************

Private Lessons 

Side-story 2  (Part 1)

********************

Uchiha Sasuke sat at his desk, massaging his temples with his thumbs.

He sighed, “I just want to go home…”

He had been working at the hospital for the last 35 hours; and his shift had been quite busy, having to monitor two heavy accident entries.

Sasuke was currently in his 5th year in med school, and, while he loved his studies, he was sometimes torn between his career prospects and his need to be with his boyfriend, Uzumaki Naruto.

It was now around 8 in the morning, and Sasuke realized he had been filling up reports for the last two hours… He needed a break. He got up from his chair, stretched and stepped out of his office. He walked along the corridor towards the rest room, where he wanted to take a short nap.

He turned around a corner and bumped into a woman, who fell on her backside.

“Outch!” she exclaimed.

Sasuke immediately reached out to help her get back to her feet. The woman looked up at him and gasped:

“S-Sasuke-kun?!”

Sasuke’s eyes widened, he had certainly NOT expected to meet that person here!

“I-it’s me Haruno Sakura!” she reminded him;

“Yes, of course I remember.” he acknowledged with a small smile.

Sakura was blushing, a huge smile across her face. “I’m so happy to meet you here!”

She noticed Sasuke’s white coat and name tag; her smile seemed to widen even more.

“Do you work here?! What a nice coïncidence! It’s my first day working here too!” she explained excitedly.

“Oh, that’s nice…” Sasuke responded, not sure why she was that happy.

“Yeah, I’m a nurse now! I hope we’ll get to meet often!” Sakura hoped, not letting go of Sasuke’s hand.

“Maybe… Huh, I… have to get going, actually, so if you’ll excuse me.” The young man said, trying to get away from this weird encounter.

“Oh! Yes of course!” Sakura said, her smile dropping a bit. “See you later then!”

She waved at him as he headed towards the aforementioned rest room.

----

Sasuke sat on the edge of the bed, sighing. He had never really appreciated Haruno back in high school, finding her too gossipy for his taste. And he highly doubted he would change his mind now…

Sasuke tried to avoid Sakura afterwards, dodging the common places where nurses usually gathered in the hospital. Alas, one day, as he was eating lunch on his own in the hospital cafeteria, when Sakura spotted him and came straight towards him.

“Sasuke-kun! Finally we meet again!” she exclaimed, sitting at his table, uninvited.

The sudden familiarity in her approached brought a few curious stares from bystanders, since Sasuke wasn’t known for having a lot of friends (if any at all).

“Hello…” Sasuke said, unmotivated.

After a minute of awkward silence, where Sakura stared intently at Sasuke, the young woman started:

“So, Sasuke-kun… I was wondering…”

Sasuke frowned, he knew where she was going…

“Would you like to go grab a drink after work? You know, to catch up and stuff!” she wondered. “I really want to reconnect with you!”

She leaned forwards, showing off her low-cut cleavage, and winked.

“I don’t know… I’m pretty busy with my studies and other things…” Sasuke dodged.

“Oh… I see…” Sakura said, disappointed.

Sasuke took this opportunity to stand up and started to walk away.

“Wait, Sasuke-kun!” Sakura pleaded, grabbing the young man by the arm.

She looked straight up at him, blushing. “Are you sure you can’t….?”

Sasuke sighed, “I’m quite sure yes… Can you let me go please?”

She released his arms reluctantly, “Sorry…”

Sasuke hurried out, really not liking the way Sakura was acting…

Unfortunately for him, Sakura had apparently decided to pursue him. She kept meeting him all around the hospital, putting it on sheer luck. Sasuke tried a few times to actually have a conversation with her, but it always ended up with her asking him out. Sasuke knew he would eventually have to put an end to her flirting…

Then one day, Sakura shyly asked:

“Sasuke-kun, would you like to start dating me?”

The young man stared at her, struck with confusion. “What?”

“You know, I- I thought we were getting along well… So…” She hesitated a bit. “What I mean is, I- I like you!”

Sasuke closed his eyes, he had just finished another long shift and did not want to have to deal with something like that...

“Haruno…” he started, his voice cold.

“Y-yes?” The girl answered, clearly hopeful.

“It seems you have misunderstood something…” Sasuke stated. “I will never see you as anything more than an old classmate and colleague.”

“W-What do you mean, Sasuke-kun?” Sakura wondered worryingly, taking a step closer to him. “Please! Could you give me a chance? I know I can make you like me!”

Sasuke looked at her, his eyes not wavering, hard. “I already have a partner. So it doesn’t matter what you know or think…”

Sakura froze, agape. “What? But… you never mentioned…”

“And why would I tell you something so private?” Sasuke retorted. “Just leave me be, Haruno… For both mine and your own sake!”

He didn’t wait for her to talk back and walked away, while Sakura was still processing the news.

----

Sasuke thought that him clearly announcing his was in couple would make Sakura give up her groundless fantasies. And so he went on with his life, not even suspecting that she was actually watching him closely.

The young woman had grown desperate, she did not believe Sasuke and was determined to confront him about his blatant lie. So she stalked him.

----

One day, after changing her working hours with one of her colleague nurse, she managed to get out of work at the same time as Sasuke. She followed him discreetly, camouflaged under a hat and behind a mask.

Sasuke walked straight home, impatient to spend a well-earned evening with his little fox. And as she saw him climb up the stairs to his floor, she hurried to catch up with him.

The young man unlocked the front door of his 1LDK apartment and was about to get in when he heard a voice behind him.

“S-Sasuke-kun!”

