a/n: hi i'm super shy abt posting on since it's been a good 10 years since i last did… anyway this fic takes inspiration from clueless (1995) and legally blonde (2001) and just my general love for early 2000s culture and aesthetic. unbeta'd but tbh the edited one is posted on ao3 under the same and title. hope you like it! xoxo
"See her?" With her fork, Sakura points at the blonde figure in a sequined halter top walking past the vending machines with her nose buried in a calculus textbook. The tines of Sakura's fork line themselves up with Ino Yamanaka's pierced belly button then go right through her annoyingly flat stomach. Ino stops in front of the drinking fountain and bends down to take a sip. "Hate her."
"Ino? She's nice, though" Hinata says. "We were in a group together for lit last semester."
"So not the point," Sakura sighs. Okay, maybe Ino knew being a bitch in college wasn't gonna work, but whatever, Sakura's not buying it. "Don't be fooled, Hina. She was a total bitch to me in high school."
"Oh."
"Whatever." Sakura dismiss her own intrusive thoughts with a flippant wave of her hand. "I'm over it."
"Okay," Hinata concedes. Her mouth quirks up at the corners, not bothering to hide that she doesn't buy it. "You're going to Shikamaru's birthday party tonight, right?"
"I'm not in the mood for that loadie," Sakura whines. "Are you going? Am I gonna see you drink, Hina?"
Hinata gives her a lazy smile, tucking a lock of her hair behind her ear. "Maybe."
"Well." Sakura gives a laugh, her sad and fugly salad bar assembly forgotten. "Consider my interest revived."
"I need to do that paper for Yuhi's class first, though," Hinata says as a caveat. "It's due at nine."
Sakura rolls her eyes. "Then I'll pregame or something while you're at the library, nerd. Just pick me up when you're done."
.
.
Sakura's buzzed, she'll admit. She had two shots of peach Schnaps on the rocks while waiting for Hinata with a Lizzie McGuire reruns on for company. Hinata came home a little before ten and changed her clothes and let Sakura hang onto her arm as they walk from their apartment to Shikamaru's. So she's buzzed, but not enough that she doesn't notice Hinata going straight down the block instead of right at the corner.
"Hey," Sakura points out, her heavy arm raised and pointed some vague way to the right, "Shika's apartment is there."
Hinata startles and fidgets a bit. "Oh, it's not at Shika's tonight."
"Temari's?"
"It's at a sorority house."
"What? No way! So no drunken strip Jenga tonight?"
"It's not like you liked it anyway," Hinata reminds her.
"I don't like stripping, but I like seeing Temari's lingerie," Sakura corrects, "not that Shikamaru would ever let me live if he knew that."
For all her posturing, Hinata only gives her a giggle. "You're gonna have fun, I think. We're going to a sorority house."
Before Sakura could get excited about cute drunk sorority girls, she has to ask, "Which one?"
"Delta Nu."
"Ino is in Delta Nu," Sakura tells her. "Hina, I don't wanna go anymore." It's turning out to be a shitty night. Her buzz is dying down and she's wearing her favourite pair of pink satin pants on top of that. Fuck.
"Come on," Hinata urgers her. "Do it for Shika and Temari. Just ignore her if you see her."
With her pout gone to waste, Sakura yields. "Okay, okay, I'll go. Sorry," she drawls, the guilt and cold driving her to lean her forehead on Hinata's shoulder, breathing in the smell of her roommate's leather jacket.
"At least you're already drunk," Hinata says as way of comfort, her free hand reaching up to pat Sakura on the head. "We're near."
They hear Delta Nu way before they reach the house. Its door is wide open, spilling out into marbled stairs flanked with beds of almost artificial-looking glass, where Sakura follows her nose to find Shikamaru sprawled down on his back with Gaara sitting down next to him, back ramrod-straight and nursing a drink.
"Happy birthday!" Hinata greets Shikamaru with Sakura echoing the same.
"Thanks, girlies," Shikamaru greets with a lazy wave. "Ya made it. You like the level up?"
"How'd you get this gig?" Sakura asks. She'd join him on the grass if not for her pants, so she just squats down to steal the blunt from his acquiescent fingers and takes a hit.
