his wife puts rice, flour and noodle bags next to it. “Do you really
think that the others will take their swimsuits with them?” The Uchiha then
explores after a moment of silence, continuing their way through the wholesale
market to the drinks. "I hope so. If not, it would be more than strange if Neji
has to walk around in one of my bikinis." She shakes her head for a moment to
get rid of the picture of said man in her bikini and then grins at her husband,
which laughs out at her claim.
 
Before things get stressful and busy in the near future, with gift shopping,
gala preparations, house decorations and work, the pink haired woman wanted to
have another small party and so they spontaneously invited all their friends to
a pool party at their home. Yes, after all, a pool party in winter is no problem
for them, with the swimming pool in their basement. "Yeah, that would be too
strange." The Uchiha takes a six-pack of mineral water on the carrying device
provided for it, before he piles the iced tea and Sprite on it as well, while
his wife fills the cart with fruit juices. Smiling, she adds a few packs of tea
into the cart and then looks back at him. "Only the milk and the like are
missing. However, our friends are going to want their alcohol too."
 
"Are you sure that the cart will be able to move now?" Sasuke raises his
eyebrows in skepticism, as he watches his wife putting the milk, cheese, eggs
and more from the refrigerated shelves into the cart as well, which is almost
overflowing. "Yes." She answers him only briefly, while heading towards the
alcohol section. Sasuke lets out a silent sigh, before bracing himself against
the shopping cart to set it in motion and to push it after his wife, who
definitely has no longer the strength to do so. Even he has his problems with
it. He has just arrived at the aisles, when she puts the first bottles of wine
the lower part of the cart. "We need tequila!" She then announces immediately
and walks towards said bottles. The Uchiha is skeptical of the shopping cart
into which his wife keeps putting a few bottles of tequila and some other.
"What? Don’t worry, nothing’s gonna fall out!” The young woman explains to
reassure him, while positioning the last bottles on the mountain. "And the
alcohol doesn't go bad when it's standing around, either." She continues to
explain, but he just continues to look at the mountain in the shopping cart.
"Actually, i'm just sincerely wondering how everything is going to fit on the
conveyor belt and how long the cashier will need to scan all the stuff." Sakura
now too takes a look at the mountain before she smiles at him with a shrug of
her shoulders and then tries to push him aside, which remains at an attempt.

Sasuke sets the cart back in motion, while his wife turns to pick up two boxes
of beer and carry them to the cash desk. The cashier looks at the shopping cart
with wide eyes, which Sasuke has expected already. He really doesn’t get his
friends and how they could drink so much, oblivious of their own health. But in
the end he just muses that it’s their livers, their lives and their decisions
to make. Not his. Sakura puts down the two cases of beer and then begins to
clear the content from the cart and onto the conveyor belt. When everything is
placed on the conveyor belt, together with some shopping bags and a hinged box,
the Uchiha carefully puts the Christmas figures at the end of the line, before
he pushes the cart forward and immediately clears everything the cashier
scanned, back into the cart once again.
 


~ > * < ~



"Tell me." His wife begins three hours later, while she is putting the dirty
dishes into the dishwasher. Sasuke looks at her attentively while taking a sip
from his glass. "How come that you stayed so long in the Christmas section?"
After putting away the last dirty dishes, she looks back at him with interest.
 
The Uchiha places his glass on the table top of the counter right in front of
him. At first he stays silent for a moment, before he decides to answer her.
“It's kind of a tradition.” He then starts and looks at the glass carefully.
He is calm and still she can see the slight sadness in his eyes. “Ever since I
was little, I go... i went every year with her to a shopping center and together
we rummaged through the Christmas section for hours. It became something like
our tradition and we never left without taking at least one figure. Even after I
moved out, I kept going with her to the shopping center for Christmas.” She
can see the warmth and the sadness in his smile, while he recalls the melancholy
in his memories, watching as he takes another sip of his drink. A compassionate
smile settles on her lips, encircling the counter, in order to walk up to her
husband and put her arms around his neck. He smiles slightly but sadly and
presses a gentle kiss on the palm of her hand, with which she was caressing his
cheek. Smiling, she leans her forehead against his, before gazing over the
figures and candlesticks that he has bought.
 
"Actually, I didn't expect you to choose a fairy figurine." He hears her remark
with slight surprise and looks at the fairy, which is made out of white ceramic.
He also turns his head in that direction to look at the figure. "My mother would
have liked it." The words leave his lips only in a whisper, but she understands
each word still. His dark grey eyes move back to his wife, watching her for a
moment before pulling her closer for a cuddle. He can feel how she opens her
mouth to say something, but ends up closing her lips again without saying
anything. A moment later, a smile pulls on her lips. "Then it will have it’s
own special place." Letting slowly go of him, she takes the figure into her hand
and gives it another glance. She makes her way over to the living room, where
she heads for the piano, which stands in the right corner next to the window. In
the left corner there is a fireplace at a distance from the TV, which they’ll
certainly use more often in the near future. She carefully places the fairy
figurine on the piano, which must mean a lot to her husband, or it wouldn’t
actually stand in this house. She can't play the piano, so he has to be able to
do it. It meaning a lot to him is the only option, even though she has never
heard him play it.
 
Sasuke smiles slightly when he sees the place she decided to put the figure on,
watching how she takes a few steps back and then turns around. She looks at him
questioningly in order to find out whether he likes it or not, but instead of
saying anything, her just smiles softly and pulls her closer to himself for a
kiss. It elicits a giggle from her, before she returns the kiss happily. Her
lips slowly break away from his, so she can look up into his dark eyes. "We
should slowly go and change, before our friends arrive." Her lips lift up gently
and he too smiles, responding to her with a nod. 

