(Authors note): This is totally unrelated to the previous chapter.

A Series of Special Occasions:
Chapter 2: Rapunzel, Rapunzel
Written by: ApplzrGud4u
© Puddle Productions

Rapunzel, Rapunzel, let down your long hair.

A tree house is nothing more than a few pieces of wood nailed together in some kind of architectural style to make a house. A house in a tree, hence the straightforward name "tree house". It was a house without a kitchen, or a TV, or even a bathroom— though Sasuke knew a few people who had done something to change that, as disgusting as it was. Nevertheless, to Sasuke, a tree house was nothing more than a kiddy play place, like the ones in McDonalds that he outgrew before the age of seven. Except this play place could give you splinters. Another reason why Sasuke should add it to his list of evermore disliked items.

However, there was one reason why the contraption didn't make his list. And it was because of a particular person who couldn't quite give up her childhood sanctuary. That girl was none other than his girlfriend, Sakura Haruno. You know, the pink haired girl that always smacked Naruto upside the head for just being himself, and the girl who used to stare flirtatiously at Sasuke?— not that she stopped doing that— Well, Sasuke used to think she had coodies when they were little, so the looks didn't quite rub him the right way.

On this particular day, Sakura had gone missing. Sasuke searched under every rock of the neighborhood park, both of their houses, and even the school grounds— mind you, it was a Saturday— with no luck. The pink haired girl wasn't the type of girl to hide from him in times of grief or stress, and he knew that. Frankly, she would often do the opposite.

And so, he came to the brutal conclusion that she was probably in her tree house. She always was. For fun, or just to annoy Sasuke. Kami knew Sasuke would never go up into her unbelievably elevated wooden box that looked like it was about to collapse, unless the matter was urgent. As in, 9-1-1 urgent.

Sasuke swallowed as he neared the overgrown tree, staring the sturdy brown bark down as if it were the enemy. His eyes trailed up the wooden planks nailed in to make a solid ladder and eventually stopped on a larger than average tree house with a full-fledged balcony. By the way cherry pits flew out one of the windows; it was clear that Sakura was residing in that hell chamber. Sasuke sighed at this.

"Sakura!" He called, sticking his hands in his pockets. A few seconds passed before he heard some bustling, and then finally a "Go away!" from a seemingly pissed off Sakura.

The sun was setting, turning the blue sky a shade of indigo. More towards the horizon the clouds began to develop pretty lilac shades that soon faded to pink on the opposing side. The colors of the sky blended, changing from a violet to a pink, and then to a red and orange, and then at last a brilliant yellow. The clouds hugging the sun had a radiant, ruby glow in some areas, as if being smoldered by the heat.

"Sakura, come down."

"No!"

Sasuke ran a hand through his hair with another sigh, "Then I'll come up."

As much as he aimed that to be a bluff, he actually found himself considering it, just to see what was wrong with her. He was surprised when a shuffle of feet was heard from above, revealing a livid Sakura leaning over the railing of the balcony.

"No boys allowed, Sasuke."

Her boyfriend raised a brow. What had her bra on too tight? He shook his head, determined to pry something out of her.

"What can I do in order to be granted permission up there, Your Highness?" Sasuke joked.

"Mocking me, I see," Sakura murmured to herself.

"Well," She called down, "How about you eat a worm? Maybe then I'll give you a point… Or a half."

The shadows of the trees were stretching, and the sun was setting. Sasuke could already hear the crickets beginning to noise. Slowly, he ran over her dare a few times in his head before falling to his knees and searching the grass for a moist area— where some earth worms might lay. While he did this, Sakura gave him a scrutinizing look, her fingers tightening around the squarely shaped railing until the edges hurt her palms. Was he really going to do it?

Sasuke, being the daring, manly knight Sakura always thought he had deep inside him, discovered a long earth worm at last. The brown, slimy animal squirmed and curled around his fingers. Pinching it with his thumb and index finger, holding it high to show Sakura, he tilted his head back and moved the critter over his open mouth. Sakura's jaw dropped in disgust.