"Temari used to live here, but you know these girls would do anything for a party," Shikamaru tells her with a grin. "No hogging, shorty."
"Try me. I'm taking your doobie with me."
Shikamaru stands up and steals the joint from her, raising it high above his head, where she can't reach.
"Bastard," Sakura huffs out. Laughing, Shikamaru gives the blunt back to her, which Sakura then passes on to Hinata, feeling light in the head when Hinata puts the blunt in her mouth. "Don't tell me you wasted all their hard work by staying out here," Sakura scolds him. "Even if it's your fucking birthday."
"Nah, I had some drinks inside, but Gaara wanted to stay here."
"Aww, still shy?" Sakura coos at Gaara.
"One of the girls told me they love my goth lesbian chic but she's sorry she's straight," Gaara tells her glumly.
Sakura stifles her laugh then says, "Okay, we're gonna go say hi to Temari. We'll be back." Hinata passes the blunt to Gaara, her cheeks twitching.
As they bound up the stairs leading to the house, they could hear Gaara's voice asking Shikamaru, "Do I really look like a lesbian?"
Sororities are decidedly not Sakura's, like, thing. She goes to Greek Week to steal some bottles of Chardonnay for her apartment but never bothered joining one, not because Hinata wouldn't, but because Lee challenging her alcohol tolerance during Freshman Orientation Week felt like enough initiation for a lifetime.
They find themselves taken aback by the sheer amount of space, the volume of girls skirting around the Corinthian (a literal Greek house) columns in their heels with cups of rosé in their hands. Britney's playing in the living room, Avril elsewhere, so they follow her voice to the kitchen for some drinks
Inside the kitchen, a Delta Nu sister is mixing drinks. She drunkenly pushes a finished glass to Sakura's hand, and Sakura feels like she's in love. "This is my special, super-secret mix," she announces. "It has cranberry juice, so you don't get fat. And it matches your hair!"
Sakura shoots Hinata a glance before lifting the glass up to her mouth. It's a ridiculously strong drink, like a shot straight to Sakura's heart that she can't refuse. When the sister leaves, Sakura groans to Hinata, "I can't drink this. Have some."
Hinata obediently takes the drink, making a face after a sip. "You're seriously not gonna finish this, are you?"
"I'm weak for a cute girl, 'course I'm gonna drink it," Sakura insists. She snatches the drink back and takes a bigger gulp, letting it burn her throat on the swallow. "Come on, let's go find them then leave. Naruto texted me; they're doing game night with Lee."
"Is anybody in there?" comes Tenten's voice from outside the kitchen, as if on cue. "Can you get me a glass of water, please?" She materialises inside the kitchen with Temari hanging on to her shoulder, head bent down and half-asleep. "Oh, you made it!"
"What the hell happened?" Sakura asks while Hinata goes to fill a glass with water from the tap. Sakura's the pre-med student, but that's nothing compared to being the mom friend.
"These sorority girls are hella strong," Tenten sniffs. Sakura puts her drink down to help Temari take a seat. Hinata returns with the water, which Tenten places near Temari's mouth. "Bitch, drink some water."
"Do you want me to get Shika?" Sakura offers.
"She'll be fine. We just gotta hang here for a bit," Tenten insists. "Thanks, Hina." True enough, Temari's eyelids flutter and she accepts the water.
Sakura goes back to her drink, which is bearable now that it's been watered down with ice. "Why don't we let her rest at Naruto's?"
"You mean that total loser didn't bother coming?"
"Uhhh—"
"What a bitch! Even Neji dropped by," Tenten grouses.
"Let him," Sakura dismisses. "He would've brought Lee anyway."
"I don't mind Lee," Tenten says with a shrug.
Before Sakura can amend that Lee is the only jock she tolerates, someone aaks, "Is everything okay?"
God, Sakura knows that voice. She takes another large gulp just before Ino appears by the kitchen doorway.
"Rei said T passed out," Ino continues. "Is she okay? You guys can use my room if you need it."
"We're good," Sakura replies tersely. "Thanks."
Ino raises her perfectly groomed eyebrow at her. "Did you have something you wanna say, Forehead?"
"No," Sakura shoots down. She takes the last of her drink into her mouth.