In the meantime evening has already fallen over Tokyo, which isn’t really
surprising. After all, in winter it gets dark quite fast and so Sasuke slowly
lets go of his wife, in order to go upstairs and put on his swim shorts
underneath his clothes. Meanwhile, sakura goes downstairs and into the basement,
where she turns on the music. Only when she hears the bell ringing through the
empty foyer, she stops in her doings again and walks upstairs, while shouting
through the house for her husband to hear. “I'm going!” After a moment she
comes to a halt in front of the front door and opens it to greet her first
guests with a smile. "Hey, you two. Nice that you are here!“ She doesn’t
wait to let her childhood friend and the Inuzuka enter her warm foyer, watching
as they quickly escape the cold. "Hiii!" The blond woman exclaims happily and
gives her bestie a quick hug, before she takes off her coat and shoes. "Hey."
Kiba too, smiles and hugs her in greeting, before she gets occupied by her
friend again. "Wow! You got some pretty new shoes there!” The Yamanaka
compliments to her, when she sees the pair of shoes on her. After all, nothing
escapes her blue eyes. Kiba in the other hand, just stands next to them freeing
himself from his outdoor-clothing as well. "Thank you." The pink haired woman
responds with a smile of her own and looks down at her feet. "These are the ones
i plan to wear at the Christmas gala. I’m just walking around the house with
them a bit until the others arrive." ino nods in understanding. “In your place
i would do that to. After all, that gala is quite a responsibility and we
don’t want you to get clumsy again either.” The young Haruno can’t help
herself and pouts at her best friens’s little joke. But she doesn’t really
feel mad about her remark. After all that’s exactly what she had told herself
too. She doesn’t want to embarrass herself at the gala and so she’s now
trying to get used to her new shoes. "Hey guys." The voice of her husband
suddenly sounds from behind her, animating the three to look around at the
Uchiha.
 
The two men give each other a friendly handshake, before he waves the blond
hello and turns to his wife. "I'll take care of everything. You can go upstairs
to change." Sakura nods in understanding and goes upstairs with a quick thanks
directed at him, while he turns back to the newcomers. "The others haven’t
arrived yet. Can I offer you something?" Sasuke looks back and forth between the
two, who shake their heads with a smile. "Okay, then, do you want to wait for
the others, for Sakura, or do you want to go downstairs already?” He then asks
as he counts the options to them. “Wanna wait here?” Ino turns to her
brunette friend, who nods in agreement, following her into the living room.
Sasuke too is about to head for the living room, but gets interrupted when the
doorbell rings again, which he then goes to open. "Hello." He greets the
newcomers shortly and has to notice a bit surprised, that his best friend
actually has come together with the younger Hyuga. “Hey, Sasuke!” Naruto
immediately makes a step forward to grab his best friends arm with a wide grin.

 
The young Haruno is walking out of the bedroom with soft humming, when the
doorbell rings once again. When she’s downstairs again, she can see that all
their guests have already arrived, greeting them all with a smile. "Hey guys!"
The whole group turns towards her, greeting her back with hugs. "Well then, now
that everyone is here i guess we can go downstairs." She continues, taking a
look around the round. The young women look at her in confusion and so do the
men. “You want to hold the party in your basement?” The question comes from
the Ama with quite some uncertainty. but who wouldn’t? After all, none of them
knows anything about the basement at all, which makes Sakura giggle knowingly.
"You haven't been to our basement yet, have you?" She grins amused and then goes
ahead and down the stairs. The others behave and follow her, while Sasuke
decides to stand in the end of the row. The friends look around in amazement, as
soon as they arrive at the end of the stairs.

Opposite from the stairs, there is a bar, which is quite some meters long and to
the right of the bar there’s a door, which leads into another room. In the
right corner of the room there is a billiard table and opposite the bar, a large
couch with space for at least 15 people. "Wow! Where does the door lead to?“
The Uzumaki looks at his best friend with curiousity and points to the door
right next to the billiard table. "To the training room." Sasuke, who has
already went behind the bar, opens the first beer bottles for his male friends.
“Who wants popcorn?” He then continues to explore, while his wife is already
tearing open the packages of the snacks and biscuits, filling them all into the
bowls which she put ready a while ago, placing them all on the bar counter and
the table by the couch landscape. With a nod, Neji and Hinata answer the host's
question, who then immediately goes through the door to the right of the bar.
"And where does that door lead to?" The blonde asks again with interest,
watching how the Haruno takes a look at the direction he points at. "To our
private home cinema." She puts down the first glasses on the counter and looks
at her childhood friends baffled face. “You have your own private cinema??”
The Yamanaka squeaks in disbelief. "Yes." The Uchiha chuckles and comes out the
door with a bowl, full of warm popcorn. "So can we play movie drinking games in
the cinema today?" The Inuzuka looks at them with a grin, which Sakura responds
to with a soft laugh. Sasuke in the other hand just shakes his head to himself,
letting out a chuckle in disbelief. 

“Well, today there is pure self-service for drinks. We have alcohol here,
while you can find fruit juices and the like in the fridge.” Smiling, Sakura
puts out seven small glasses and fills them with tequila, lifting one of the
glasses. "Then I would say, the party can start." Tenten takes up her short as
well now, before everyone else follows their example. "Yeah!" It suddenly comes
from Naruto, when he sees how Sakura stands up again and turns on the system to
flood the room with music. "Here, guys." Sasuke hands out the beer bottles to
the men, while the girls decide to mix themselves some mojitos.
 
While the girls make themselves comfortable on the couch, the men are already
gathering around the billiard table. "So, is everything okay between you and
Kiba now?" The brunette between the females asks with interest and lets herself
fall on the couch, looking at the blonde questioningly. "Yes." The Yamanaka nods
and drinks from her mojito. "It's always like that, they quarrel and the next
day everything is normal again." The pinkette shrugs her shoulders with a smile,
before she decides to get up again. "Excuse me for a moment." She then continues
and walks to the only door which leads to the left part of the room, goes
through it into the darkness and closes the door behind herself again.

The Uchiha observes his wife’s departure with a slight smile, before putting
aside his drink. “So, you have a home cinema and a gym and you never told any
of us about it?” Naruto begins, when he can see his best friend straighten up.
“Yeah, and?” Sasuke looks back at the Uzumaki with boredom, before Neji too
gets into the conversation. “So, does that mean that we can actually always
come to you instead of going to the fitness center?” The Hyuga’s question
makes Sasuke grin slightly in amusement. "Oh you go to the fitness center?" A
soft snort escapes the addressed man, watching as Sasuke lets out a chuckle,
before considering his question properly. "Yeah, why not? Just make sure to
register yourselves in advance, before you decide to come over." The host then
agrees with a slight nod. “What else have you hidden here that you haven't
shown us yet?” Kiba explores after a moment of silence and takes a brief look
around the room. "A laundry room, a storage room and three guest rooms."
 
