Sunlight into the room and struck the dormant figure lying in the messy bed. It twitched and reached for a pillow which could be anywhere in the mess but not on the bed, to block out the sun. Efforts frustrated, the figure took nature's hint and decided to wake up. The boy sat up in his bed, lazily leaning heavily against the headboard. He reached behind his head to scratch at the blonde spikes, unprotected by his night cap; the hair at the back was crushed into submission by the heavy night sleeping before. He opened his eyes as he stretched, and was painfully reminded of the clutter and mess surrounding him. The light exposed every inch of the chaos in the room. Deciding out of sight was out of mind, the youth quickly left his room and entered the kitchen.

the boy groaned when things did not approve. grabbing a cup of ramen, he set the water to boil and began to search for his jacket. As he scattered the piles of rubbish with his hands, the water boiled over. 'Ramen time!' the boy thought gleefully to himself. He opened the fridge to get some milk to drink, and was confronted by an orange and black jacket enveloping the contents from the fridge. He grabbed the jacket and the milk and began to have breakfast, slurping loudly from the milk and the noodles, throwing the remains onto an overfilled rubbish bin. He wiped his mouth and opened the door, carving a wedge of clean space in the entrance. He stepped outside and stretched, enjoying the feel of the sun on his body. Knowing he was already late, he began to spread in the direction of town.

***

Meanwhile a girl sighed impatiently, tired of waiting for her partner to show up. She ran her hands through her pink hair. "Sakura!" a voice called out to her. "There you are…" she said expecting to see her partner drag his ass into view. Instead she found her long time friend and rival, Ino. "Wanna go get drunk?" Ino offered her.
"No thanks, I'm off to train today, but aren't you too young to be drinking?" Sakura replied with a slightly confused tone. Why would Ino suggest something like that?
"I know a guy that lets you drink underage if you're hot." Ino responded, "He needs more girls there so he can attract business. Anyway, knuckle-head Naruto isn't her and he's over an hour late."
"But I can't just blow off training because he does, anywa-"
Ino silenced her protests with a mere look. "Stop making excuses! I want to get hammered. Let's make a deal, if he doesn't apologize about being late, you have to come to me until you're beyond wasted!"

Ino turned to look towards the direction of Naruto's house, cutting off Sakura before she could speak. "Talk of the devil. Or demon freak thing, whatever he is." Sakura giggled at her friends joke. although none still cared that Naruto hosted a demon, it contributed to his weirdness and was still a subject of much derision. "Sakura-chan!" A fast approaching orange comet yelled. He stopped inches before colliding with Sakura. "HI!" He yelled into her face. She glared at him, furiously gazed with anger. "DON'T YELL!" She shouted back. "Don't you have anything to say about yourself?" she asked him, giving him a chance to prove Ino wrong. "Uhh. Good morn- afternoon." He stammered out confused. Ino laughed triumphantly. "HAH! I knew he wouldn't" She began to drag Sakura away, leaving Naruto to look confused and dejected at the floor.

***

A seedy tavern loomed into view as the two girls rounded a corner. Despite the sun's high position in the sky, the building sat in darkness. Sakura looked dubiously at the building "Ino, do we have to? This place oozes evil." Ino looked at her and laughed, before switching to a feigned pleading look "oh pleeease Sakura, I don't wanna be lonely…" Her friend looked at her, then sighed and agreed reluctantly "alright… you know I can't resist your puppy dog eyes" Ino cheered, and continued dragging Sakura towards the door. They burst into the empty bar and looked around. There were only two other people, both men, sitting at a table talking quietly while they drank. At the girl's entrance they looked up and smiled eerily, before returning their eyes to their glasses. Ino approached the bar and asked the barman for a drink.

"You don't look old enough" the man answered her.

"Aww… c'mon man, you know me. Promise I'll be good… or bad, whatever's your pleasure" Ino replied with a wink. The man laughed. "All right, but who's your cute friend?" Sakura blushed as she heard this, and answered him. "I- I'm Sakura," she answered nervously, "pleased to meet you." She added with confidence.

"Enough pleasantries! Let's get hammered" Ino shouted.

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