"Did Mimi make that? I'd be careful if I were you," Ino then says.
There's an open bottle of tequila standing pretty on the kitchen island that Sakura reaches for along with the cleanest-looking shot glass that was left on the countertop. As she pours some into the glass, she goes, "What was that, Miss Piggy?"
Ino huffs with a toss of her hair over her shoulder as Sakura knocks the shot back then pours herself another.
"Guys," Temari slurs out, "what the fuck."
"What the hell is going on?" Tenten demands as she rubs circles on Temari's back. Then, in a lower voice meant for only Temari, she urges her, "Come on, drink your water. I'll call Shikamaru."
"I'll call him," Ino offers.
"Oh my god, are you all friends with her?" Sakura demands. She takes the shot and feels her head swim when she teeters closer to Ino, her inner voice shrieking at her to keep going—
.
.
"Sorry about using your room to keep her."
"It's fine. It's not like you guys can go home yet anyway."
"I'm sorry about her, too."
"I'm not surprised."
"So what happened?"
Silence. It's bright, even behind Sakura's closed eyes to the point where she can't open them just yet, but she stirs enough that the girls flock back to her.
Hinata's the first to ask: "Sakura, are you okay?" Sakura groans her response and covers her eyes with her hand.
"I'm glad you're not dead, but we gotta get going," Tenten announces as she takes hold of Sakura's limp arm and proceeds to drag her down from the couch. "Hina, grab her legs."
Before Hinata can do so, Sakura forces her eyes open to narrow them at Tenten. "I can walk," she insists after sitting up.
"Good, 'cause I can't carry both of you," Shikamaru deadpans. On his back is Temari's half-conscious form, her head nestled against his nape. "Come on, shorty. We're going to Naruto's."
"We're going," Hinata tells Ino. "Sorry for the bother."
Ino waves it away with a smile. "You're a guest of Delta Nu. Don't worry about it."
"Thanks for the room."
"I'm gonna puke," Sakura proclaims, which Shikamaru snorts at.
Once out of the house, Tenten whips her head to face Sakura with such ire that Sakura's skin begins to crawl. "You fucking bonehead!"
"Chillax," Sakura insists, wincing from the loudness of Tenten's voice in her ear. "I know, I know, I shouldn't have drunk so much—"
At that, Shikamaru lets out a loud laugh. "Trust me, shorty, we've seen you drunk. That's not the problem here," he tells her.
Hinata faces Sakura as well, her face all scrunched up in concern. "You don't remember what happened?"
"YOU THINK YOU'RE SO FUCKING COOL, INO? I KNOW ALL ABOUT YOUR DIRTY SECRET. YOU CHEW GUM LIKE YOU KNOW HOW TO EAT PUSSY, BITCH!" Tenten shouts as a severely ugly reminder. Sakura winces all over again, the only saving grace being that they're currently walking through a nearly empty block, the noise of the sorority house now dulled and far away. "God, Sakura, could you be any more of a fucking toe-up?"
"I'm sorry, I'm sorry," Sakura rushes to say as hot shame flashes across her face.
"What got into you?" Tenten demands.
"Ino," Hinata mentions. Sakura hangs on to her roommate for dear life, grateful for Hinata's cool fingers. "She was being mean to Sakura in high school."
"Shit," Shikamaru sympathises. "High school kids are tough." Then, he gives Sakura a vapid smile before adding, "No wonder you wanted to out her in front of the entire sisterhood."
"Shut up, I'm bugging," Sakura groans. Hinata wraps an arm around Sakura's shoulders to comfort her. "I wanna die."
Tenten scoffs, but her fire's all pretty much gone. "Whatever. I'm not making you apologise to Ino 'cause that's between you two, but you were just embarrassing to watch."
Sakura rolls her eyes. "Okay, but I'm not the one who gave Neji a lap dance."
Hinata bursts into giggles as Tenten flounders for a comeback.
"Whatever! Everyone knows I was just doing him a favour."
"Where's that dude anyway?" Shikamaru asks.
"He's on exchange," Hinata supplies.
"Aw, I'm gonna miss him."
"You would, Tenten," Shikamaru deadpans.
"Fuck you."