Some time goes by in which the men are still playing billiard and the women talk
about their latest experiences. “Well, Sakura? How are the plannings for your
fundraising gala going so far. What can we expect?” The Yamanaka explores with
great interest, watching her best friend shrug her shoulders, whereupon the two
women turn to Hinata instead. "Well..." The blue haired woman starts to explain
and puts down her glass. However, she doesn’t expect Sakura to throw herself
on her in order to cover her mouth. “You can’t Hinata! Did you forget that
we agreed on not revealing it to anyone? The other guests don't know what's
going to happen either. it’s only fair i we don’t tell anyone.” Towards
the end, the young Haruno can’t help herself and starts smiling, fore she lets
go of her again. “Well, are you at least gonna tell us whom you did invite?”
The Yamanaka lets out a soft grumble, because important informations are being
withheld from her. "The usual, of course. Well known models, big company bosses,
singers, actors, politicians and the like.”
 
The sudden ringing of the door tears everyone from their activities, before all
eyes move to the hosts in surprise. Sakura doesn’t take notice of all the
stares and jumps up on her feet with a delighted squeal. "I got another surprise
for you, Ino!" With a big smile, she immediately rushes up the stairs to answer
the door, while Ino shouts after her warningly. "It better is no pizza!"
Everyone starts to laugh at her words, including the men, who now sit down on
the couch as well. “Pizza?” It comes from Naruto. Half interested and half
confused. “She's done that before and then it turned out to be just  a
pizza.” Ino lets out a slight huff at the memory, while Sasuke shakes his head
with a chuckle. The music is still playing in the background, alternating party
music and Christmas songs.
 
The pink haired woman smiles happily as she approaches the door. She hasn’t
even reached out for the door, when she can already make out a male’s voice.
“What are we doing here?” She can hear him ask at the other side of the
door, as already a second voice, a females voice answers the other. “We're
invited to a party.” 
“At such a time?” She can hear the next question and she can also hear that
he doesn’t seem to be really fond of this whole invitation thingy, which makes
the Haruno giggle silently. She’s glad to notice that he hasn’t changed at
all. “I just had an appointment!” The woman hisses back at her company.
“And what is the crap with the swimwear? Besides, since when have you known
our neighbors?” The man continues to explore again, which makes the woman sigh
out loud. “This is a pool party, that’s why. So finally be quiet and stop
complaining!” Sakura starts taking pity on them and opens the door for them,
since it's super cold outside. "The good old complaining Shikamaru... I thought
you had got him to stop that old habit of his by now.” Sakura turns with an
amused smile from the brown haired man and to the blonde woman, who innocently
shrugs her shoulders. "Sakura?" Shikamaru exclaims perplexed, staring at the
host in complete disbelief. “Hi, Shikamaru. It's been a long time. But come in
first, you two. It's really cold outside!” Sakura has to shudder at her own
remark when she feels a strong and cold wind gust enter the foyer.
 
Quickly she takes a few steps aside to make room for them and invite them in.
"Thank you." Temari replies politely while they enter the house and get out of
their shoes and jackets, while Sakura closes the door behind herself again. "We
haven't seen each other for such a long time. How many years have it been?"
Shikamaru is amazed to see her again so suddenly. Sakura takes their jackets in
order to hang them up next to the others, before turning to the blond woman.
“May i?” Sakura points her finger at the woman’s fiancé in order to get
her permission, which just nods with a giggle and watches as Sakura is already
hugging him tight. "It has been super long... It’s really nice to see you
again.”
 
Not much later she already breaks the hug again, before they already follow the
pink haired woman down the stairs to the basement, from where they can already
hear the music. Sakura happily looks around on the couch and the group, which
haven’t taken any notice of the newcomers’s presence yet. They all seem
rather captivated in the conversation about this year's trend color of the
baubles? She raises an eyebrow with scepticism and looks at the two behind her,
who also seem a bit confused by the subject. "Ino!" The young Haruno finally
draws everyone’s attention to herself. Said woman looks up at her in surprise,
before her eyes take notice of the newcomers and her facial features derail. "Oh
my God!" She squeaks in disbelief and if she had still held the glass in her
hand, it would have made acquaintance with the floor by now. The Yamanaka
immediately jumps up on her feet with delight and runs towards the brunette man,
who immediately embraces her back.
 
Sakura smiles brightly and looks back at her friends, who are all watching the
scenario with confusion. Only Sasuke stands up, the surprise written in his face
as he looks at the Nara to her left. "It has been so long." The Uchiha hears the
blonde mumbling before she breaks away from Shikamaru, who gives her a slight
smile and lifts his gaze to the crowd in front of him, only to get surprised as
well. "Sa-Sasuke?" Shikamaru stares at the other host of the party totally
surprised, yeah even a bit baffled. "Shikamaru." The Uchiha utters back, before
a crooked smile forms at the corner of his lips, when he realizes that it is
really him. "Hey." The Nara exclaims with a grin, before the two greet each
other with a handshake and even briefly hug each other with their free arms.
“I heard about your mother. My condolences.“ Shikamaru is about to take a
step back again when the corner of Sasuke’s lips jerks up for a slight moment,
before they return to it’s usual shape. "Thank you." 
 
"Uhm, yes, folks. These are Shikmaru Nara and his fiancée, also known as the
well known model Temari Sabakuno." Sakura regains her voice after a moment and
introduces the two newcomers briefly, who then go through the group to
introduces themselves with a handshake, except for Hinata, who also already
knows Shikamaru. "So..." The pink haired host then begins a new conversation.
“How do you know each other?” She asks just at the same time as her husband.
The group laughs briefly at that before Shikamaru raises his hands reassuringly,
who has made himself comfortable on the couch with his fiancée. "Well, I went
to one of the same courses as Sasuke in university and after on i decided to
study art history for a semester and was with Sakura at the same university and
that's how I got to know Ino and Hinata as well." The Nara end his little
explanation and gratefully accepts the bottle, which Sasuke is reaching out to
him. "Then why did you never introduce us?" Naruto looks at his best friend
questioningly, who goes back to his wife with a shrug of his shoulders and
casually puts an arm around her waist. "Because you are exhausting to have
around." Sakura has to smile at his answer and looks up at him for a moment,
before looking back at the others. "But it actually surprises me that you two
are a couple and am i wrong, or are you really living together even?" Shikamaru
looks back and forth between the two hosts, who glance at each other, not giving
Shikamaru the impression of being wrong in his observation. "Since when have you
two been together?"

