"Actually, I'm going to sit with my roommates. They've already saved me a seat," Sakura jerked her thumb towards the entryway, already backing towards it. People were starting to stare and whisper again. "Good luck with the game! I'llseeyouonlineafterwards!"

So saying, she took off, bag of snacks bouncing behind her.

Sasuke blinked, watching her go. Then he smirked. As if I'd let her get away that easily.

(¬‿¬ ) ε=ε=ε=ε=┌(;￣▽￣)┘

"Sakura! Over here!" It took Sakura a minute to spot her friends amongst the crowds. They'd managed to snag decent seats halfway up the stands, right beside a stairwell that faced the middle of the court.

"We saved you a seat, just in case the date went poorly," Tenten shuffled so that Sakura could take the aisle seat on her left.

"Thanks," Sakura said breathlessly as she plopped into her seat and looked around. "Wow, it's crowded today, isn't it?"

Temari stared at her from Tenten's other side, "You really haven't been paying attention, have you? This is the varsity farewell game for the CS department! I told you! Uchiha-senpai's definitely going to be here."

"Oh yeah," Sakura scratched her head, not sure how to explain the pickle she found herself in with the whole Uchiha-senpai/Meister situation.

"S-Sakura-chan's been a bit preoccupied," Hinata said from Temari's far side. She nudged Temari and gave her a small, mischievous smile.

Reminded of the mission, Temari asked, "Oh right, Sakura-chan - how'd the date go?"

"It wasn't a date, per se," Sakura hedged, "Just a... meet up."

"So how'd the meet-up go? C'mon Sakura, spill!" Tenten burst out, "Who was he? What was he like? When are you guys getting together and making babies?"

"Tenten!" Sakura gasped.

"Well, the way you've been mooning about him the past few weeks-,"

"You know what, stuff your mouth with this," Sakura took the enormous bag of snacks she'd almost forgotten about and shoved it into Tenten's hands. "And give me a break!"

"Hey Missy, we're not done here - Oooh, shrimp chips," Tenten pulled a bright red packet out of the bag.

"Are there any candied chestnuts?" Temari asked, digging into the bag as well. She frowned when she came up empty. "Boo, no chestnuts. C'mon Sakura, you know those are my favourite."

Uchiha-senpai put together that bag in like two minutes - you should be grateful there's anything you like in there. Sakura couldn't say it out loud, though. She still wasn't sure how to explain the whole Meister/Uchiha-senpai thing.

"W-Where did you get the snacks, Sakura-chan?" Hinata asked. Before Sakura could come up with any more excuses, though, a wave of excitement rippled through the crowd as all heads turned toward the entrance.

"See, I told you he'd be here," Temari said as Uchiha-senpai made his courtside appearance in his street clothes. "Is he looking for someone?"

Pricked by her guilty conscience since she'd fled from him not five minutes ago, Sakura looked in the other direction and covered her face with her hand. Luckily, everyone else was too focused on the man of the hour to see how dumb she looked. As she tried to make herself look innocuous, she accidentally made eye contact with a blond girl she vaguely recognized sitting across the aisle, two rows back. Where have I seen her -?

"He's looking over here!" Temari hissed at her. "Remember to breath- Hey Sakura-chan, who are you looking at?"

"Oh, leave her alone, she's moved on to new crushes and isn't interested in old loves. Don't think I've forgotten about the father of my future niblings, young lady." Tenten didn't take her eyes off the drama near the entrance as people started to try and figure out what Uchiha-senpai was looking at.

"Tenten!" Sakura protested again, but they all ignored her as more heads turned their way.

"I-It almost seems like he's looking for someone," Hinata murmured, "W-Who do you think it might be?"

"Yamanaka-san's sitting right behind us," Tenten offered. "You know, the school beauty voted most gorgeous girl of our year in that forum photo contest. I don't really think it was fair, though - Sakura-chan's picture was unflattering and out-of-focus."

She nudged Sakura with her elbow, scattering the memory from a couple of months ago that Yamanaka-san's name had niggled at in Sakura's brain, and said, "You should've let us upload a nicer picture of you. Then maybe our year's famous school beauty would be you."

"Because that's so important to me, winning Internet points for my face," Sakura rolled her eyes. Tenten chortled, acknowledging the ridiculousness of that statement. Sakura went on, not entirely facetiously, "besides, Uchiha-senpai is really looking for ... me!"

(￢ ￢)(￢ ￢)(￢ ￢) (￣▽￣*)ゞ

Kiba and Naruto stared at Sasuke, trying to figure out who he was looking for. Why they weren't looking in the direction that he was instead, Sasuke didn't care enough to ask.

"Come on, asshole, where is she?" Naruto demanded, "you promised to introduce her to us!"

