So What If You Catch Me?

Chapter One.

"Men are like roses... watch out for all the pricks."

Pink hair floated across the water surface. Green eyes stared unblinking off into the distance. A small bubble appeared at the base of the pinkette's nose. She laid with most of her body under the steaming hot water. The only visible parts of her were her eyes and the top of her head. The small bubble made its way up to the surface of the water and caused her to finally break her concentration. She sat up out of the water a moment before leaning back and letting just her head above the water. She let out a sigh.

Sakura loved her job. Maybe she was a bit of a workaholic. But at twenty-two she had made a name for herself. She was the Fifth Hokage's apprentice. Rumored to have surpassed her master. She was dedicated. Intelligent. Resilient. She was also considered Konoha's most eligible bachelorette, beautiful in her own way, radiant. A beautiful flower that had finally blossomed. She was sought after by most men in Konoha as well as other hidden villages. However, none of that mattered because a certain Uchiha had ruined everything. Ruined her idea of love. Ruined what a man should be. She let out an annoyed huffed. "You don't get to choose when you love someone," she glared at the flowers that sat in her bathroom. Roses. Pathetic.

She moved her legs to hang over the side of the bathtub and brought herself to the present day. She brought her hand up and touched her lips thinking about the man she had to deal with today. She rolled her eyes remembering his antics. What was honestly wrong with the men of Konoha? They were worms. Disgusting earth worms. Her day had started out just fine at the Hospital. She had gone over some more advanced healing work with her two students. She had done rounds checking on all her patients. Created an excellent expense report for the next quarter. But somehow it had stupidly slipped her mind that annual checkups for Shiobi's were this week. She growled out annoyed.

"I'm over it!" Shizune yelled slamming Sakura's office door open Tonton close on the dark-haired medics heels. "I can't I just can not anymore with today," Sakura looked up from her perfected expense report. A well-manicured pink eye brown shot up confused at the older woman's outburst.

"Shizune, what are you going on about?" Sakura asked closing up her folder and placing it into the finished pile. Her office nice and neat.

"Shiranui," Shizune growled out. Sakura let out a small snort. Of course, Genma would be the cause of Shizune's pain. Sakura had to admit. Out of all the Konoha Shinobi Genma was the most forthcoming with his intentions on trying to bed every woman he came in contact with. "I can't Sakura, If I have to touch him, I just might rip them off of his body," Sakura let out a laugh.

"Alright, alright!" Sakura said standing up. She grabbed her white medical coat and threw it on over her sleeveless red shirt. She pulled her waist length hair out from under the coat before pulling it into a low pony tail. She stuck her hand out. "Give me his chart. I'll do the rest of the annuals today, go get some lunch"

Sakura made her way out of her office and down to the clinic. Now Sakura wasn't completely immune to men's charms. However, she had grown very weary of their bullshit. Nothing had made her more prepared to deal with their fuck boy tendencies then after confessing her love for a guy and being knocked out and left on bench just for him to come back years later begging for a chance. Ummm no? Or the time she had dated Izumo for a couple weeks only to find out that he just wanted to brag about getting to bang the Hokage's apprentice. Yeah, she really showed him after that one. Poor guy spent a week in the hospital. Or when she had caught Kiba cheating after two dates. Real mature.

Haruno Sakura had learned her lesson and she was completely content with that. She just wasn't going to date. She wasn't going to deal with men. They were pricks and no matter how many flowers were bought from her best friends shop she was not going to bend.

"Hello, nurse!" Sakura raised her eyebrow at the dark-haired man. Is this what men thought would work? Shiranui Genma was one of Konoha's most eligible bachelors. He was handsome. Cunning. Jonin. Pompous asshole. Sakura shut the office door behind her before flipping open his file and reviewing it. "Excited to see how the machine works?" he inquired when she didn't answer

Sakura sat down on the rolling chair and moved over to him. "Of course, Shirunui-san. With your age it's quite important to make sure everything is working properly." Her inner self danced at her savagery. Genma's face turned red.

"Come on Sakura-san, I'm only thirty-seven," he said. Sakura nodded and motioned for him to lower his pants.

"Cough," she turned and wrote a couple things down on the paper. "Only three more years before we start prostate exams," Sakura smiled standing up and slamming the door shut behind her. A large smile on her face. Always make sure the man knows he ain't shit. She looked down at her list and rolled her eyes. Of course, she would have to deal with Kotetsu next.