The only married couple in the room now too take their places on the couch
again, before Sakura answers his questions a bit embarrassed. "To be honest,
we've been married since June." The Nara chokes on his drink and coughs a few
times, only to put his bottle down on the table. "Married? You’re married?
When did you two even get to know each other? Four years ago or when?” He
asks, in shock and surprise. "We got to know each other... When was that again?"
Sasuke looks at his wife questioningly. “I was 15 and you...?” She ponders
while looking to her side and into his eyes. "I was 18. Our first encounter was
when she hit me straight on the head with a golf bat.” Sasuke has to smile,
just like always when he remembers that particular moment from the past. The
ladies of the group giggle softly at his words, while Shikamaru clears his
throat once more. "So you are telling me that you were already a couple when I
met you?" The Nara investigates further. Sakura lets out a laugh while the rest
of the group listens intently. "No, that’s actually only how we meet each
other for the first time, but we didn't see each other again after that." Sakura
too has to giggle at the memory. "And how did the wedding come about?" Temari
now too raises her voice with interest. "That was a spontaneous idea of his
mother and my brother." Sakura smiles slightly at Shikamaru’s expression. He
looks so confused and as if he couldn’t believe the whole story at all.
"You’re trying to tell us that your wedding was...?" 

"An arranged wedding. Exactly." Sakura nods once and takes a sip of her drink.
“So you're actually not in love?” Temari inquires in disbelief. "I would
rather call us best friends." Sasuke leans back slightly while rewording her
question. “You mean, friendship with certain benefits.” Neji chuckles
lightly, only to get confronted with Sasuke’s silent glare. He had already
told him often enough to stop it. "Oh, don’t listen to them. They are both
actually quite doing well and just don’t want to accept it." Ino smile, but
Sakura just shakes her head. she’s the one to talk. "You already know how it
is." Her words are directed at the Nara, who gives a nod in response. "You,
Sakura, are afraid to love and you Sasuke, are unable to love. Although, i still
don’t understand very well in which way you’re claiming yourself as unable,
because i know that you aren’t unable of feeling deep care for someone. It
doesn’t have to be necessarily meant romantically. You always loved your
mother deeply and talked very respectful and fondly of her too."
 
"How can you be afraid to love?" Naruto suddenly asks for the group, which are
surprised at his, as facts expressed, wording. "That happens when you lose
someone who was really important to you. Humans actually grasp situations in
different ways, but it’s actually common for people to fear new bonds after a
great loss or trauma." Sakura lowers her eyes in silence, immediately feeling
her husbands hand on her back which is gently moving up and down. She has to
smile. It was neither out of happiness, nor out of sadness. Just somewhere in
between these two feelings and again she just feels so glad to have him. “But
how can one be unable to love? Like Shikmaru said, we all saw often enough,
especially towards Sakura, that he can love and care for someone deeply. But how
do you know if you're romantically in love or not, if you've never been so
before?” The younger Hyuga turns her attention to the Uchiha, who frowns at
her question. "Did we want to celebrate a party, or did we actually gather here
to talk about her and my feelings?" Sasuke let’s out a soft grumble, a little
annoyed of their continuous interrogation. The group remains silent at that,
siping on their drinks, as nobody knows exactly which topic they should bring up
now. "Oh yeah, thank you so much for inviting me to the fundraising gala,
Sakura. We'd love to come." The Sabakuno smiles after a moment of silence. "You
are welcome. I'm happy about it." The Uchiha watches his wife smile back just as
happily as she said she felt about it, before suddenly a little laugh draws
everyone’s attention to the Nara. "Are you okay?" Temari looks at her fiancé
skeptically, who just nods with a slight chuckle. "Yes. It is just that, a few
months after I finished university, I thought Sasuke and Sakura would make a
good couple and so i wanted to introduce them to each other. However, by then we
had already lost contact to each other. And now, years later, i suddenly meet
them again and get told that they are even married.” Shikamaru smiles
crookedly at his own observation of the coincidence, which makes the girls
giggle again.

"Oh yes, i forgot to tell you that the drinks are on self-service." Explains the
young Haruno to the two newcomers, while everyone else have already turned
towards each other and made some discussion groups. "Okay." The Sabakuno nods
understanding at her neighbour and get up to make herself her own drink. When
she sits back next to her fiancé a few minutes later and leans herself back
into the couch, she starts following the girls conversation in silence.
 
"Tell me Sakura, you said something about a pool party, right? Do you really
intent to go out in this weather?” Everyone turns to Tenten, who decided to
ask the question which had been on everyone’s mind since the beginning.
Smiling, the addressed woman just lifts up her pointer finger to show them to
wait a moment, before she walks towards the door behind which she disappeared
earlier in the dark, opens it and turns on the light. "Seriously?! You have a
pool in the basement??“ Naruto, who has yelled out the question in disbelief,
immediately storms into the room and stares at the pool as if to convince
himself that the pool is actually real and not just a 3D picture on the ground.
"As well as a whirlpool and a sauna." Sasuke explains calmly and puts his glass
aside. “Who wants to change?” The pink haired woman asks a rhetorical
question into the round, which immediately animates Ino and Naruto to hold up
their hands at once like two excited children, while Tenten loosens the belt
around her waist. In a matter of seconds, the group is already divided into two.
One, who is already wearing their necessary clothes underneath their everyday
clothes and the other, who have to change first. "I'll show you the place where
you can change in." Sakura then suggests with a smile and steers back into the
now empty party room, followed by some of her friends. “Here is the fitness
room and here the laundry room. I’ve also already put a hair dryer for later
into the fitness room of course.“ As soon as she points out to two doors, two
of her friends immediately disappear separately into them, while she just
decides to return to the others at the pool.
 
