The Flower and the Avenger

Chapter 3

Beep. Beep. Beep.

Is it Tenten's alarm clock? thought Sakura hazily as she started to swat to the right of her, wanting to shut it off. Strange... she shouldn't be in bed right now, should she? Was it all a dream- the Uchiha Manor, the servants' work, the wolves...

The wolves.

"Ah!"

Sakura woke up with a start, the beeping fading to a smaller tap. "Good, you're awake," smiled Shizune as she dumped another wet cloth on Sakura's large forehead. "I was beginning to think you would never open your eyes."

Sakura groaned as she slowly sat up. "What... what happened?"

Shizune frowned slightly. "Ah, well... um... that's slightly hard to explain... oh! He's here now! I'll just go and..." She bumped clumsily into the door as she left, out of sight. Sakura frowned. What had happened? Why was Shizune so nervous? Maybe it's Lady Tsunade, she thought with a small laugh.

"What's so funny?"

Sakura startled and almost knocked over the vase of tulips that was stationed near her. "You're a klutz and a drifter. Just what I'd expect from a rookie maid like you." Sakura inhaled sharply. This was the man from this morning, the same handsome, annoyed guy.

"Who... who are you?"

He narrowed his eyes. "I assumed you knew by now, apparently not. You're really dull for someone my age." Sakura didn't even mind that he had insulted her. "Who are you?"

He sighed. "I am the one you servants call Uchiha Sasuke." Sakura's mind was reeling.

This is Sasuke Uchiha?

The one everyone's so scared of?

Her expression must've been pretty priceless, because a second after, Sasuke laughed and pointed at her face. "You remind me of that loser, Naruto." Sakura blinked. "Naruto! Where is he?" Arghhh, who cares, she thought giddily.

Sasuke's smiling face replaced with a stone-cold expression. "I don't know. He shouldn't have let you go down like that. I'll go talk to him." Somehow, Sakura knew that his idea of talk was even scarier than Tsunade's.

Sakura said, "Who rescued me? Was it... was it you?" she said hopefully. Sasuke's expression didn't budge. "Say it was. It doesn't make much difference." Sakura smiled widely. "So it was you!"

"Quiet, servant. You're forgetting your place. If you can't get that through your head, you can leave now." Sakura kept smiling. "I'll do whatever you want, Sasuke."

"Uchiha."

His hardened voice cut through the air. "You will address me as Uchiha. Nothing else, or you will be thrown from this very room to the woods that you were confined to. Do you understand?" Sakura nodded, a bit scared.

Then the door opened to reveal a very loudmouth, a very excited, and a very distressed Naruto. "SAKURA! ARE YOU ALRIGHT?" he yelled, barging himself to her bed. Sasuke glared at him. "Naruto."

Naruto just shot him a glare. "Move over, Sasuke. I gotta talk to her." Sakura's brows widened in surprise, but Sasuke did not budge and neither did his expression. His mouth didn't even get thinner. Though reluctantly, Sasuke shifted so that Naruto's figure didn't push him aside any longer.

Naruto kept talking fast, almost too quickly for Sakura to understand. "Listen, I'm really sorry, I promise that I'll never happen again. I didn't realize that it would have come to this, I'll be way more careful, and I promise that I'll bring over a bowl of Ichiraku's if I don't eat it first- I gotta go quickly, before she finds me-"