Author's Note: My warmest greetings during this freezing winter! Well, at least it is freezing where I am right now. If the same goes to you, hope you're staying warm! Anyways, huge thanks for the amazing support and if you have sent in suggestions, I will definitely take them into consideration. And of course, I will try to update this fanfic as often as I can. Oh, and please do check my other SasuSaku fanfic out as well!

Chapter 6: Undeniable Feelings

Sasuke's POV

"Are you kidding me?"

I glared at the magazine on my hands as I was in one of the waiting rooms in the agency. I was in the middle of a photoshoot when Shikamaru came in to show me a ridiculous article which was just published.

"Seems like Hyuuga isn't planning to let this matter be." Shikamaru leaned against the wall as I read through the article once more, making sure I understood the whole situation.

"So, now the fans think Hyuuga and I are such great friends that I would ask him to fetch my girlfriend? This is garbage."

I threw the magazine onto a nearby table and checked the time on my watch. Even though I wanted to give Sakura a call to find out what actually happened, I only had few minutes left before I had to go back to the photoshoot set.

Before l left the waiting room, an undesirable thought came across my mind.

Did I have the right to meddle in Sakura's personal life?

Sakura's POV

"I'm not going to get into too big of a trouble, right?"

I sighed once again as I walked into the building of Konoha Agency, not knowing what to expect from the urgent meeting I was called for.

I was aware a magazine wrote an article about Neji and I, which was published a day after he suddenly came to find me at my university. Fortunately, I guessed, the article focused on the seemingly great friendship between Sasuke and Neji.

Despite that, I was not surprised Kakashi called me to pay a visit at the agency on the afternoon of day the article was published. Although no major damage had occurred yet, I knew I had some explaining to do.

When I entered the conference room, Tsunade was sitting at the end of the table while Kakashi was standing by the window. Tsunade gave me a smile before motioning me to take a seat. I was slightly relieved to see that she did not seem too upset over what happened and I doubted she was the type of person who would hide it if she wasn't happy.

Kakashi gave me a smile as well, which I could still see through the mask he always had on him. I was less uptight and breathing eventually became easier.

"I believe you are aware of the reason why we asked you here today." I nodded in response to Tsunade's words. I noticed the magazine placed in front of Tsunade and the earlier unsettling feeling returned.

"Don't worry, we didn't call you here today to scold you." Kakashi leaned against the window as he faced me with his earlier smile. "We just wish to know what is exactly going on since we can't afford to make a wrong move."

"I understand. It is my fault for overlooking some details and it almost caused a big trouble for everyone." I took a deep breathe as I thought of how I should continue speaking. But there was simply no more turning back, and I had to face the music sooner or later. "I'm really sorry for not mentioning that Neji was my ex-boyfriend."

I peeked at both Tsunade and Kakashi's reactions and they were difficult to read. They seemed surprised but at the same time, it also looked as if they had sort of guessed it already.

After a few moments of tormenting silence, Tsuande finally spoke.

"This is indeed a very important piece of information. Though I'm sure nobody would blame you for not mentioning this in the beginning, so please don't worry. After all, you're doing us a big favour already and we truly appreciate it." Tsunade's words were reassuring but I felt slight guilt nevertheless.

"The fact is that Sasuke and Neji are sworn enemies, although we're glad they never showed that in public for their own image. Knowing Neji, there is a possibility he might not hesitate to act if he found a chance to destroy Sasuke's reputation and career." Kakashi's explanation towards the situation sent a shiver down my spine, as the severity of the matter registered in my mind.

"We hope you can give us as much details as you can, Sakura. We have to calculate our every move to ensure nothing bad will happen." Tsunade's determination to prevent anything to further tarnish Sasuke's reputation was apparent in her voice.

I nodded in agreement and began telling the tale I had been failing to forget.

Sasuke's POV

"You look as if someone murdered your entire family." Naruto couldn't keep his mouth shut as he looked at me glaring at nothing. "You're really bad at handling jealousy, aren't you?"

"I'm not jealous." I sent a sharp look towards Naruto before taking a seat on the couch at the other end of the room. We were in Kakashi's office after we were done with our work for that day. We heard from Shikamaru that Sakura had been talking to Kakashi and Tsunade for a while now and all I could do was to wait in Kakashi's office.

"Go ahead and continue denying the fact." Naruto mumbled something incoherent under his breath, but I didn't care enough to bother with him.

"What are you two doing in my office?" I turned to the door where Kakashi's voice came from, and saw that Sakura was with him as well.

"I'm just here accompanying a grumpy old man." Naruto earned yet another glare from me for his nonsense. I couldn't bring myself to face Sakura, knowing that I had never been good at hiding the fact that I was upset.

I was avoiding making any eye contact with Kakashi too, because I was aware he knew Naruto wasn't joking about me being grumpy over the whole situation.

"Sasuke, can you drive Sakura home?" I knew Kakashi made that request to tease me, but I went along with it anyways.

Without another word, I got up from the couch and walked towards the door where Sakura was. She looked nervous and I kind of guessed why.