"Wait!" Sakura blurted, halting the boy from placing the worm in his mouth, "Fine… You can come up…"

Sakura was not keen to watch gut wrenching things such as worm eating. Nasty competitions at school made her gag, and want to spit up the day's meals. Especially when people would mix everything on the day's menu at lunch, including all of the drinks and sodas, and even the spices, to make one unlucky soul chuck the whole thing. The students would even bet money on who could hold it down, and for how long. If the boy (never would a girl at school do that, other than Tenten) had successfully held down the 'puke on a plate', then congrats to his bidders, and congrats to him for completing his lifelong goal having stinky breath for a week. If the boy lost, then not only did he smell like puke, but the lunchroom smelled like puke, which then made the janitors smell like puke, and that smell eventually spread through nearly every hallway. Resulting Sakura feeling woozy for the rest of the day. It has always been a weakness of her, and Sasuke took that to his advantage this time.

Putting on a fake smirk of triumph— because, really, he'd rather have eaten the worm than climb up that beckon of death— Sasuke tossed to worm aside and looked up at Sakura. She had one elbow on the railing and had her palm supporting her forehead. Her eyes were closed, though Sasuke couldn't see that much from the cascade of pink hair that covered her features. Even so, Sasuke knew what it meant. She was feeling sick. To avoid any upchucked fluids that may come, Sasuke took several long strides to the side, making sure he was far from her puke range.

"So is that a point, or half a point?" Sasuke teased.

"Zero. I'm just being a nice Princess and letting her peasant off the hook."

"Hah, more like Tyrant."

"I'm sorry, what was that?"

"Can you throw down the ladder?"

"What's what I thought…" Glare.

A few seconds passed before the balcony hatch opened and a rope ladder fell. Sasuke immediately grabbed it and began climbing. He made is a strict notion in his mind that if he even remotely looked down, he'd let go out of terror. Already his limbs were shaking and becoming numb— he hoped that it didn't show— and his insides were swirling. How he absolutely hated heights, with an unearthly passion. He might add tree houses to his list after all.

As he pulled himself through the hatch, he let out a breath, kicking the piece of wood. He felt much safer with that trap door closed. Sakura's stomach calmed a bit and she shot Sasuke an amused glance. He was sitting on the floor, breathing heavy, and slowly scooting away from the hatch.

"Is this thing stable?" Sasuke questioned.

"Sasuke, you helped my dad rebuilt it,"

"Is that supposed to make me feel better? Because the last thing I built was that stool in Woodshop, and you know how that went."

"Oh my gosh! Relax!"

Sakura rolled her grassy eyes, allowing a prolonged silence to float around them.

"So," Sasuke sighed, "What's bothering you?"

Sakura pressed her lips together in a line, averting her gaze, "Nothing…" She trotted into the tree house abruptly, and Sasuke followed.

"Sakura, I wouldn't have come up here if I didn't want to know."

The pink haired girl took a seat on the old couch and stole a quilt piled on the armrest. She covered herself, propping her feet up on the sofa and leaning her forehead on her bent knees. "I know," she groaned. Sasuke sat next to her under the blanket and wrapped his arm around her shoulder. The kind gesture made Sakura turn to snuggle into Sasuke, resting her head on his chest in a way that felt way too comfortable.

"Sakura," Sasuke whispered into her ear, causing chills to jolt through her, "What's wrong?"

Sakura shrugged, frowning, "Today is the anniversary of my dog's death… I thought if I came up here, then I'd feel better… But I realized I was never sad about it in the first place. I'm just mad at myself for not caring."

It's no reason to be upset, Sasuke thought.

He remembered that dog, and the toll it took on his girlfriend years ago. Heck, even he was sad when it died. Being a boy who grew up with Sakura since birth, they were always together, exactly like the unrelated family they were. Naruto fit somewhere into this picture too. And, of course, the dog was like their little sidekick that tagged along on adventures, or gave an entertaining chase when the three were bored.

