A Day in Life

By: Sweet Bliss

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto

………

Chapter 12: Pieces Mended

Emerald orbs opened drowsily to see a raven haired boy standing over her. His expression turned from worried to relieved as he spoke, "How are you doing?" Sakura sat up, her limbs feeling tired and weak as she replied, "My head hurts, my body aches, but other than that I'm fine." Sasuke placed a pale hand to her head and frowned. "You feel warm."

The pink haired female removed his hand from her head and noticed her clothes were changed. Her cheeks grew red, well redder than they already were, as she stammered, "D-did you… M-my clothes?" Seeming to understand what he was talking about, Sasuke became flushed also as he defended himself, "N-No, I had Ino come over. U-uh I swear!"

As if on cue, the oak door opened revealing the said blond female. "Good! You're up! Change into these clothes and quick!" Sakura tilted her head to the side and took the pieces of cloth Ino handed her. Sasuke had already gone out of the room to give her privacy. She sighed. Might as well get ready and see what everyone was talking about.

"So, you're saying that we're ready for a show tonight!" Naruto exclaimed excitedly hugging the silver haired manager tightly. Sasuke grumbled something under his breath about the idea being stupid. "Well, I don't see why you shouldn't. I mean if you were crap do you think I would have signed you to my record label?" The sapphire orbed blonde then let go of the man and grinned.

"You hear that, 'Nata? I'm going to be famous!" Naruto said pummeling the girl to the ground with a bear hug. The ivory orbed girl went bright red as she stammered out, "W-well, I-I'm happy for you, N-Naruto." The blonde gave her a foxy grin as he resumed his hugging.

Kakashi then turned to the band's front man. "So, what do you think, Sasuke?" The raven haired Uchiha looked up from his guitar and answered monotonously, "It doesn't matter what I think. I'm clearly outnumbered on the whole thing anyways." The owner of Paranoia Records sighed and said, "Then I guess you'll playing live from your school tonight!"

Neji raised a brow at this. "Why are we playing at our school?" Kakashi gave a small smile, which was barely visible because of his turtle neck, as he explained, "I was talking with your principle. She's got quite a temper, but I managed to get on her good side. It took quite a large donation, but anyways. The school is hosting a dance tonight, and I offered to get a band to come and play."

"And you couldn't get another band to come out, since they were all booked. This is where you got the idea to just hire us to play," Sasuke finished glaring at the middle-aged man. Kakashi smirked and said, "Basically, yes, you're correct!" Shikamaru sighed, muttering something along the lines of 'This man is way too troublesome for his own good'.

Ino looked around the room and ordered, "Sasuke, go get Sakura! She's been changing long enough!" The raven haired boy blinked at the light haired woman who was ordering him around. "W-what?" Ino narrowed her eyes and Sasuke turned around. 'Oh, well. It's not like I want to stay down their with Captain Obvious,' he thought trudging up the stairs.

"Ugh, why does everything have to be so troublesome!" Sakura said to her reflection. She was failing miserably at tying the dumb stings on the shirt Ino gave her. "You know, Sakura, you're sounding a lot like Shikamaru now." Sakura flushed bright pink as she turned around to face the owner of the voice.

Sasuke was leaning on the doorframe smirking as she fumbled with the strings. "Do you need help?" Sakura's blush spread quickly when she felt Sasuke behind her. He tied it quickly and moved away just as fast. The cherry blossom's face went back to its normal cream color. Sasuke stretched as he said, "Our band has a concert tonight at the school's dance." The flower turned to her male companion and queried incredulously, "What the hell? I thought that our school was just going to play a bunch of CDs! That's going to ruin my plans!"

The raven haired Uchiha raised a brow at this. "What plans were those exactly?" The pink haired teenager muttered, "It doesn't matter either way! They're already ruined." The obsidian orbed boy rolled his eyes heavenward and said, "C'mon, or Ino will send Shikamaru up here to get both of us!"

"I'm nervous, Hinata, I mean I've never played for anybody except our friends! The whole school is going to be listening!" Naruto said, frantically pacing the stage mumbling to himself about his fear. "Y-you'll do fine, Naruto," Hinata reassured smiling sweetly up at the teen. Naruto stopped his annoying pacing and grinned. "You're right, 'Nata! I'm going to be great!" He jumped off the stage and landed clumsily right before Hinata. He leaned down and lightly pressed his lips against hers. "Thanks, 'Nata. I don't know what I'd do without you!" The Hyuuga went red as Naruto ran back onto the stage, setting up his drums for the big event.