"Let's go."

As we walked to where I parked my car, I warned myself to not say or do anything I should not.

Sakura's POV

The silence was deafening.

Sasuke had been driving for five minutes but had yet to speak a single word. I was so nervous that I couldn't even more an inch.

But the situation was becoming unbearable and I had to say something.

"I'm sorry for the trouble I caused." I figured I could begin by apologizing first, seeing that it looked as if he was really upset over what happened.

My heart was pounding against my chest as I waited for Sasuke's response, which felt like it was taking an eternity to happen.

"It's not your fault." I was relieved to hear Sasuke's words, however, it was a fact that he was still unhappy. And I wished he could have said something to let me know what was going on in his mind.

But before I could say anything else, we have reached my house and Sasuke parked in front of the gates. He got out from the car and walked over to my side, opening the door for me.

"Thank you." It was when I got out of the car when I noticed that I had been holding onto my breath. It was starting to feel bizarre how worried I was about what Sasuke was thinking about.

"It must have been a long day for you. Have a nice rest!" I tried my best to sound cheerful and pretend everything was alright. As much as I wanted to talk to Sasuke, a part of me wanted to run away.

"Hn. You too."

When Sasuke was about to walk away, my reflex got the better of me and I reached out to grab onto his arm. Sasuke was stopped on his tracks and gave me a confused look. I felt my ears burning out of embarrassment as I struggled to come up with an excuse for my weird behaviour.

"I-I"

"Sakura?"

Upon hearing my father's voice, I quickly let go of Sasuke's arm and turn around to meet a pair of puzzled eyes. My father was standing by the gate with widened eyes and I could see that he found Sasuke very familiar.

"I forgot my parents are back today!"

"What are you doing standing outside like that?" My mother's voice was heard from the inside of the house and I saw her walking out to see what was going on. Her surprise to see Sasuke was more evident compared to my father.

"Why is there a famous actor in front of our house?" My mother's question finally reminded my father who Sasuke was and he didn't bother hiding his shock.

Thousands of questions were in my parents' minds and I was put in a situation where there were way too many explaining to do. Not knowing where to start, I was left speechless as I stared back at my parents.

Just then, I felt an arm around my shoulder and I was brought closer towards Sasuke. When I looked at him, he gave me a smile which melted parts of my heart.

After giving me a gentle squeeze on my shoulder, Sasuke turned to my parents and turned his charisma to the maximum level.

"Good evening, Uncle and Auntie. I am Sasuke Uchiha, Sakura's boyfriend. A pleasure to finally get to meet the two of you."

I had no words to describe the shock on the faces of both my parents, neither bothering to hide their surprise. Even though I had to say something to save my parents from their potential heart attack, I couldn't say a word. Everything was happening too fast for me to come up with a good way to explain the whole situation.

It was moments such as this which made me wonder how my life ended up the way it did.

Sasuke's POV

"I think it's time you stop shoving food to his face, Mom."

Sakura rolled her eyes at her mother who ignored her words and continued putting food onto my bowl of rice. I was glad I agreed to stay for dinner as I got to see how amusing it could be when Sakura was annoyed.

"Have more food, Sasuke! Sorry it's nothing too fancy since we just got back from a business trip and haven't had the chance to buy groceries." Mebuki, Sakura's mother, smiled apologetically before helping herself to some warm soup.

"And our daughter is a horrible cook, so she never buys groceries. So, if her mother and I are away, there's basically nothing in the fridge." Kizashi, Sakura's father, earned a glare from his daughter who was obviously hoping her parents can stop exposing her weaknesses.

Despite Sakura's complains and signs of annoyance, the dinning table had a warm and loving atmosphere. Having dinner with Sakura's family reminded me of my own family, whom I had yet to meet in a while.

I was lost in my own thoughts as my mind wandered to the last time I was back in my home. I remembered getting annoyed at Itachi who couldn't stop talking about the dumb things I did when I was younger. I did not forcefully shut him up though when I saw how entertained my parents were.

A small smile graced my face as I told myself that I should visit my family sometime soon.

"Why do you like a stupid girl like our daughter, Sasuke?"

Kizashi's question, followed by Sakura's scream of frustration, brought me back to the dinning table from my daydream. While Sakura was yelling at her father for embarrassing her, I thought of my answer to that question.

But the more important question in my head right now wasn't that.

So, was I really in love with Sakura?

As my eyes was on a slightly flushed Sakura, I gave away yet another smile. Silence dropped onto the dinning table when the three other people noticed a change in my expression.

Sakura's eyes were on mine as she waited for my response to her father's question. The sincerity and innocence in her green orbs ensured me of my own feelings.

"I'll probably take a long time to explain in detail on why I find her amazing. But simply put, when I saw her genuine self, I knew I have fallen in love."

My words ended with one of the rare smiles I show, making Sakura's blush deepened into an incredible shade of red. Deep down, I hoped she knew my words were not an act.

Because by then, I was sure I truly had fallen for my pretend girlfriend.

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