Happy Accidents

Chapter 35: Weekends

Sakura raced up the stairs to Ino's office, practically out of breath by the time she reached it. She was left panting in the doorway with a somewhat confused blonde looking at her from her chair.

"Sakura? You look like you just ran a mile. Who lit a fire under your ass?" Ino asked in confusion.

"You did! Well—okay, no, Tenten kind of did, inadvertently. I just remembered, this weekend was the weekend we were supposed to go to the lake house, remember?" Sakura watched as realization dawned on Ino's face as well; Sakura wasn't the only one who had forgotten about it.

"Oh my god. I forgot too. Damn it! And I asked tall, cute, and mysterious out on a dinner date this weekend, too, and then I have to prepare for that big case on Monday... Oh, no. There's no way I can go out this weekend." Sakura understood the need. Boys took precedence for the two of them; they were both at the age where they needed to find someone to take that next step. It had been a mutual agreement they'd had for years now.

"You mean the one who insulted me earlier?" Sakura asked dryly. "Tall, annoying, and jerkass is more how I'd put it. But, you know, you do you, Ino. Anyway... hey, maybe there's a way..." And then it dawned on both girls, at the same time.

"Sakura, do it," Ino said.

"No, that's—I don't know if he would."

"Do it."

"Ino—"

"Do. It. You. Little. Chicken. Shit. Cherry Blossom." By her tone, Ino was dead serious and wasn't about to back down.

"Okay! I'll ask him." Sheesh, she was pushy.

"Oh! It's going to be so romantic. And then we can have a girls' night next week, and we can totally gush about what happened. Besides, you still owe me girl talk about what Sasuke was up to when acting all weird. You said things went amazing, but you never told me the details."

"Next week," Sakura promised, putting her hands together. "One hundred percent. Promise. We will have a girls' night with popcorn and bad movies, and we can gush all about it. Promise. Cross my heart." She drew an X on her chest with a finger.

"Go! Go ask him! Go have fun! Bring protection!" Ino called.

"Get your mind out of the gutter, you lech," Sakura called back over her shoulder, followed by a chorus of laughter from Ino.

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Sasuke made his way down to Sakura's office, using his key to unlock it. He was still stunned and surprised by what she'd done; they'd agreed to keep things professional for the most part, though it wasn't exactly... a verbal agreement. Neither of them wanted to try and explain what was going on. Sasuke knew that Ino was well aware of what was going on, but he also knew that she wouldn't dare speak a word of it for Sakura's sake.

He rubbed his cheek where she'd kissed him, his hand lingering on the spot. He'd enjoyed it more than he wanted to admit to anyone. Hell, he enjoyed her more than he had anything in his life so far. How could he have been such a fool? To have given up the opportunity for something like this?

Well... in his defence, he hadn't had anyone that had clicked as she had. There were a few girls from his past, but most of them had just hung on his good looks or wanted a wounded soul. He was the resident bad-boy with the scars as a kid, and after graduation, he'd done his best to avoid most groups. Naruto was the only person he'd kept in contact with from his old life, and even they'd had their differences as kids. They still did, even today.

Sakura was different, somehow. He couldn't put his finger on it, but she was. Something about her intrigued him, attracted him, made him forget what he'd sworn to do. He was just enamoured with her whenever she was around.