Tenten is already in her bikini by the water and carefully puts her hand into
it. "The water is warm!" The words scape her lips in surprise at her discovery,
which makes Sakura giggle slightly. “Of course. After all, nobody wants to
jump into cold water in such a weather.” Hinata is also already there in her
swimsuit, testing out the water with the tip of her toe. “Water bomb!!” They
all suddenly hear the Uzumaki shout from the other end of the bar, while running
into the room with full speed, before everyone in the room gets splashed with
water. Sakura has to laugh and decides to take off her sweater and jeans as well
now. "Nice bikini, Sakura." The Sabakuno winks at her, while she comes to a stop
next to her. "Thanks Temari." The addressed smiles with slightl red cheeks,
before looking over the blond woman, who is wearing a black and sexy swimsuit,
making her job as a model all justice. "Uuuuh look at you! Are we trying to
seduce Sasuke again?" The Yamanaka agrees with Temari, making the Haruno go even
a shed redder. But before she could even open her lips to protest, they suddenly
hear a dark voice sounding behind themselves. "What about me?" The women turn
around, only to be meet by the man which they were just talking about. Sasuke,
who is too now standing there in nothing but his shorts, looks back and forth
between the three women, before his eyes meet those of his wife. "Oh nothing,
nothing." Ino just laughs it off in a good mood and walks to the pool, followed
by Temari, who pulls her fiancé in with herself at the same time.
 
"Tell me, how did you find those two, when you had no contact to him either?"
Sakura looks up at her husband, who had asked her the question while watching
all their friends splashing around the pool in a good mood. Even his shorts are
already drenched, because he was pushed by the Uzumaki. "Well..." Sakura
stretches out the word, while scratching her cheek thoughtfully, trying to
figure out how best to tell her husband the news. "That..." She continues in her
stammer, crossing her hands behind her back with a sigh. "They live opposite our
house." Her husbands facial features immediately derail, watching as his head
whipes around to her in shock. “You are trying to tell me that they’re our
neighbors?” He exclaims in disbelief, staring at her cheeky grin. "Yeah." He
keep staring into her eyes for a while, before he lets out a silent breath and
looks back at his newfound neighbours. "Who would have thought that we would
ever end up being neighbours..." Sakura shrugs her shoulders at his mumbled
words and looks back at their friends. He repeats his mumbled words aain, but
this time with a smirk on his lips. Immediately he moves closer to her and lifts
her up on his arms, which makes her scream in shock, only to carry her over to
the pool where he drops her into the water. Dusting his hands with a chuckle, as
if he had done a good job, he watches her emerge after a moment with a snort.
She looks around in confusion, while brushing her wet hair out of her face. The
others in the other hand have moved to the other side of the pool, frightened,
before laughing in amusement.

Sakura swims the bit towards the edge and braces her hands on the floor, looking
rather offended at him. Sasuke holds out his hand to her, a little worried. "Let
me help you." She hears him says, while taking her hand. He wants to pull her
up, but at the same time she quickly braces herself against the wall and pulls
him down into the water. Neji, Shikamaru and Naruto in the other hand start
booing, as if they were watching a soccer game and a player made a foul. Sasuke
appears back on the surface, shaking his head wildly to get rid of the water.
His gaze turns around to look at his wife with a nasty grin, making her flinch
as he comes closer. But before he can reach out to her, she quickly splashes a
big load of water into his face. Sasuke shakes his head again, immediately
starting the counterattack with a wide smirk. "Water fight!" The Uzumaki
suddenly shouts into the round and starts to spray the others, who defend
themselves. Sasuke approaches his wife with a slight smile, who laughs at a
fight between Hinata and Temari. The Uchiha immediately uses this chance, grabs
her by her hips and turns her back around to himself. She looks at him in
surprise, before smiling and playing with his wet hair, feeling his hand resting
on her cheek and his thumb moving over her upper lip. Sasuke takes another step
towards her and then another one, watching as she backs away until she feels the
pool wall against her back. He smiles slightly and moves closer to her to
whisper against her lips. “Caught you.” A shaky breath escapes her lips,
when he presses his lips against hers for a quick kiss. Right after a second
follows, a third one and then a more passionate one, which ends up in a heated
battle of tongues. The others don't notice anything about their heated making
out session and just keep splashing each other with water or, in the men’s
case, pushing each other under water.

Sakura looks up at him with slight red cheeks, after he released the kiss with a
soft smooch. His lips curl up into a warm smile and his arms go around her waist
in order to pull her against  his chest, lets himself fall back and float in the
water. Giggling, Sakura tries to flee from his grip, but he doesn't let go of
her. He is about to kiss her again, but get’s interrupted, when suddenly a
ball hits his head. The Uzumaki, who shot the beach ball at him, lets out a big
laugh at that, while Ino just catches the ball and continues to play it towards
Shikamaru, who hits it against Sasuke head as well. Sasuke’s patience is gone
at that point, glaring angrily at his friends while approaching the beach ball,
only to take it into his hands and hit it with full force right into his blond
friends face. At this point, the water fight turns into a water ball fight, from
which the women decide to stay out. 
 
“Shall we go to the whirlpool while they are fighting over that ball?” The
girls hear the Haruno suggest, which they all agree to. However, everyone except
for the Sabakuno decide to come a bit later. Thus, leaving Temari and Sakura
alone even if just for a little while. "Well, that gives us more space to relax
in." Sakura shrugs her shoulders with a smile, while she gets out of the pool
together with her neighbour and both grab their cocktails, before they sink into
the whirlpool with a sigh. "Well, as long as we are alone, you can tell me a
little bit about the relationships in here." The blond suggest attentively,
while leaning back against the wall to relax a little. “Sure, why not. But
there isn’t really much to tell. Naruto and Hinata are dating. I think it’s
the fourth now, but in between they go to lunch or have coffee too. that’s
actually all i really know." Temari nods in understanding, before taking a
glance at the crowd. “And what about Kiba and Ino?” Sakura takes a sip of
her cocktail, before letting out a soft sigh. "They are just best friends." At
this point it doesn’t surprise her that Temari asked about them and is looking
stunned at her explanation. "What? I thought they’re together. I mean, he's
been looking at her that way the whole time and seems a bit jealous too.”
Sakura nods at her confession and puts her drink aside. “Yes, we're actually
still waiting for it to happen one day. They are just too dense and stubborn to
accept their own feelings. Instead they keep going out with someone else and
either end up jealous, or giving each other the blame for everything that goes
wrong with their date.” A soft hum escapes the young model, while she takes
another glance back at the group. "And what about Neji and Tenten? They look
kind of close." Temari investigates further, while inspecting said people some
more from afar, but Sakura just shakes her head. "No. They are the same,
actually." Confused, Temari looks at her and back at the two brunette friends.
"You can’t be serious? I mean, come on, he even puts his arm around her all
the time. They have barely separated from each other ever since Shikamaru and i
have arrived." She watches as the host shakes her head at her observation. "No,
poorly we're still waiting here too and i can’t tell if they’re better or
worse that Ino and Kiba. Like you said, they are so close to each other and
still there is nothing. I actually never saw Neji jealous either and still they
have no other date and keep sticking together." Sakura shrugs her shoulders with
a smile, before the other women approach and join them in the whirlpool.