Naruto's apartment is all cramped by the time they get there. Naruto's playing drunk Tekken with Lee, transferring to the floor from the couch so Shikamaru could lay Temari on it before going to the kitchen to get a glass of water for her.
Lee wins that round, so he gives Naruto an ominous-looking glass with a serious, triumphant grin. "How was the party?" he asks as Naruto drinks.
"Our fave butch queen shouted at a poor sorority girl," Tenten pipes up while Sakura scowls at her. "Then Sakura puked on her shoes and passed out."
Sasuke, who's been nursing a drink by the little makeshift bar in silence, asks, "Was it Ino Yamanaka?"
Sakura ignores the sheer embarrassment heating up her face to say, "Yeah. Do you know her?"
"She spent a whole semester trying to ask me out."
"But you're a big homo!"
"Excuse me, the politically correct term is 'heterosexually challenged,'" Tenten butts in, her fingers making quotation marks.
"Sasuke's straight passing," Naruto argues, words all slurred.
"Love is blind and stupid," Shikamaru says, mostly to himself as he stays seated on the floor by Temari with his head resting on the couch. She's finally awake and is threading her fingers through his hair, undoing the high bun he had it in.
"I thought we're talking about Ino," Sasuke deflects coolly. "So what were you shouting at her for?"
"Long story," Sakura grumbles, finally defeated. Sasuke pats the space on the floor next to him for her to take then gets her a drink—shitty beer, of course, and Sakura thinks she misses the Chardonnay and tequila of Delta Nu. Even Naruto and Lee decided to turn the game off to listen. "Thanks, Sasuke. We were best friends in grade school, you know. It was a whole Cher-Tai sitch."
"You were Tai," Naruto butts in.
"Thanks, as if no one could tell," Sakura bites back with a roll of her eyes. She takes a sip of her beer and starts talking again. "So she really did make me over, like not the crop top thing—that was middle school when she grew taller than everyone else and her boobs grew out—but she made me feel all cute and special. Everyone else made me feel like a dweeb, but you know what she told me? Fuck all those people."
Tenten snorts at that. "Little baby Ino said that?"
"Oh my god, give me a break. I'm focusing on the spirit of the moment—"
Hinata giggles at that and gets down on the floor to be with Sakura. "Let her finish," she tells Tenten.
"Yeah, Ten, let me finish," Sakura goads. "So, anyway, back to grade school. Ino and I were like this"—Sakura twines the forefinger and middle finger of her free hand together—"and it was, like, great, you know. It wasn't even like she was pretending to be my friend 'cause she wanted to cheat off of me or whatever. She was just so nice and she cared about me. Like, my boobs never came, but it didn't even matter to her, and you know how shitty everyone can be in middle school, right? In grade school, people called me Billboard-brow but in middle school, I was getting called Billboard-chest."
Naruto can't stop himself from laughing. "Good one."
Sulking into her beer, Sakura gives Naruto a kick to his thigh. "Whatever," she grumbles as she makes a W with her two thumbs and forefingers. "Ino and I were friends till high school started. She made the cheerleading squad—I didn't, okay? Fuck you, Lee, wipe that shit off your face—and everyone was giving her so much attention. She was the first one to get piercings—like, aside from the goths 'cause they weren't cool."
"Let me guess—everyone was giving her shit for being your friend?" Sasuke prompts. "And she had to ditch you?"
"Anyone ever tell you you're zero fun?"
"Sorry, sorry," Sasuke concedes. "Go on."
"Yeah, she fucking ditched me. It sucked, but I got over it. What I really can't stand was that she just let everyone in school talk about how I was this big fucking lesbian who had a crush on her and she was just being nice to me. Then I guess some bitches in the squad didn't wanna believe that, so they made her ask me out to prom. I got a dress and got all excited—so I get there and I'm literally bugging. I see her there with her real date, some guy who I swear to god is gay—"
"So if you knew that it was gonna be this whole freakshow, why did you say yes?" Shikamaru asks.
"'Cause—" Sakura's face is burning, and she takes great pains to hide it behind her can of beer.
"You had a big fucking crush on her, which she found out when you said yes," Shikamaru finishes for her.
"Babe," Temari warns him.
"So what if I did?" Sakura splutters out. "She was nice to me and she was hot…"
"What she did wasn't nice," Hinata tells her with a shake of her head.