"Ran away," Sasuke said simply.

Kiba gasped theatrically, "No way! Was it Naruto's ugly mug that scared her away?"

"Shut up, Dog boy!" Naruto tried to cuff him, but Kiba dodged away laughing. Things quickly devolved into their usual chaos, which Sasuke was used to ignoring. By the time Kiba managed to get Naruto into a headlock, Sasuke had spotted her pink hair because she was the only person not looking in his direction.

"She's still here, right?" Naruto managed to get out between Kiba's forearms.

"Hn. I'll introduce you after the game." Sasuke turned, so he didn't see Kiba and Naruto look at each other in disbelief, then Naruto mouthed "text Chouji" behind Sasuke's back. He was still thinking of the best way to corner his erstwhile prey.

(⊙_⊙)(⊙_⊙) (¬‿¬ )

"Uchiha-senpai is really looking for ... me!"

There was a breathless moment when all three of her friends stared at her in round-eyed disbelief. Then all three of them burst out laughing.

"S-Sakura-chan, you're too funny," Hinata giggled.

Tenten said between chortles, "Did you know you and Uchiha-senpai were voted least likely couple on the forums?"

"What!? Why?" Sakura demanded.

Temari, she-who-knew-all, waved her hand impatiently at their antics. "Look, he's heading back to the changing room now."

"Too bad," Tenten sighed dramatically. "I guess he wasn't looking for our Sakura after all."

"I doubt he was looking for anybody," Temari rolled her eyes, "We've been coming to games for two years — Have you ever seen him ever approach the stands before?"

"I guess not," Tenten sighed while Hinata murmured in agreement. Most of the other players would come over to say hello to friends in the stands before games like Shikamaru-senpai always did with Temari. Uchiha-senpai, however, never had - he'd probably cause a riot if he ever did.

Sakura, however, was not to be deterred from their previous conversation, "what do you mean, Uchiha-senpai and I were voted least likely couple? What was the forum question?"

"Oi, Sakura-chan," Tenten complained as Sakura gripped her arm just a little too tightly. "It was just a dumb forum thread. Something about CS couples losing the mystique of their profession as they face the realities of their industries, and Uchiha-senpai being too ethereal to have a mate on the human plane. They called you too earthy."

"Too earthy?! What's that supposed to mean?"

"I don't know, but a bunch of people on the Internet agreed with the statement, so it must be true."

"Shhh, the game's about to start. Come on guys, pay attention," Temari hissed before Sakura could defend herself. Not that she'd know what to say - Too earthy!? Shannaro!

(￣ヘ￣)

"He was definitely looking at you, Ino-chan!" Kin squealed under her breath, grabbing and shaking Ino's arm in her excitement.

"Shh!" Ino hissed. Annoyed, she yanked her arm out of Kin's, wincing as she rubbed her arm surreptitiously. "Play it cool, okay?"

"Right, sorry," Kin apologized carelessly as she watched the entrance to the men's changeroom like a hawk, "Still, he was definitely looking at you! What did I tell you, Ino-chan, our plan to hook you up with the hottest guy in school is working!"

Your plan, Ino wanted to disavow the plan, but she knew from previous experience that it would be useless. Anyways, Uchiha-senpai is hot and I don't have anyone else to aim at. Not since... Oh, well. Speak of the devil. She tilted her head in acknowledgement, just as Kin finally peeled her eyes away from the drama and speculation.

"Who are you nodding at, Ino-chan?"

"Mm? No one in particular. Hey, when does this game start, anyways?" Ino asked.

"Hmmm...," Kin narrowed her eyes suspiciously at her awkward subject change, but answered her question anyways, "Should be soon, in about 10 minutes. Uchiha-senpai can't play for long anyways, so he shouldn't need that much of a warm-up. Gosh, I hope he isn't an utter embarrassment out there because of that head injury. I'm sure everyone would understand, but still... That would be super humiliating to you, wouldn't it Ino-chan?"

The malicious glint Ino thought she saw in Kin's eyes caught her off guard, but it was gone in a flash. Ino almost thought she'd imagined it. Nevertheless, she said, "It's Uchiha-senpai. He'll be fine."

(─‿‿─)

Uchiha-senpai was doing better than fine. After a semester of not seeing him play, Sakura had forgotten just how fluid Uchiha-senpai was on the court. He flowed between the opposition like liquid silver, and when two players from the other team managed to corner him, the ball was already out of his hands and into the hands of the one player who'd been left unguarded. The points racked up like pinballs in a machine.

Sakura gasped with the rest of the crowd when Uchiha-senpai broke through a tangle of arms and went for a flying slamdunk, dropping the ball through the net as he swung on the metal hoop for a breathless moment. She sighed with relief as he landed, looking none the worse for wear despite his recent head injury.