Thinking back on the men that she had dated Izumo was probably the nicest. He treated her right when others weren't around. Though all of his bragging around other men caused Uchiha Sasuke to show his green side. Within a couple weeks of dating Izumo the two men were at each other throats. Sasuke constantly threatening the poor guy. Izumo losing his absolute mind on Sakura when Sasuke would send her flowers. Not like she even wanted them or liked them. Men were so one dimensional in their thought process on what women wanted. She glared hard at the spot where the spicket allowed another drop of water to ripple across her warm bath.

Sasuke was completely delusional when it came to woman. As soon as he had come home to village, he was under the impression that all the woman would be throwing themselves at him. Some were. But not the ones he was hoping. Sasuke had expected Sakura to be waiting this whole time for him. It had been seven years since she was in love with him, a lot changed in seven years. Some things hadn't. Like Sasuke's need to always be right. His need to always be in control. His need to always have his way, and she could tell that it drove him insane that's she refused to bow to him.

She did have to acknowledge that Sasuke had guts. He refused to back down. He came almost every day to her work, when he wasn't away on a mission. It annoyed the ever-living shit out of her, but she had to respect his dedication to restoring his clan. Not her. It had nothing to do with her. Sakura couldn't deny that he was handsome, that he did have some good qualities, that when he tried, he was a great friend. But she hadn't forgotten all the things that he had put her through. Put her best friend through. She would never forgive Sauske for all the pain he had caused Naruto. No matter what Sasuke did, would never fill the hole that he had put in her heart.

Sakura sat up bringing her legs back into the water but allowing her arms to hang over the side. Her pale skin slightly red from the hot water. She stretched her back by moving her arms from side to side trying to relieve some of the tension from the day. She instantly tensed hearing the bathroom door open. "Hey! Someone's in here!" she yelled at bringing her arms to cover her chest. She watched in horror as Naruto ran into the room unzipping her pants. "WHAT ARE YOU DOING!?" she screeched.

"I gotta pee!" he cried out getting ready to just whip it out. Sakura's widened in horror.

"Oh no you don't! NOT IN MY BATHROOM!" she yelled out a battle cry standing up out of the water ready to punch her best friend. Naruto turned to face Sakura and his face instantly turned red realizing she wasn't wearing anything. His blue eyes traveled up her body and watched as the suds from her bubble bath began trickling down her body. He gulped when he reached her green eyes.

"Uh… Sakura-chan… I didn-"

"NARUTO!" she screamed rearing back she punched him so hard he flew from the bathroom and into the hallway wall. Steam coming from her ears.

XXX

"Geez Sakura-chan!" Naruto whined. "You didn't have to hurt me so bad," Sakura glared at the blonde-haired boy. The two sat in their kitchen. Two cups of tea sat in front of them. Sakura's in her customary red cup. Naruto's in a blue. Sakura's red robe collected small droplets of water that still fell from her damp hair. Naruto changed into his pajama's that consisted on a pair of stripped blue pants and a black t-shirt.

"And all you had to do was walk upstairs to your bathroom," she pointed out taking a sip from her tea.

"Well, instead I ruined a perfectly good pair of pants… and had to mop the floor," he mumbled the last part to himself. Sakura rolled her eyes and pushed her hair back from her face trying to let it air out some more ever since she let her hair grow back out, she was made more aware of how much easier it was to have short hair. "Anyway! I have some really awesome news!" Naruto grinned leaning back in the wooden chair. Sakura smiled it was rare that something got him this excited.

Naruto had recently started his training to become Hokage. He quickly realized it wasn't going to be all fun and games. Most days he was so exhausted when he came home that he would pass out down stairs before even getting to shower. But Sakura didn't mind. In fact, Naruto had quickly become her best friend. Closer to her than Ino. He was always there to cheer her up. She was always there to make him realize when he was being dense. Especially when it came to a certain Hyuga heiress. Sakura and Naruto had been living together for close to 5 years now. Once the war was finished the two had decided to share a living space. Naruto not having any family and Sakura having lost her's the two vowed to be family.

"So, what's this awesome news?" Sakura inquired as she stood up and made her way to the sink with her cup. She turned on the water and went to work on the few dishes that sat in the sink.

"The Hyuga Clan as finally agreed to let me "court" Hinata-chan!" Sakura turned around quickly a large smile on her face that matched the fox like grin on Naruto's. It had taken years for Naruto to see how much Hinata adored him. The poor girl had told him she loved him in front of them all during battle and the idiot still didn't understand. It took Sakura pestering him over and over again for him to finally put two and two together. Then it had taken even longer for the stupid clan to recognize that two were obviously meant to be together.