Sakura sighs. "Yeah, Hina. I'm so mad, I can't stand it, and I hate that I have to see her so much around this stupid campus."
"Do you still like her?" Lee asks.
"What do you think I am, an emotional whore?" Sakura retorts. The cold silence would make her laugh if she didn't feel like sulkiing. "Fine. Just so you know, I hate all you losers."
"Cheers to that!" Naruto proposes as he and Sakura are the only one left drinking. They bump drinks. Sakura chugs hers then wipes her mouth after. Not wanting to be outdone, Naruto downs his quickly, too, despite it being hard enough to make a face at.
"Thanks for listening, guys," Sakura says.
"You know what, the whole story makes what you did earlier so much funnier," Tenten tells her with a shit-eating grin. "God, imagine if her sisters found out she could eat pussy."
"I just made her life better, didn't I?" Sakura groans as she buries her face in her hands.
"Nah, you didn't see her face or anything."
"She looked bothered," Hinata pipes up. "I mean, before you puked on her shoes."
"She let us use her room, too," Tenten muses. "She probs feels guilty about all that."
"I should apologise…" Sakura mutters.
"Tonight? It's four am," Lee points out. "Speaking of, I'm goin' to McDonald's. What's everyone's getting?"
.
xxx
.
Atonement comes easy, apparently. Ino approaches her after organic chemistry class with a shy tuck of a stray lock of hair behind her ear and a smile. "Hey, Sakura," she says.
Sakura's left staring, apology flying out of her mind.
"Sorry, I know this seems like a total mess, but do you wanna… study together for the exam next week?"
"Excuse me?"
"Yeah, uhm…" Ino's biting her lip now, chewing on it, because she's suspecting she decided wrongly. "My Delta Nu sisters just don't really, you know…"
"Study?" Sakura deadpans. It's so nice to hear Ino laugh, fuck.
"Totes. What do you say, Forehead?"
"I—" They have to file out of the classroom, Sakura paying painful attention to Ino's sparkly binder of notes that she hugs close to her chest. "You're not mad? About… that? Which I'm really sorry for, by the way," Sakura rushes to say.
"Chill out," Ino tells her, her laugh making room for a slight wince to appear. "I'll forget about it if you do."
"But…" Now it's Sakura's turn to bite her lip, her eyes gravitating towards the gloss highlighting Ino's cupid's bow. Like, it's so dumb to just forget about it, let alone that Sakura's apologising in the first place for something that's ultimately Ino's fault. "What's up, Ino? Why are you asking me this?"
At that, the whole thing of Ino trying to be blasé just crumbles. "I didn't wanna say this, but I'm kinda failing. And… you know, if I fail this, I'll get set back a whole year," she admits.
"It's not too late," Sakura offers, then leaves it to hang in the air.
"Easy for you to say. You're, like, smart, and Miss Shizune loves you," Ino scoffs. "I need to get insanely high grades for the rest of the exams to pass, and she said it's only gonna get harder from here." Her bottom lip juts out into a pout, and Sakura feels her conscience twinge a bit.
"You just need to rework the way you think about the concepts," Sakura then says. Ino's face brightens up at that.
"So you'll help me?"
If Sakura's as smart as Ino thinks she is, then she knows when she's been defeated. She digs into her bag for her wallet then takes out her schedule, which she had drawn on a little piece of paper. "Here's my schedule. Otherwise I'm probably at work or something, so just text me," she says.
"And your number…?" Ino prompts.
Sakura waits for Ino to get her phone then recites her number in segments of three.
"Got it!" Ino declares in sing-song. "You're a lifesaver, Forehead. Seriously. I owe you so much."
"Get me into medical school, then," Sakura mutters.
Ino shoots her a grin, as if to say you got it.
.
.
"You whore," Temari calls Sakura out as way of greeting with her usual iced skinny latte in one hand and her books on the other. "You're really helping Ino?"
"She said she was failing," Sakura say without looking up from her botany textbook.
"Usually if someone ruined your high school life then asked for help, the response would be 'go fuck yourself,'" Temari reminds her.
"Naruto said it was a good idea."
"Yeah, 'cause Naruto's gullible and nice and everyone loves him."