Taking his girlfriend's chin between two fingers and tilting her face up, Sasuke planted a small kiss on her lips, smirking at the thick blush that covered her face afterwards. "Not being sad isn't a crime," he said, stroking her cheek with his thumb. He leaned in, nipping her neck in several areas before lip locking once again, only deepening it.

"I know," Sakura repeated in a daze, pressing herself against Sasuke and pushing him until she was on top. The blue knitted quilt slipped off, not bothering the couple— they were too busy to notice. Sakura snaked her fingers into Sasuke's onyx locks, guiding him in an endless kiss that left both parties breathless. They two stared into each other's eyes, foreheads pressed together. Sasuke moved one hand to the small of Sakura's back and the other to the back of her silky, rosy tresses, towing her closer, leaving their lips just barely touching.

"Do you feel better?" Sasuke breathed, restraining the desire to kiss her again.

"Much," Sakura whispered, gathering the cloth of his green shirt in her two fists to draw him into a much wanted make out session. Sasuke loved the feeling of her soft lips against his, and the warmth of her body on top of him, leaving him to be the last one on earth that would ever protest against it.

"SAKURA!" Sakura's mother shouted, "SUPPER IS GETTING SCOLD! HURRY UP AND GET DOWN HERE!"

Sakura froze, cursing under her breath. She pushed off of her boyfriend's warm and muscular chest, scanning over his body and smirking at the chagrin on his face. Sasuke just lay there on the couch like a lifeless fish. It was quite amusing. As Sakura made way to the exit, Sasuke's lower lip jutted out, and though he was reluctant to show it, he honestly didn't want Sakura to go.

The tree house was exceptionally shadowy. The sun had set a while back, although that fact just added to the mood and made Sasuke a little more thwarted. He sat up, groaning when Sakura stepped outside. A large grin crawled onto her face and she leaned back to look at Sasuke around the corner.

"By the way," She began, licking her lips, "The reason I didn't want you to eat that worm was because I foresaw this little session, and didn't want to taste it myself."

"Sure you did," Sasuke counters, walking over and pulling the pink haired girl back into the room, "Just like you foresaw your mom bursting the little bubble we had."

With the tips of his fingers he caressed part of her neck, placing tiny kisses next to the spots he traced.

"Yes, I foresaw that too," Sakura said stubbornly.

"Did you foresee that little mark I left on your neck?"

Sakura's pale hand shot up to a random area of her neck, gaping, "Sasuke, I swear! If I have to eat dinner with my parents then I'm screwed!"

Said boy shrugged and smirked, "I'm sorry. I couldn't help myself."

"Well I foresee myself leaving now," Sakura growled, disappearing out the door, "Do me a favor and don't eat any worms. We have unfinished business."

Sasuke smirked and ran a hand delicately through his hair. If tomorrow meant finishing up business with Sakura, you could say he was a whole lot more than excited.

End…

A/N: Mwahaha! It's finished. So yeah, I needed to get this done before anything else. I apologize to you The Fame readers, because I lied about my update. :( Check out my profile, I usually have daily updates, so if anything goes wrong you'll know ^_^ Anyways I'm kinda blank right now. My brother keeps on talking to me, so I can't think. Plus, I am BEYOND tired. So this story probably ended on crap. I was getting lazy… Anyways, here is some news:

Blatantly Chained: will be continued after The Fame update.

The Fame: Will be continued after Sunlight and Shadows update.

Sunlight and Shadows: Will be continued after the first chapter of a new story I have thought up.

Haha, I'm sorry, this seems so sad and long. I know have a bunch of started and unfinished stories, but I like to get the idea out of my head, you know, just to verify that I came up with it first! Lol, just kidding. But seriously, it's hard to focus unless I get it down.

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.

Sincerely,

The extremely tired,

Applz