Ino looked around at the gym's decorations. "Perfect," she whispered. Placing a megaphone to her mouth she instructed, "Ami, what the hell are you doing? Get off your lazy ass and help Temari with the banner!" The girl with a crookedly cut hairdo flipped off the Yamanaka girl, but did as she was told. Ino was scary when she was mad.

"Good job, Ino." The cerulean orbed girl turned her attention to the lazy teenaged boy behind her. "What did you expect from the Head of the Dance Decorations?" Shikamaru shrugged and walked up to stand beside her. "Y'know, Ino, this is rather troublesome," the Nara stated slipping an arm around Ino's shoulders. "What is?" she inquired pealing his arm away from her bony shoulders.

"Telling you that for some odd reason, that you've been stuck in my head all week long," Shikamaru finished stuffing his hands in the pockets of his dark green pullover. The light-haired girl dropped the megaphone from her grasp, her cerulean eyes wide in shock. She turned to him, speechless. Shikamaru shifted his gaze down to his female friend and smiled. Ino's face lit-up immediately as Shikamaru removed his left hand from its confinements and slipped it into Ino's right hand.

Neji twisted the knobs on the guitar, tuning the instrument into his liking. He shifted the instrument from his lap and onto it's stand as he stood up. The Hyuuga then walked over to a girl who seemed to busy with something.

"Hey, Neji! Look!" The girl with the two tight buns turned to him with a piece of paper. He sat down on the edge of the platform beside her, his feet dangling above the floor. A picture of a red eye. Three black commas encircling what seemed to be the pupil. The three commas were all connected by a black ring. And in the center scribbled on the eye was the word: Sharingan.

"It's pretty good, Ten," Neji stated his ivory orbs taking in the artwork. "It's going to go on the drums. So people will know who at least sings these songs!" The Hyuuga smirked and leaned into her face. Ten-Ten giggled when she felt the Hyuuga's fingers tickle at her sides. "N-N-Neji! S-St-Stop!" she cried smacking at his hands. "What's the magic word?" he asked playfully and Ten-Ten used this opportunity to hook her fingers on his collar and tug him down. Their lips met which distracted Neji from his tickle attack on his girlfriend.

Later

"C'mon, Sasuke, I've got to apologize to my father!" Sakura called out to the boy that was dragging along behind her. The ticked girl turned to the boy walking very slowly and she pleaded, "Sasuke, I need you there with me when I apologize!"

Sasuke gave her a confused expression, but didn't pick up his pace any. "Sa-Su-Ke!" Sakura cried giving her friend a puppy dog look. The boy sighed and gave in. Lately, the girls had a hold over him.

"Where the hell are the bastard and Sakura!" Naruto called out as the band began to rehearse before the dance actually started. "I dunno. Sakura's gone too," Shikamaru said as his dark eyes scanned the area. No Sasuke or Sakura were in sight.

Neji stared blankly around, and when Ino came out she shook her head, the boy told the other band members, "Ino hasn't found them either." Naruto threw his drum sticks down in frustration and whined, "If Sasuke doesn't show up soon, we won't have time to practice. If we don't practice we'll sound bad. But if Sasuke doesn't get here soon we won't sound good still!"

Emerald orbs stared intently at the oak door, a hand rested on it's surface shaking. "Go on, Sakura," the raven haired Uchiha said leaning against one of the posts on the porch. The girl nodded and lifted her right hand timidly then banged lightly on the door. She could hear the knock resounding through the hallway and footsteps inside the home.

'Why'd she even knock?' Sasuke wondered a brow raised at her antics. He quickly shook the thoughts away as a middle-aged woman answered the door. She wore a light blue apron over a pink top and blue jeans. "Oh, Sakura, your father and I have been looking everywhere for you," the woman cried latching onto the shorter girl. The woman, named Setsuna, pulled back and wiped away a few tears. Sakura was confused by the lady's antics but brushed away her behavior as she grabbed hold of Sasuke's hand and led him inside.

"I'll go get your father," Setsuna said removing the apron from her body and heading upstairs. The cherry blossom wandered into the living room, followed by Sasuke. "She doesn't seem to bad," Sasuke stated sitting down on the cream colored sofa beside his friend. The pink haired girl remained silent as she flipped through a random magazine.

They heard loud footsteps coming from the stairs as if someone were running down from upstairs. "Sakura!" a loud voice from behind the two boomed as a man entered the room. Purple bags were evident underneath his eyes and his clothes were wrinkled. The man hurriedly walked over to his daughter and wrapped his arms around her tenderly.