"That's amazing! I'm sure Hinata is so excited!" Sakura said grabbing the few dishes she had just finished washing and began drying them. "When is your first date? How long do you have to wait to get married?! Oh my gosh I'm so excited! I'll have to see Hinata tomorrow." Sakura continued on. She definitely needed a girl's date.

"Well actually… Sakura-chan… I wanted to talk to you about that…" Sakura broke out of her own thoughts to look back to her best friend a confused look on her face. It wasn't often that Naruto acted sheepishly around her, and usually when he did it was because he had done something that he knew could annoy her or because he knew she wouldn't like what was about to happen. Sakura sighed before sitting back down at the table.

"What is it Naruto? You know you can ask me anything,"

Naruto sighed and looked down at his tea. He wasn't sure how to approach this. He really wanted to ask for her help. Hinata had even told him she would talk to Sakura if he was too nervous to do it. Naruto gripped his hands together. "I know… It's just… it's just…" he breathed out. "Okay. Fine. All of our dates have to be chaperoned,"

"Oh," Sakura laughed. "Naruto, I don't mind doing that for you guys," Naruto sighed and leaned back.

"No," Naruto said. Sakura leaned back surprised. "No wait! Not that I don't… ugh I should have just let Hinata-chan do this," he smacked himself in the forehead. "Hiashi-sama has requested that Neji accompany us. Hinata and I thought that maybe you could come with us and distract—"

"Absolutely not," Sakura barked out quickly. She instantly regretted it. There was nothing wrong with Neji. Sakura just didn't want to put herself out there like that. She wasn't sure even if it was to distract a man if she could handle it. She fell too hard too fast. She wasn't ready for that pain. She brought her eyes up to meet Naruto's and saw the torn look on his face.

Naruto instantly recoiled at Sakura's reaction. He knew this was not a good idea. Hinata on the other side and assured him Sakura was ready. She was ready to get out into the dating world again. Neji wasn't someone who could easily get trampled on by the Uchiha. Naruto worried for his best friend.

"Sakura-chan…"

"No Naruto. I'm not going to do it. Neji is a pompous jerk anyway. I don't care if you say he's not that way anymore. No I'm –"

"Sakura-chan! Do it for Hinata-chan! Please! Please! I'll do anything!" the second those words left his mouth he regretted them. A small smile slowly started to form across Sakura's face.

"Anything?" she inquired coyly.

Naruto sat in his seat sweating. Anything… ANYTHING! Sakura was almost worse at pranking than he was. She had single handedly embarrassed him more than once in front of tons of people. She held so much power. But then again. If Neji was their only chaperone his and Hinata's relationship would never go anywhere. Neji was so strict with following his Uncle's orders he would probably never get a chance to kiss his girlfriend ever again. Anything… Anything… Anything…

Naruto sighed. "Yes, anything. But this lasts as long as our courting," Naruto said sticking his hand out. Sakura smiled and leaned in grasping her best friends' hand.

"Deal," Naruto gulped. "You have to help me with Sasuke. He can't keep coming to my work every day. He can't keep sending me flowers. If he wants to be by friend, then he can be my friend. But no more. You can't stay even sided with this anymore. You have to help," Naruto sighed. His hand still stuck firmly in Sakura's. This had been an ongoing battle. When Sasuke had finally come home and things had started to go back to normal Naruto had never been so excited when Sasuke had told him he wanted to marry Sakura. Naruto had even helped for a few months trying to get his two best friends together… '

But Sasuke wasn't the boy Sakura was in love with anymore. In fact, Sasuke had darkness in him and Naruto wasn't sure the boy even truly loved his best friend. The few times the boys had spoken about it all Sauske had brought up was reviving his clan and wanting it to be with Sakura. The only time Sasuke said he loved Sakura was when he was too intoxicated to remember he had even said it. After so long Naruto just remained quiet on the issue. Sakura would yell. Sasuke would yell. Then the two would move on and be friends. Then Sasuke would push it too far again. Naruto decided for both of his friendships it was best for him to remain neutral.

"Deal,"

A/N

Wow does it feel good writing again. I am working on full rewrites for almost all of my fics. Looking back on them the writing wasn't that great not that it's the best ever now but it's deft better than it was. I hope you all enjoyed the chapter! I enjoyed writing! Please review! Reviews make a happy writer! This first chapter is a whole 1k words more than the first time I wrote this. Please please please review! Thank you all! :D