Laughing, they watch the men for a moment, before delving into a conversation
about the Christmas season and the plans. The men in the other hand switched
back from playing ball, to delving into the water. Only Shikamaru is drifting
leisurely on the surface, until someone grabs him by the legs and pulls him down
into the water, animating him to kick his feet and splash everyone with water.
Actually, there is no precise definition of what exactly they are doing.
 
“Man, Sasuke, your house is so cool! If I get married, will I get a house like
this? If so, I'll get married right away!” The Uzumaki lets out a sigh, half
an hour later, when the men are all leisurely floating in the water. Their heads
close to each other in the middle of the pool. The Uchiha and the others laugh
out loud at his stupid question. Who would marry someone, without even being
ready for such a step yet, only to get to live in such a house? "You get a house
like this if you can afford it." Sasuke then just answers with a slight shake of
his head. "Which would probably never happen in your case, Naruto. My deepest
condolences." Neji smirks mischievously at his own remark and gets the whole
group to laugh out loud once again. Except for Naruto, of course. Shikamaru is
the first to catch himself again, before he continues to notify him the current
facts that he is missing in his statement.  "Apart from that, every house is
built and furnished differently, so you will never get such a house, unless you
design your dream house yourself and order someone to build you it as wished.
However, i don’t believe that you actually have any clue about designing,
right? Like Sasuke said, the design, the material, the property and all the
constructors all together will cost you a whole fortune." Naruto lets out a
gruff sound, while Sasuke drifts a bit further away and closes his eyes with
relish. “What are they talking about over there anyway?” Everyone, except
for the host, look at Kiba, who had asked the question into the round. Seemingly
uninterested in the marrying and construction topic. “Just what women usually
talk about. Probably shoes or the latest make up trends and hacks.“ Neji
growls out the answer for him, however, Naruto is all intent to change the topic
again. "Say, Shikamaru, how did you even get to know Temari? I mean she's a well
known model and super popular with men." Kiba on his left lets out a soft
grumble and pushes his head deeper into the water so that his ears sink into it.
“Through Sakura. She dragged me to a party and that's where I bumped into
Temari.” Naruto laughs happily at his words and stretches his arms up into the
air with a wide grin. "I knew it! With Sakura we finally got someone with
contacts!” Sasuke can’t help himself and lets out a snort at his words and
turns his head to glare into his direction. “What is that supposed to mean
now? I also have contacts.“

 "Who needs you when we have Sakura?" The blond just asks back with a laugh,
unaware of his best friends frown. Sasuke lets out a deep growl, only to turn
around and press him down into water. “Traitor." He growls out anew and
presses him deeper into the water, before watching his friend wiggle back up
with a big gasp of air. The Uzumaki complains with a loud snort of his own,
watching as his best friend just lets out a chuckle and walks towards the edge
of the pool. “That was for your stupid claims. Suck it up now.”
 
"I'm going out." The Uchiha announces briefly after, before doing as said and
gets out to dry himself off with one of the many laid out towels. With a small
smile on his face, he picks up the beach ball which they threw out earlier and
aims directly at his best friend's head. "Hey!" Said man complains again at the
impact and wants to swim to the area with the steps. However, he doesn’t
expect for a hand to appear and grab him by his ankle to pull him back down
under water. Sasuke laughs bemused, as he watches the scene from outside and
looks at the culprit, while Naruto reappears with a loud snort and looks around,
only to find a laughing Inuzuka smirking maliciously at him. “Don’t rush in
front of the queue.” 
 
The blonde immediately gets back at him, ending up breaking out a fight in which
both keep pushing each other’s heads under water one after the other.
Meanwhile, Shikamaru and Neji just leave the pool and begin to dry themselves
off as well. The host looks seriously at the brunette man in the pool. "He's so
calm." He then notes in a mumble, while the Hyuga comes to a stop right next to
him. “I know and that’s actually worrying me. He seems to be pretty jealous
of Shikamaru." Sasuke nods slightly at the long haired man’s worry, while a
frown settles on his face "I just hope that this wont turn into anything worse."
The Uchiha lets out a deep sigh at his own words, while the ladies walk past
them in a mix of giggles and laugher.
 
“What do you actually do for a living?” Sasuke then asks his old friend
while they go to change back into their clothes. After all, they haven't seen
each other for quite some years now. “I'm an economics engineer.” The Nara
replies with a shrug of his shoulders and starts rubbing his towel through his
loose hair, which he actually always ties into a small hair knot. “The perfect
job for you, isn't it? You lazy dog.“ The Uchiha pushes his old friend aside
with a laugh, eventually getting him to laugh as well. “And what about you,
mister company owner? You surely don't have much to do either." Said man lets
out a slight huff and shakes his head. “You wish. There are days when i have
to stay at work until 8pm, but I'm working on changing that somehow.” Actually
he is the one who wishes that it would be different. He wishes that he
wouldn’t have so many responsibilities as the boss. Now that his father and
brother know his situation and helped him, he doesn’t have as much to do as
usual, but still it is a big load. After all, he is the one everyone comes to
when they need something. May it be a designer, his secretary, the department
heads, his brother or father or even those in charge of the productions. The
company is just huge and he is leading the heart part of it, it’s just
exhausting. With a slight sigh he gets his clothes from the fitness room, before
disappearing into the laundry room to change back into his dry clothes.
 