He released his grip from her as he asked, "Where have you been! I haven't seen you since last week!" The emerald eyed girl pointed over to Sasuke and the Haruno male seemed to understand. "I heard about your mother." Sasuke flinched but said nothing of it as he shrugged it all off.

Sakura's father then straightened back up from his slumped position from a few minutes ago. "Why don't you go help Setsuna prepare dinner, while I have a man-to-man talk with Sasuke," the man said to Sakura who reluctantly followed the woman into the kitchen.

"Why don't you guys just go over the songs without Sasuke for the time being. There is twenty minutes until the dance starts," Ten-Ten said stepping onto the stage where everyone kept asking the same thing every five minutes: "Where the HELL is Sasuke?"

"If he doesn't show up then Naruto will have to take over singing duties," Ino instructed standing beside her brunette female friend. Naruto immediately protested, "B-but I've got drum duty!" Ten-Ten shook her head no and said, "Neji is our second best thing to a drummer, so he'll take your place, Naruto. Besides I thought you might want to sing for you-know-who." The last part made Naruto turn pink as he nodded nervously. "I-I guess I'll do it," he stumbled on his own words, too embarrassed to speak.

Sitting at the counter in the kitchen, Sakura watched as Setsuna moved about the room gracefully, as if she'd memorized everything and where it was located. It kind of reminded her of… well, it reminded her of her mother. "Sakura, could you hand me the salt," the woman asked as she mixed around the items in the pot upon the stove.

Sakura reached over and handed over the white substance. What was it that her mother used to call her? Oh, yeah, Mommy's Little Helper. "You must hate me." Sakura snapped her head up to see the woman smiling sadly. "What?" the pink haired Haruno asked quite confused by the lady's statement.

The older woman chuckled slightly as she replied, "For being engaged to your father. You must think I'm trying to replace your mother." The jade eyed girl stared at Setsuna as she interrupted, "No, it's not like that. I mean it's close, but not that. I guess it was because my father had moved on not long after her death. I didn't want to see him try to replace my mother."

Setsuna looked thoughtful for a moment as she stated, "I would never try and replace you mother. I couldn't if I tried. But even if I'm not your mother, I can still be a friend and love you just as much as any mother would." Sakura looked at Setsuna with glossy eyes as the woman's own pools of blue were watery. Maybe living with each other wouldn't be too bad.

Sasuke really couldn't wait until that dinner was ready. It wasn't that he didn't like Sakura's dad, quite the contrary. It was just that the man liked him too much. He had brought a box from his room that was covered in dust and looked fairly new. The man was all laughs just seconds before, but now the man donned a serious expression as he stared with an intense gaze at the box.

"Uh… what's up with the box-thingy?" Sasuke asked. It was like that stupid movie he and Naruto had watched one night. Inside the boxes were women's heads. The Haruno turned to Sasuke and gave him a wide grin. "This here… I bought when my baby was born! I swore that I'd smoke these babies with her future husband. Your as good as any person, and I trust you with my daughter more than any other man in the world so why not smoke these with you!" He gave a hearty laugh and opened the box to reveal about twenty cigars.

Sasuke looked incredulously at the box and queried just as disbelieving as his look, "You want… me and you… to smoke all of those?" The man nodded enthusiastically and lit one of the nicotine filled rolls of paper. "My dad, grandfather, and great-grandfather had all done this sacred ritual between the man. Sort of an early bachelor's party, but with you're soon-to-be family!" the man said happily giving one of the lit cigar's to his supposed future son-in-law.

"Dad! What the hell are you doing to Sasuke!" The two startled men turned to see a pissed Sakura. She held a knife threateningly in her right hand. The older Haruno smiled widely and said, "Can't I have a smoke with my future son?" Sakura tilted her head to the side trying to comprehend what her father just said. When she figured out what he meant a bright red color crept across her cheeks. "Uh, Dad, um… I'm sorry but we're running late for this little dress rehearsal for our school's dance. C'mon, Sasuke. Bye!" Before the man could interrupt his daughter and her friend had already exited from the door.

Entering the gym's doors, the two newcomers stared at the decorations and the nervous band up ahead. "Finally, Bastard, you came! They almost wanted me to sing!" Naruto called out his cheeks red from either the heat or embarrassment. Sasuke left Sakura near the door as he made his way towards the stage. "If they wanted you to sing, then I almost feel sorry for those who paid to come," Sasuke stated bluntly a smirk evident on his face. Naruto fumed and was about to pounce on his best friend, but Neji and Shikamaru held him back.

"Rehearse already! Or we'll be demanded for refunds!" Ino shouted through her megaphone. The boys winced at her volume but silently did as told. Ino was scary when she was ticked.

