Chapter 24

She was pulling a Sai. She knew it, Sai knew it, Sasuke knew it. Everyone in the dang vicinity knew it except the man spinning around with her on the dance floor. Her own boss. Potentially more oblivious and obtuse than the King of Dense himself, Naruto. Maybe it ran in the family and skipped a few lines, who knows.

And she damn well knew she was pulling a Sai the moment her face gave a pleasant, charming smile automatically, but it was like world war four inside her own body. Yes, Tobirama was indeed a handsome man, and if she were drunk, her inner self would deem him a delicious specimen of the species. But seriously, down girl. And stay down.

Ugh, it was almost unfair how tall he was. His muscles of obviously there despite the casual suit he was wearing. She almost wanted to hate Mito for pushing them together to dance, where Sakura's arms were, per requirement of dancing and basic decorum, around the Senju's shoulders.

Did she mention this man was her boss and therefore off-limits? Not that her mind, heart or any other organ was listening. Absolute betrayal. Absolute.

Tobirama stepped away and twirled her before pulling her back into his arms and she clamped down on that breathy sigh that wanted to make it's way out of her mouth. Oh hell, no.

She wanted this dance to end. She wanted to run. She wanted out of there faster than that fairytale princess with the pumpkin carriage, and she didn't even have a time limit of midnight!

But his eyes were such a beautiful shade of red, and it held such depth, and the way he was looking at her...

Sakura smacked her mindscape into sensibility. By all means, this party was technically a war zone and they were on a mission. She tries to remind herself, specifically labelled Operation: do not blow your cover.

But Tobirama was an excellent dancer and had yet to step on her feet, nor allowed himself to be stepped on by her feet. She was having immense fun and was enjoying every moment of it. While also freaking out inside at every moment of it. Hence pulling a Sai.

Someone else must have recognized her Sai-vibes cause said someone tapped Tobirama on the shoulder and they came to a brief halt on the dance floor. "May I have a dance with this lovely young lady?" Neji Hyuuga bowed respectfully to the both of them.

Tobirama dipped his head towards her, the choice clearly hers to make. It was getting harder and harder to not fall for this man and his charms. Quickly coming to a decision, but not to seem rude, she curtsied to the Senju, "Thank you for dancing with me, I'm sure we managed to entertain Mito-san's whims long enough."

Tobirama nodded, "That we might have," he spotted her off to one end of the yard, entertaining the children. "Enjoy yourselves," he motioned Neji towards Sakura and then made his way off the dance floor. When Tobirama was out of sight, Neji brought Sakura closer and began an easy sway to match the new song. Sakura leaned her forehead on his shoulder and let out a heavy sigh and missed his smirk.

"I heard that Neji, you must find this extremely amusing," Sakura huffed as they continued an easy dance.

The Hyuuga raised an eyebrow and looked down at his friend skeptically, "How do you hear a smile?"

Sakura lifted her head as she huffed, "For you it's technically a smirk, and yes I can hear it cause I just can." The skeptical eyebrow remain raised, "How conclusive."

Sakura punched him lightly in the chest, "Shush you, if you weren't my almost knight in shining armour, I'd give you hell."

Neji made a contemplative hum, "Would I be your knight in shining armour if we danced our way to the other side away from an overly eager Lee?" Sakura chuckled, at parties like this, Lee was always eager to dance either with groups or all the girl friends. But sometimes, he didn't know his own strength or enthusiasm.

"You can have that title if we dance our way over to the seating area and I can finally take off these heels," she offered. "Done deal," Neji began to effortlessly dance their way towards such goal.

Neji, being the gentlemen that he was, escorted her to an almost full table, with Hinata and the other girls already seated and waiting for her. She gave her friend a sideways glance, "I take it back, you're throwing me to the wolves, deal's off." Neji merely chuckled as he made his exit. Ino grabbed Sakura's wrist and tugged her into the remaining seat.

There was no chance of escape now. Sakura slipped off her heels and relished in the freedom and feel of grass under her toes. Hinata pushed a plate of food towards the pinkette, who was forever grateful for having a wonderful friend like Hinata.

Sakura took her time snacking and drinking while her friends chattered idly. The moment the plate was empty, TenTen and Ino turned to her expectantly. "What?" Sakura mumbled, her mouth half full.

Ino rewarded the pinkette's efforts with an eye roll, "Spill, woman. We want all the details!"

"What details, Inopig," she hadn't used that nickname in a while, "We 'met', we danced, we parted. You probably saw it all happen too." The blond wanted to smack some sense into her friend, she was missing the point, and purposely too.

"I think what Ino means is, how is Tobirama-sama from 'Sakura's' point of view, not 'Sakuya's'" TenTen watched her friend closely.

Sakura chewed on her bottom lip as she fingered the glass in her hands. She didn't know what to say, but her friend's knowing looks already told her what she couldn't say herself. Her face almost matched the colour of her hair.

She was so screwed.