The ladies also change their clothes one after the other and dry their hair with
the hairdryer before they sit down on the couch with fresh cocktails in hand and
the rest of the men join them in dry clothes. The party has been going on for a
few hours already. “What are you looking so serious about?” Sasuke lets out
a soft laugh and looks at his wife next to him, whom he had caught zoning out
and seemingly deep in thoughts. "Nothing, nothing. I was just thinking." She
waves off his question with a smile and looks back at the glass in her hand.
"About what?" Sasuke explores further with interest. She stays silent for a
moment, before she decides to tell him. "I was thinking about how we would have
met again, if your mother and Ryosuke hadn’t decided to engage us." Her words
make their female friends look up at them with interest. Listening just as
intently as Sasuke, as she continues in her observations. “If we assume that
the contact with Shikamaru didn’t break off so quickly, he would have
introduced us to each other. But even Ryosuke would have introduced us at some
point and the latest would have been at his wedding. Maybe I would have made
friends with Tenten after she started working at Ryosuke and she would have
introduced us. We might have met at a Christmas gala that Ryosuke and Ino would
have taken me to, or we would have met again if I had started working at your
company." Sakura counts and always sticks out a finger of her hand. "Although
I'm not quite sure about the last one." While saying this, she looks at the last
finger she extended. "There’s no doubt that you would have gotten the job with
your talent. Besides, maybe i would have been the one finding you again, like i
did one and a half years ago at the opening of the Tokiwa Towers." Sasuke
explains with a smile and caresses a strand of her hair behind her small ear. He
can see her cheeks slightly go red and her lips curl up into a slight smile,
while the girls around them start to whisper and giggle. “You said that it was
Ryosuke who had recommended me to you. So it wasn’t you who found me.” She
then notes, which makes him chuckle with a slight shake of his head. “I could
have ignored his suggest and just searched for someone else. But i didn’t.“
She immediately sticks her tongue out, feeling how her cheeks get a tad warmer.
“About your claim that i would have got the job either way, i was actually
wondering if I would have even applied to you in the first place. I mean, just
think about it. You’r company makes household devices, but if i wanted to i
could design cars just as good.” His wife now grins cheekily at him, not
expecting his frown to turn into a dangerous smirk. "You little..." his lips
leaves a soft growls, but can’t help himself from laughing slightly either as
he begins to tickle her. She too starts to laugh, just even lauder than him
while she starts writhing in his arms, begging him for mercy.
 
It takes him a few minutes to consider her pleads and let her go again, to let
her gasp properly for air, watching as she immediately flees to the bar with her
cocktail in hand and leans herself against the bar with a deep sigh of relief.
She empties her glass in silence, before filling it with a new drink. Smiling,
she watches the group of her friends, who are drinking and talking in a good
mood. After a few minutes Temari comes up to her and also briefly looks at the
group. “It’s quite visible that you and Sasuke have a really strong bond
there. I wonder how this can be. I mean, you two keep saying that you are not in
love and all that and still you are like a real married couple." She finally
starts a conversation, while she refills her own glass. Sakura looks at her in
surprise before briefly observing her husband, who picks out his favorite
cookies from the bowl of cookies and places them on the table in front of him. A
warm smile pulls on her lips before she looks back at her glass. “I don’t
think we are anything near something as a dream couple, even if people keep
claiming us as such. But we are making progress, i guess. At least we are seeing
each other as best friends and family now.” A slight hum comes from the blond,
while she takes a seat next to her and makes herself comfortable. “How did you
end up so close? If it’s okay to ask, that is.” Sakura looks at her for a
moment, before looking back at her glass with a smile. “That comes when you
experience the same thing and know how the other is feeling. Actually, we may
not be together for that long yet, but we have actually already been through a
lot together and stuck together through it all.” She lifts her gaze to her
neighbor, who looks at her slightly questioningly. "Sasuke's mother died in
September, Shikamaru mentioned that before already." She the utters after a
brief moment of silence, which Temari responds to with a slight nod, because she
apparently knew this. But this doesn’t really surprise her. After all, it was
in all the magazines and news, as was the wedding. Only Shikamaru doesn't seem
to read these kind of magazines that much or listen to the news.

"8 years ago... I was 15 years old... it was actually shortly after i have meet
Sasuke for the first time. It made me completely forget that he even exists."
Sakura rises her voice after a sip of her drink. She guesses with a sad smile,
that it had to be the impact of the trauma which made her ban him out of her
head. Now that she thinks about it, she kind of regrets forgetting him. Maybe he
would have done her good like she did for him. Maybe they could have become
friends much earlier and maybe they would have been able to fall in love with
each other someday without having to be promised to each other. Maybe. "Around
that time my parents died in a car accident." That side of her, which she
doesn’t want anyone else to see is coming out again. After all those years she
just still doesn’t want anyone to see how much it’s actually tearing her
apart. "I'm sorry to hear that" Temari murmurs sympathetically and gently pats
the hostess' shoulder. "It's okay." The two sit there for a while longer, before
they go back to the couch, were Sakura sinks back down next to her husband and
lets herself get pulled closer to his side. His arm staying around her, while he
would rub her arm up and down. She cuddles up to his shoulder with relish and
closes her eyes for a moment, while the song "Hold on to me" sounds from the
speakers. After a moment she then lets her eyes flutter open again, watching as
the Inuzuka gets up and disappears up the stairs. "Say. Aren't you jealous when
Shikamaru keeps chatting with Ino?” Sasuke suddenly asks his female neighbour,
who looks up at him in surprise and then shakes her head slightly. "Weren’t
you like that with Sakura either?" Naruto then continues to ask, which makes
Sakura laugh out loud.
 
