Date: November 14th, 2006.
Pairing: SasuSaku. Implied ShikaIno.
Author's notes: As the title has given away already, this is nothing but my version of Jealous!Sasuke! Isn't that fun? ((wink wink)). It was going to be part of my SasuSaku collection, but it... sort of grew into a three-part fic. Here's part one. Please read and review! Enjoy!

Standard disclaimer applies.

Jealousy
by hikari yuuko

PART I: Jealousy

"Sasuke-teme, Sakura-chan, ja neeeeeeeeee!" Naruto shouted as he exited the house. The shouji door from the room he'd just left was still rattling.

Sasuke glared at the sliding door that was now slightly broken. "Hn."

"Guess Naruto is really hopeless," Sakura sighed, settling down her mug of tea and cleaning her mouth with a napkin. She turned to their host and smiled, fingers brushing carelessly through her locks of pink hair. "I think I better leave as well, it's getting a bit late. Thank you for having me, Sasuke-kun."

"Hn." Sasuke merely drank what was left of his own tea and ignored her as she moved past him. He didn't think much of her 'getting late' comment even if it was only quarter past five. Her hand briefly pated his right shoulder before her figure disappeared from the room.

Sakura sat on the front steps to gather her shoes just as she heard the sound of the shouji door closing. Sasuke was suddenly leaning against the wall opposite from her, as she had expected him to. "I'm meeting up with Shikamaru," she mumbled as she fitted in the first sandal, but loud enough for him to catch it.

This made Sasuke, who'd been staring at the door, glance at her with slight curiosity "Nara?"

"Un." She nodded, smiling obliviously at the now alert Sasuke.

"A debriefing of the new missions tactic plan?" he drawled his question in the most uninterested fashion, which was clearly the opposite. If he was uninterested, he wouldn't be asking at all.

"Uh... not really," she shook her head as she fitted the second sandal into her foot and stood up. The female medic-nin turned to him, then, the glint on her green eyes mirroring her bright, small smile. "It doesn't have much to do with missions, actually."

'Then what?' Sasuke seemed to ask with his unwavering obsidian eyes and raised eyebrow. Before she could even reply, though, he straightened up, determination settled on his handsome features. "I'm going with you."

She blinked. "Ehh?"

"I said that I'm going with you," his glare was intense. "Is that a problem or will I disrupt your little date with Nara?" His shoes were on his feet already.

Sakura was startled at first. She blinked once again before explaining, "But it's not a date, either."

"Whatever. Let's get going," he told her and strode right past her. She followed, still slightly in awe, after closing the door and locking it.

Catching up to him took her a relatively few steps before they fell into a same, steady pace and walked side by side. The way over to the Nara residence was one of comfortable silence. Sakura occasionally slipped in bits of conversation and Sasuke answered in monosyllables, which was one of his feats, and they both enjoyed the blossoming trees along the path.

-

"Sasuke-kun!! You came, what a surprise!" Ino chirped happily as her eyes sighted the two coming in through the backyard door. Sasuke groaned and Sakura giggled beside him, expecting such a welcoming. "Forehead-girl, you're late!"

"Hi, Shikamaru," Sakura greeted to the aforementioned young man, who was propping himself up with his elbows. Her attention then turned to the girl sitting beside him and she smirked in taunt, "Ino-pig."

"Hello, Sakura, Uchiha." Shikamaru greeted each of them, a tired tone about his voice. The bored expression on his face disappeared slightly as he noticed the ominous aura surrounding the Sharingan user.

"Nara." Sasuke's lips then settled on a thin, grim line.

"I'll go get us some teas and a few treats. Shikamaru, you like two spoons of honey in yours, right?"

"Yeah… thanks, Ino." Shikamaru allowed himself to give a small grin to his teammate, who then stood up and disappeared on the hallways, before turning to his visitors.

"So, it's unexpected to have you here, Uchiha. To what do I owe your visit today, if I may ask…?" The genius boy wondered as he began arranging the shougi pieces on his board. "You are welcome, though."

The dark-haired one nodded in appreciation, but the gesture rather was forced. He was still feeling a bit suspicious about Shikamaru. "I'm..." Sasuke paused in search for a proper term, "escorting Sakura for a while."

"Ah." The lazy, pony-tailed shinobi nodded back at the brooding boy and turned to the board again. "That's nice."

"Hn."

"Shikamaru is teaching me how to play shougi." Sakura explained as she walked over to him and sat opposite to him. "He's a really good player, but even a greater teacher."

"Hn…" Sasuke didn't really want to comment how he didn't care whether Shikamaru was good or not.

"What can I say, you learn fast." Shikamaru shrugged. "You've got a tactician's mind too."

"Hn…" Neither did he want to say how he didn't like him flattering her too much.

Ino's steps were heard then, indicating her return. She came back once again from the hallway where she had disappeared, this time carrying a small tray with four cups of tea and a plate of cookies which she settled on the floor just in front of the game board.

"Stop praising her, Shika-kun! She'll actually believe it!" the girl seemed to voice out what Sasuke was thinking as she tugged at Shikamaru's sleeve. Ino handed him his cup first, scooting closer to her teammate in attempt to gain his full attention but his eyes were completely on the board now and on his pieces.

This caused Sakura to smirk at her longtime rival and childhood friend. "What, pig, you jealous?"

"I'm not!!" the blonde exclaimed; her blue eyes wide and cheeks stained in a slight pink. "Why would I be jealous of you and Shikamaru?"

The medic-nin grinned wider at her flustered friend, taking in her hands the mug that Ino had brought for her. "Whoever mentioned Shikamaru in this?"

Shikamaru groaned, glancing warily at the two kunoichi. "Troublesome."

"Hn." Sasuke agreed as he played with a kunai, twirling it in his finger as he leaned against one of the trees in the backyard.

-

"That was fun. Ino spent less time interrupting our games this once. Maybe you should tag along next time too, Sasuke-kun," she teased.

"Hn." He looked annoyed. For the most part, he'd kept vigil on Sakura and Shikamaru's tense matches. That was, of course, whenever Ino wasn't bothering the hell out of him.

"Well, then, thanks for today," she told him as they reached an intersection on the road. She shifted on her feet, brushed the hairs falling over her face, and smiled at him, "Goodbye, Sasuke-kun. I'll see you tomorrow at training."

"Hn." He watched her leave, frown on his face. He was quite the sharp guy, so he instantly noticed that the route she was taking was slightly different from the usual. "Sakura," he called out, "your house is the other way."

"Hm?" She came to a halt and turned around. She glanced around the place and realized what he was talking about. She marched back to him a bit, so he could hear her better. "Oh, yeah, I still have to stop by at Kiba's."

Sasuke involuntarily raised an eyebrow in confusion. Lately, he realized, he'd been doing that a lot when it involved Sakura. "What?"

"Yeah, he said Akamaru isn't feeling well," she explained seriously, concerned frown on her pretty face. "His sister is currently out of town and he doesn't trust just anyone when it comes to Akamaru so he asked me to check up on him."

"Hn."

"But anyway, like I said, thank you for accompanying me today." She told him. She was about to open her mouth again and then stopped altogether when Sasuke brushed by her and walked ahead on the path she had been taking. His house was also the other way. "Er... Sasuke-kun, where are you going?"

Sasuke stopped and looked at her over his shoulder, smirking slightly. "To Inuzuka's house, where else? Move it, Sakura."

Sakura stood there perplexed for a full second before trailing after him. "H-hai..."