"Thank you and enjoy the dance," Ino once again said to another student. Sakura sat beside her at the entrance taking two dollars from every person who entered. You could hear the band from where they sat and Sakura found herself daydreaming again. "Sakura, wake up!" The pink haired girl stared blankly at her friend then at the people who just walked in. A blush spreading across her cheek Sakura stammered out, "Th-thank you!"

As the people walked into the gym, Ino spun around in her seat and asked, "What the hell is up? You've been dozing off ever since the band started playing!" Sakura leaned back in her own seat and stated matter-of-factly, "The band only started playing a few minutes ago." The sapphire orbed girl sighed and said, "But the dance started thirty minutes ago. That was before Sasu…" The pink haired teenager felt her cheeks grow really hot. Ino smirked in mild amusement. "Go in. I'll take care of the money." Sakura hugged her friend and walked inside the gym.

When Sakura entered she saw that either the people were dancing or were up at the stage having a good time. Mainly fan girls made up the swarm around the stage but others were in the area also. She saw that the band themselves were having a pretty good time also. Naruto was beaming widely despite having to drum constantly. This would be the last song for ten minutes so that the guys could take a break. Maybe she'd be able to talk to Sasuke during that time.

As fan girls clapped to the band, the pink haired teenager made her way to the tired looking Sasuke. She handed him a drink and smiled stating, "You looked great up there… I mean you didn't look good… I mean you look good, but…" Sakura trailed off, a flush creeping from her neck to her pale cheeks. The Uchiha smirked and bent his head down closer to his face.

"So, I looked good?" he asked as he watched her turn redder. "W-well… uh… We're making a lot of money for the school. It was pretty smart of Kakashi, huh?" At her sentence, Sasuke scowled and muttered a, "Sure, whatever". The cherry blossom cocked her head to the side and smiled. "But you and the guys sounded great."

When the ten minutes were up, Sakura reluctantly let Sasuke go back to the stage. He smiled at her. Well, a semi-smile if you would call it anything. She crossed her arms over her chest and was about to leave when she heard someone cal her name. Standing before her once more was a very tall, incredibly sexy Uchiha Sasuke. She was about to speak but he placed his slim index finger over the soft flesh on her mouth. "Naruto's covering for me." Sasuke shrugged and took his friend's hand in his. "Let's go somewhere else."

He led her to the back of the school where no one else seemed to be any where in sight. Lights were strung around the walls and Sakura started to get suspicious. "Sasuke, what is-" He silenced his female friend when he placed his lips upon hers. "I wanted to make it up to you. I've been an ass lately, so Ino helped me with this." The girl hugged her friend and said, "You didn't even have to do anything. As long as you're here right now." She felt as her guy friend's own arms encircled themselves around her petite waist. "But you're still an ass."

Ino sighed and put the money box back into the office for Tsunade. She didn't want to go back into the gym. It brought back some painful memories. She sat down again at the entrance and flipped through a random magazine she wasn't even interested in. "Ooh, maybe I should go with Sakura to this store and get some of these pants." Ino said to herself. "I dunno. You'd look cuter in these." The sapphire orbed girl snapped her head up to see Shikamaru. To her amusement, Shikamaru's face flushed pink at the proximity of their faces. So close. Yet…

"Hmm? Yeah, they would, wouldn't they?" She asked turning back to the clothing ad. Shikamaru, slightly disappointed, took the seat beside Ino as she queried, "Why aren't you playing?" The brunette laid his head on the table and mumbled, "Too troublesome. They're playing CDs now. Naruto has retired to be with Hinata and the same goes for Neji and Ten."

The light-haired female rested her head in her hands, her elbows planted on the table, as she stated, "And you came to see me because you were bored. Why aren't you with Temari?" The lazy ass Nara lifted his head slightly to see a jealous Ino staring at nothing in particular. "No, I came here because…" He paused to see if she was listening. He sighed and murmured the rest of it, "I wanted to be with you for a while. You're a lot less annoying and troublesome than the rampaging fan girls." Ino smiled and patted Shikamaru's back soothingly when he cringed from the thought of fans. "It'll be okay, Shika… the fan girls can't hurt you anymore."

A/N: This chapter was basically just a filler. It can be considered as an epilogue if you like. I was pretty bored and I'm focusing on so many other ideas at the moment, like my new idea for the "Tales of Symphonia" category. I'm tired too. I haven't slept good once this whole month. Too much to do. Anyways, I'm sorry there isn't a single big hint of NejiTen or NaruHina. I'll make it up for you all in "The Ripple Effect" if any of you read that story.