"Oh god! You all should have seen the first time we met each other months ago."
Sakura chuckles in amusement, infecting the Sabakuno with it as well. "She would
have loved to tear my head off, because I'm the daughter in law of Shikamaru's
mother’s dreams." The dark blonde continues to laugh in amusement, only to
shake her head. “What do you mean by tearing off your head only? I literally
wanted to chop you into small pieces and bury you in the garden." Sakura looks
at her in complete disbelief, before she breaks out into laugher all over again.
"Seriously?" They watch as Temari nods back just as amused, before she continues
in her mini tale "And now you are my favorite neighbor!" The young model throws
her hands up in the air to clap into her hands, making everyone burst out into
laugher as well. Distraught, Kiba looks at his friends, who are laughing in a
good mood, while Temari apologetically caresses her fiancé's cheek and gives
him a peck on his lips.
 
Sakura sits silently in between her friends and takes a sip from her glass,
while she watches her husband eat one cookie after the other. For a moment she
listens to the conversation between him and Naruto, which makes her raise her
eyebrow skeptically. Are they talking about shoveling snow? She diverts her
attention again and sees her husband's hand approaching the last cookie.
Grinning slightly, she leans forward and grabs the cookie, watching as his
husband’s fingers keep scanning the table to reach out for he cookie. But when
he can’t get a grasp of it, he looks at the table with surprise and then
around until his eyes come to a halt at his wife, who stuffs the cookie halfway
into her mouth with a slight giggle. A grin settles on his lips as he leans over
to her, watching as she slowly leans back, slides down the backrest and onto the
seat. When she can no longer escape from him, the Uchiha approaches her mouth
with a smile and bites off the cookie right in front of her lips.
 
He chuckles lightly while crushing the biscuit in his mouth and pressing his
lips on hers, feeling how she returns the kiss gently. "Get yourselves a room."
Naruto suddenly shouts through the round in a good mood, drawing everyone's
attention to the married couple. The Uchiha breaks away from his wife to look
back and give his blond friend an evil look, before his lips turn into a
malicious smirk. "How so? We're already at home, aren’t we?" He reminds him
matter of factly, before he decides to straighten up properly and let Sakura sit
back up as well. "We could tell you to go home and the problem would be solved."
The host smiles underhandedly at his friend, who turns his head away with a pout
and takes a looks around. "Hey you have Monopoly!" The blond man immediately
gets up on his feet, to get to the bar and take said board game from the upper
part of the shelf.
 
"Do you remember when we saw that miserable movie in the cinema?" Sakura hears
the voice of her female best friend, who reminisces in her memories with
Shikamaru. He grimaces at her question and nods before they continue talking
about what they have done. List bars, clubs, parties. The Uchiha looks carefully
at Kiba, who is sitting next to him and has been so quiet the whole evening and
at the same time looks pretty pissed off. "How come I didn't get to know
Shikamaru back then?" The Inuzuka looks at Sakura, who looks back at him, a
little surprised about his sudden interest. "It was the semester when you
studied in Hokkaido." Sakura smiles mildly, before Ino lets out a soft laugh.
“And once we were even in the zoo!” Sasuke lets out a sigh at that. He just
hopes that this won’t end in a- "i see that you found a replacement for me
pretty quickly back then." The Inuzuka suddenly bursts out in anger, which makes
the party crowd fall silent and Ino look around at him in surprise. "You can’t
be serious!" The addressed woman hisses back at his accusation and Sasuke just
wanted to give himself a face palm. Just when he hoped he wouldn’t.

Everyone in the room immediately knows that this is an argument which the two
should have had a long time ago. “You're not starting this all over again in
all seriousness! Who brought in a new one last week and then accused me of being
to blame for the fact that she ran away??” She growls dangerously at him, only
for him to let out all his built up frustration at once. “Of course it's your
fault! I can see how you treat people like dirt if you want. You've been
ignoring me all evening!” He replies loudly. “Don't start crying Iike a
pussy! I treat people like dirt, oh yeah! At least I'll be in touch, instead of
forgetting my friends over a crush for literally months! You are the one who
doesn’t give a sign of life when you get yourself a new one, way until
everything is clear. Who cares if that takes two months, right? There is no
mortal word from you, while we are all just here wondering if you’re even
still alive!” She continues, frustrated that he keeps pushing all his faults
on her. “You've been acting like a huge asshole lately and I really don't need
someone like that as a best friend. Just forget the whole thing i just said
since you don’t care anyway!" She then continues to yell right into his face,
before letting out a snort and then goes to sit down next to her best friend,
who immediately puts an arm around her.
 
“Okay guys. How about a drinking game! We have to get drunk quickly so that
the evening will be nicer again!" Naruto comes back to the couch after following
the scene from a safe distance at the bar. "But we won't sit down in front of
the TV again and watch Finding Nemo!" The Haruno immediately addresses the
change of subject, in hope that they can really save the evening with the game.
Couldn’t the two by all means choose another day to argue? In worse case,
they'll end up dragging everyone down and destroying the evening. She had
actually hoped to enjoy this evening without everyone having to drink themselves
wasted until no one remembers anything of the whole evening. “Finding Nemo?”
The Sabakuno explores with amusement. "Yeah. Last time they took a short,
whenever someone said nemo or mine.” Sasuke is the one who decides to explain
it to her, unable to stop himself from letting out a sigh and gets up to clear
away the empty glasses from the table. He too had hoped for thinks to turn out
differently. "No, we're going to play Monopoly!" The Uzumaki laughs out in a
good mood, sits down next to Shikamaru and holds up the game for a moment before
he unpacks it. “And how do you want to turn it into a drinking game?” Tenten
looks through the round with skepticism, which Naruto answers to with a move of
his finger.
 
“That’s easy. Sasuke get the tequila and the short glasses!” He then
exclaims and continues moving, while the addressed man follows the instructions
with another sigh and distributes the glasses to everyone who places them on the
table around the game board, while naruto explains everything to the round.
Sasuke too listens in to his friends explanations, shaking his head in silence.
He got himself some really troublemaking drunkards as friends, who just can’t
confront any situation properly and at the proper time and place. “You can
only go to the toilet if you come to one of the waterworks fields, but you can
also refuse a short one and have to pay for it, like when you want to go to the
toilet, the money is placed in the middle and whoever comes to the free parking
field can take all the cash.” Naruto then ends his explanation of the game.
The others nod and then look at each other, before everyone chooses their
player. "Well, the game is actually harmless, only the beginning ensures that we
end up drunk." Neji then sums it all up, which makes the others laugh before
they fill the glasses and start drawing lots.

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