He turned around in a guarded movement, How…? he wondered, apprehensive.

“Haruno? What are you…?”

“S-Sasuke-kun! Please, give me a chance!” she cried, walking towards him.

Sasuke backed off, but as he stepped over the threshold of the door, Sakura pushed him forward, slamming the door shut with her foot, and led Sasuke in his own living-room. He resisted, shoving her off.

“What the hell are you doing, Haruno?!” he shouted. “Get out now!”

“No! I need you, Sasuke-kun! And I know I’m the one for you!” Sakura asserted.

She stood her ground, breathless, she had clearly lost her mind!

“I’ll make you understand!” she said with confidence.

All of sudden, with no warning, she started unbuttoning her pink blouse, revealing the bra underneath. She let it fall on the floor and moved closer to Sasuke.

He recoiled back, as, for the first time in his life, Uchiha Sasuke was afraid of a woman.

“Don’t do this Haruno! It won’t change anything!” he attempted, shielding himself with his hands in front of him.

“It will! You have to understand my feelings!” Sakura affirmed. “I know you lied when you said you had someone!”

“No…!”

The girl jumped forward, not letting Sasuke say any more. She clasped her arms around his neck and planted her lips on his. With little moans, she tasted his mouth, forcing her tongue inside.

Sasuke, trying to fight her, tripped over the edge of the coffee table. Sakura clung onto the young man, pinning him against the floor.

The girl sat up, straddling him. As if by chance, she was wearing a skirt, which she pulled up on her thighs, making her panties visible.

“Yes! I will make you understand!” she repeated, panting heavily.

Sasuke tried to free himself, but Sakura did not budge, as if empowered by madness. She gave two or three hip movements, grinding her pelvis against Sasuke’s through their clothes. New moans escaped her lips a she was still forcefully kissing Sasuke.

‘I have to stop her…” Sasuke thought in despair.

After one or two minutes, Sakura started moving her hand to Sasuke’s crotch region, and pulled the trousers’ fly down.

Suddenly, Sasuke heard a noise coming from the front door. His eyes widened; only one person could enter the apartment, and it was the absolute last person he wanted to see right this moment!

His heartbeat quickened as his heard the light footsteps coming closer. Then the blond hair of Naruto appeared in the doorway.

At first Naruto didn’t comprehend what was happening. He blinked after a few seconds, recognizing Sakura. On top of Sasuke… He stared at the latter, dazed.

“What… is happening here…?” Naruto finally asked, in a shaky voice.

Sakura froze and looked up a the blonde-haired boy. She narrowed her eyes, “Naruto…?”

She looked down at Sasuke, quizzingly.

“What is Naruto doing here, Sasuke-kun?”

“I asked you what is going on!!” Naruto repeated, louder this time.

He could feel tears at the corner of his eyes. “How could you…?”

He glared at Sasuke with disgust and rush back out of the apartment, violently slamming the front door.

“Naruto, no wait, it’s not....!” Sasuke pleaded, stretching out a hand.

“What is his problem…?” Sakura mused, clearly unaffected by the scene that just occured.

She leaned forward to kiss Sasuke again, “Now that the idiot is gone, let’s resume our affair!”

Sasuke growled. He furiously grabbed Sakura by her shoulders and shove her off him. He jumped up on his feet.

“Get away from me, crazy b*tch!” he insulted.

As he started walking to the door as well, Sakura stopped him, grabbing onto his arm.

“No, Sasuke-kun! Don’t mind this idiot!” she pleaded. “Why would you go after that dumb Naruto, he is insignificant!”

Sasuke glared down at the girl, so furious his eyes glowed with a red flare. “Don’t you ever call my boyfriend ‘insignificant’ again, you little shit!”

Sakura’s eyes widened, “B-boyfriend…? What… are you saying, Sasuke-kun? You don’t have to tell such a terrible lie…” She smiled playfully.

“It’s not a lie… I told you I had a partner, well you just saw him.” Sasuke retorted.

“I don’t believe you!!” Sakura screamed. “You’re just trying to drive me away, but it won’t work!”

That made Sasuke snap. He grabbed Sakura by the wrist and led her out, and down the stairs of the apartment unit. He was so afraid to lose Naruto that it was hard to breath.

After a few minutes of search, Sasuke saw Naruto curled up in a corner, under a staircase, looking really sad.

“It’s not true… I don’t believe you…” Sakura reiterated in a hushed voice.

Sasuke rolled his eyes, groaning annoyingly. “Fine, if that’s what it takes to make you leave…”

He strided towards Naruto, who hadn’t noticed him, and called him out: “Little fox…”

Naruto’s head sprung up. He frowned, tears at the corner of his eyes. “Leave me alone, bastard!”

He attempted to get up and run away, but Sasuke, still being the fastest of the two, quickly caught up and stopped the blond-haired boy. Then, firmly grabbing the back of Naruto’s neck, he kissed him gently.

Both Naruto’s and Sakura’s eyes went wide; the first not expecting such show of affection in broad daylight; the second clearly taken aback by the confirmation of Sasuke’s revelation.

Naruto pushed Sasuke off and slapped him, “N-no! It doesn’t work like that!”

But as he tried to escaped again, Sasuke tightly held on to his wrist, turning towards Sakura.

"You believe me now? Just back off already!"

Tears rolled down Sakura’s face as she was forced in utter shock to accept that her lifelong crush was in couple with Naruto…

“I’m sorry…” she whispered, lowering her head.

She walked away slowly, as the contempt she had always felt for Naruto suddenly gained it intensity. “I will not let you steal him from me!” she swore in a breath.