"Times like these, I remember why Sakura-chan's such a rabid fangirl," Tenten murmured, her eyes glued to the court. "Uchiha-senpai is fine."

"Hey!" Sakura nudged Tenten. She'd meant it as a stop-drooling-over-my-husband nudge.

Tenten sighed theatrically and corrected herself, "why Sakura-chan was such a rabid fangirl. Happy now?"

Sakura choked.

"Shika told me that Uchiha-senpai's main sport isn't even basketball. Apparently, he swam in high school." Temari added, oblivious to Sakura's consternation.

Swimming? Sakura's ears perked up at this tidbit about Uchiha-senpai that even she hadn't known.

"Wh-why does he play basketball then?"

"I think he was banned from the university's pools after one particularly disastrous free swim," Temari frowned. "Something about the drool being a biohazard."

Tenten and Hinata burst out laughing, but Sakura couldn't exactly blame them. If she'd been there... Uchiha-senpai shirtless would be... I bet he'd look HOT without his shirt on. I mean, his abs felt nice on the bike, but his pecs...

Sakura was too busy fantasizing about Uchiha-senpai's chest to flinch at the sudden roar of the crowd as the quarter ended. She was so focused on tracing the path of a particular droplet between his pecs, she didn't look up to people cheering his name and Uchiha-senpai's answering nod as he left the court. She even missed the rising murmur of excitement as, instead of turning towards the change rooms as the crowd expected, Uchiha-senpai strolled towards the stands. She was too preoccupied with his imaginary mermaid line.

Just as her gutter brain was about to trace its way below the waistband of his shorts, Sakura was violently shaken back to reality by Tenten. "Hey!" She protested.

Behind them, Kin slowly stopped shaking Ino's elbow as Uchiha-senpai didn't even look towards them and stopped beside that Haruno girl instead. Her face twisted with petulance. On the other hand, Ino seemed perfectly calm on the surface. Not even Kin noticed the white knuckle grip she held on her purse.

Tenten only squeaked and pointed in the other direction, towards the stairs. Sakura was about to brush her off, but something about the half-terrified, half-hysterically-laughing look on all of her friends' faces compelled her to look.

Only to come face-to-face with a tiny smirk. Uchiha-senpai's tiny smirk.

(¬‿¬ ) ! (°ロ°)

As he crouched beside her seat, Sasuke admired the look on Sakura's face. He was starting to recognize it as her "thinking very hard but trying not to show it" look - and he found himself liking it. Still, it made him want to tease her.

"Sakura."

"Hm?"

"They still want to meet you."

"Hm?"

"The guys. After the game?"

"Hmm."

Not enough yet?

"The team is getting dinner later, so I might not be able to make it online tonight."

"Hmm."

"What are you doing tomorrow?"

"... Studying."

Got her.

"Can I join you?"

"Hm?"

"Meet you downstairs at 8?"

"... sure."

Ever the gentleman, Sasuke decided to give Sakura a reprieve. He turned to the girls sitting beside her and ignored their shell-shocked expressions to ask, "Is anyone sitting there?"

He could already see that the seat on their other side was empty, but he supposed he should at least try to be polite to her roommates. Without even looking, the one with the buns mutely shook her head.

"Can you shift over so I can sit down?"

The three of them all moved like puppets with their strings cut. Sakura stared at him, growing horror dawning on her face, but he only looked at her expectantly.

She continued to stare at him. He continued to look at her.

Probably because every eye in the stadium was now looking at them, including the players and the referee who should have started the next quarter, Sakura gave in first. She moved over.

Sasuke took the seat. He leaned forward to focus on the game, keeping his triumphant grin to himself.

( ^ ___ ^ )

AN: I just love it when Sasuke's being devious, don't you?

A more light-hearted (if shorter) chapter :) I hope you enjoyed it! Hopefully, it's coming across that Sasuke's adapting to this IRL thing a lot faster than Sakura - then again, he's had a longer time period to get used to the idea. Someone mentioned in their comments last chapter that they thought Sasuke was going in a bit strong, and to that, I had an instant flash of him threatening the author with a large knife if I made the story go any slower LOL (a la the really early days of fanfiction when authors used to put tiny theatres in their ANs - should I bring those back?). It's been 35 chapters, guys, let him straightforwardly pursue his love interest. My writing mojo's been a bit deflated, although I can feel it coming back! Maybe will do some form of NaNo this year - cross your fingers for me :) And thanks for sticking with me, guys - I know I haven't been the most regular with my updates. As always, comments, reviews, favs, kudos, bookmarks, and loans of brain cells always make my day. See you soon ~~~~