The blank stares from all three men told her they didn't know what to think, but she really didn't take Sai's into account. He always looked that way.
"I thought you were going to tell us the truth," Sasuke said after a moment, narrowing his eyes at the pink haired woman on the other side of Naruto.
"It is the truth!" she hissed angrily, wanting to wipe the incredulous expression right off his face.
"But Sakura-chan, you can't dance," Naruto said, his brow kitted in confusion.
"I know!" Sakura exclaimed desperately before catching herself and lowering her voice once more. "I don't get why Tsunade is sending me on this mission in the first place."
"What kind of dance?" Sai piped up from the back. "Ballet?"
"Um…not exactly," Sakura answered, rubbing the back of her head nervously. She hadn't wanted to tell them all the details but the artist among them had a talent for saying the wrong thing at the wrong time.
"Good. The sight of you in a tutu would be frightening," Sasuke remarked blandly.
"What kind of dance then? Traditional?" Naruto asked, imagining how pretty Sakura would look in a kimono.
She shook her head, her cheeks warming all over again.
"Exotic?" Sasuke chuckled, obviously joking as he took a sip of his tea.
Sakura cringed and didn't say anything, letting her silence be her admittance.
Naruto's eyes grew wide as the realization dawned on him.
"No way," he murmured in awe. "You're going to be a stripper?"
She nodded meekly, chancing a glance over at Sasuke to see how he was reacting and was dismayed to see he had frozen with his glass halfway too his lips, a look of complete disbelief on his face.
"Man, Kakashi-sensei is so lucky! He gets to see you dance! Man, I wish I could go with you on this mission," Naruto pouted childishly.
The man next to him had apparently recovered from his stupor and sneered arrogantly.
"It's not like you'll be missing much," he said. "Her boobs aren't big enough to put on a descent show."
Sakura felt her eyes burn as tears began to form in them for the second time that day. Honestly, she thought she had grown out of her crybaby stage but the stinging remark from her crush cut her deep.
However, the only thing worse than the Uchiha hurting her was to let him see that he had done so. She blinked back her tears and bit down on her trembling lip and threw one of her chopsticks at the one who had insulted her, hitting him in the neck.
The Uchiha looked slightly shocked and that alone was enough to make her feel better and she noted that as he rubbed the red mark with his hand, a small bruise was already forming where the point had hit him.
"Hey, good shot Sakura-chan!" Naruto laughed. "That's what he gets for saying mean things about you."
Sasuke simply "hmphed" and went back to his meal while Sai spoke up again.
"So why is Kakashi going with you? Is he a dancer too?"
"Eew! No!" Sakura cried, her mood lightening a bit at the thought of her sensei's tall, lanky form stuffed into a sequin bikini.
Ok…that thought needed to go away before what she had just eaten decided to come back up.
"He's my escort," she clarified. "I'm traveling to the city as a civilian so if I get into trouble, I won't be able to fight, and once we're in the club, he'll be there…keeping an eye on me."
She didn't really want to go into any more detail, because honestly, she wasn't sure how much she should say. She was going undercover after all and she didn't want to blow it before the mission even started.
"Oh, he'll keep an eye on you all right," Sasuke smirked, knowing the Copy Ninja's affinity for dirty books and imagined he would be enjoying this mission a little too much.
The thought wasn't any comfort to her already frazzled nerves. She had been assured her sensei would act quite professionally but that didn't make it any easier to dance in front of him.
"Don't worry Sakura," Naruto assured, seeing the flustered look on her face. "If he does anything perverted, just tell me and I'll punch him good for you when he gets back."
Sakura giggled at chivalrous gesture but shook her head.
"There's no need for that Naruto. If he does anything perverted, I'll knock him out myself."
At that, both of them laughed together, knowing full well that it was true. Sasuke and Sai remained quiet, finishing up their meals as the sun went down and the surrounding paper lanterns were lit.
"Well guys," Sakura said, stretching in satisfaction before patting her full stomach. "I need to get home. I have to get up early tomorrow."
Naruto offered to walk her home and she accepted, knowing she wouldn't get to see him for some time.
Sai and Sasuke took off in the opposite direction and she called goodbye to both of them. Sai turned around to give her a fake smile and Sasuke simple raised a hand in the air in a silent farewell, not even looking over his shoulder at her as he walked away.
As she walked side by side with the orange clad man, she wondered what kind of effect the knowledge of her new mission had had on the Uchiha. Did he picture her dancing sensually, clothed in practically nothing? Did that image force him to view her as a woman and not as an annoying girl? Sakura blushed a little at the thought but sincerely hoped it had changed his perception of her for the better.
"Hello? Earth to Sakura?"
Naruto's voice broke through her daydream and brought her back to reality in a hurry.
"What? Oh, sorry! What did you say?" she asked sheepishly as she realized he had been talking to her.
Naruto shook his head and laughed.
"Come on space case, you do that on a mission and you could end up dead!"
"I know, I'm sorry," Sakura sighed tiredly. "It's just that I'm really nervous for this assignment. I've never done anything like this before."
Naruto grinned, making light of her comment by saying, "Well if you had, I'd be disappointed you didn't practice on me."
Unfortunately, his words did little to soothe her and her shoulders dropped visibly.
"Yeah well, I get to practice on Kakashi instead and that's the weirdest thing I've ever had to do. Naruto, I don't even know if I can pull this off!"
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