"Thanks," Sakura huffs. "Come on, Temari, I can't really let her fail. We're friends."
Temari looks way unconvinced and she shakes her head at Sakura. "Come on, Sakura, she didn't even apologise for that high school shitfest; you just said yes because you still like her!"
Sakura has to roll her eyes and go, "I really appreciated being psychoanalysed."
"Perks of being friends with a psych major," Temari quips. "Look, S, I just wanna look out for you. Ino's my friend, but so are you."
"I'll be fine. I have a feeling it's bound to come up, sooner or later."
"Pray it's sooner."
As if on cue, Sakura gets a text from an unknown number that she just knows is Ino's. "Speak of the devil, do you mind if she crashes?" she tells Temari.
Temari shrugs. "Why not? We're cool."
"Cool." Sakura texts Ino back to tell her where she is then goes back to studying. Ino swings by half an hour later, putting down her iced americano on the table first then following with her binder, the purple glitter bouncing light off of its surfaces.
"Hey, T, did you get home okay?" Ino asks.
"Yeah, Shika stayed with me."
"He's so sweet. I'm glad you guys are dating."
Temari has to give a little playful snort at that, saying, "Yeah, he's the best. Thanks for hooking us up."
Eyes flitting between the two of them, Sakura feels like she's losing her mind and she's just waiting for when the confusion will all come to a head in a moment of clarity. "So, Ino, do you wanna get started or…?"
"Oh, right!" Ino chirps. She opens her notes and shows the day's lecture to Sakura. They were getting started on the reactions of alkenes and alkynes, understanding how reaction mechanisms worked. Ino has good, neat handwriting, carefully labelled diagrams and little notes bulleted with hearts and all. Cute.
"You might wanna start colour-coding your mechanisms," Sakura suggests. "It'd help you keep track of the electron flow."
Ino hums a bit as she goes over her notes. "You're right. That's a good idea."
"Your notes look okay, so what went wrong in the exams?"
"I'm a total bonehead," Ino groans, her pout coming back. "I look at the paper and just blank out, then I think that maybe I don't really understand what's going on."
Sakura nods, eyes trained to Ino's notes. "You know what I do? I learn everything by grouping all the similar ones together, like I'd start with all the ones that follow Markovnikov addition first—Do you have some paper?" After getting the sheet, Sakura begins to write out a summary of reactions for her.
After a while, Temari stands up and starts gathering her things. "Hey, I gotta do laundry before Tenten kicks my ass. Have fun with… whatever that is," she announces.
"Oh, we're having another party this Saturday!" Ino tells her. "Coming, T?"
"See, you guys should've made me stay," Temari teases.
"For the record, I had no say in the matter."
"No, you didn't, and I'd rather not live at the house anyway." With her bag slung over her shoulder and her books held to her chest, Temari waves her fingers at them. "I'm Audi."
"See you Friday!" Ino says.
"See ya," Sakura greets as well. When Temari's left, she returns her attention to Ino and jokes, "Small world."
"Shika's a family friend," Ino explains. "And Temari was my big sister at Delta Nu."
"You never mentioned him," Sakura points out, hating how bad it sounds to her own ears, like hurt and plain ugly that reeks.
"I guess I haven't," Ino sighs. "I knew him since we were kids, but we only got close in high school. He's cool."
"Yeah," Sakura sighs as well. Then, she clears her throat. "Do you wanna try some problems from the book?"
Ino agrees, so they try answering on their own. When she gets stuck, she ends up tapping the edge of her pen on her cheek. The pen's one of those purple ones with a purple ball of fur on top, the ink black. It's distracting. But also, Sakura's done. She takes a sip of her coffee while she waits for Ino's brows to unfurl.
"Maybe we should do something easier?" Sakura offers.
"No!" protests Ino with a loud voice. "I can do it."
"Halogens are added anti," Sakura supplies when she takes a peek at Ino's half-answer.
"I know," Ino hisses. "Just give me a minute, Forehead. Geez. You're asking me to predict, like, seven different products."
"It's straightforward," Sakura argues. "The benzene ring is unreactive, so you just gotta focus on the alkene chain."
"Thanks, I got it," Ino snaps. "Don't be so patronising."
Somewhere in the depths of Sakura's ungodly mind, she can feel her hackles rise. "I'm not," she decidedly points out.
Ino scribbles her answers furiously into her notebook then shoves the thing in Sakura's face. It's all right when Sakura checks it out. "Look," Ino begins to say, "I can get all the predicting stuff or whatever, but I can't replicate the mechanism."
Sakura schools herself into calmness and says, "Let's try doing hydration. There are two reactions, so you can see the stereochemistry of both."
Butterfly clips hold back one side of Ino's hair, the other side cascading past her face to cover it almost, but Ino gets another pair of clips from her bag and pins that side of her hair back as well. "Hit me, Forehead."
"Got it, Piggy."
.
xxx
.
The next time they study, it's over at the Delta Nu house. Sakura finds herself once again taken aback by all the girls lounging around in the house's living room, doing yoga on mats in front of the TV or working on their makeup on the couch. A girl offers her a smoothie, which means Sakura's already in love, and brings her to Ino's room with a sly wiggle of her fingers.
"Got a headstart, Piggy?" Sakura teases upon seeing Ino on her study desk, her long blonde hair tied back into a high ponytail and her bangs clipped back.
"Ha-ha, Forehead. I was working on a lab report." Ino closes her laptop and swivels her chair around to face Sakura, her legs crossed on the seat. "You can take the bed," she tells Sakura.
"Sure?"
Ino rolls her eyes and says, "Just don't spill that," with her finger pointed at the green smoothie in Sakura's hand. Her nails used to be French-manicured and long, before lab regulations told her to take it off. Now Ino keeps her nails short, albeit filed and cleaned.
You know, like lesbian nails.
The smoothie has an unmistakably green flavour with an undertone of banana, nice enough that Sakura takes another sip before placing it on the bedside table. Ino's bedsheets are a pristine white, covered with a fluffy purple duvet, and Sakura sinks in with a dreamy sigh: "How do you get anything done here?"
"I don't," Ino answers simply. "Can you go over the nitration of toluene example again?"
.
xxx
.
"Ninety-two!" Ino flaunts to Sakura in singsong. "Bet you weren't expecting that, Forehead."
"After all my hard work?" Sakura teases back.
"Are you free tonight?" Ino then asks. "I wanna celebrate." Sakura stares at her as if to remind her that it's only Monday. "Aw, come on, Forehead. It'll be my treat. Consider it as thanks."
"I'm genuinely happy for you," Sakura begins, "and I can't say no to free food."
"How's seven? At Ichiraku?" Ino suggests.
.
.
"Ino would treat you to the most expensive restaurant in town," Temari remarks drily.
"Shut up and help me find something to wear," Sakura grumbles. "Hina, don't you have anything, like, decent?"
"I'm not sure they're your type," Hinata ventures.
"You mean the church dresses?" Tenten scoffs. "Temari's got something, right?"
"Oh, yeah, you were a Delta Nu," Sakura agrees then puts her palm out in front of Temari. "Cough up the clothes, bitch."
Temari raises her brow at them and asks, "What does being a Delta Nu have to do with my clothes? For the record, I got in because I'm legacy."
"And you left because you wanted to go to Blondie cover band gigs in peace, right?"
"Sororities take up so much of your fucking time," Temari grouses. "All the fucking socials and the charity shit—and after I met Shika I didn't wanna do anything with the partner frat."
"And Shika goes with you to gigs," Tenten supplies.
"Right? Plus, I wouldn't have met you guys, so I know I made the right decision."
"Are you guys gonna help me or what?" Sakura demands.
"Femme Eye tip number one is to always have an LBD," Tenten declares. "Two if you're a slut."
"They're just easier to put on," Hinata offers as advice. "And you don't have to think about it."
In the recesses of Sakura's closet, there is such a thing, which she digs through piles of only-worn-once school shirts to retrieve. She holds the little black dress up with pride. "See?"
"Look at you, you clean up nice," Ino teases when Sakura finds their table at Ichiraku. The dress Sakura dug out of her closet is too dusty to wear, so she settles on a pair of white pants she borrowed from Hinata and a white tube top she found nestled in her underwear drawer. In contrast, Ino's wearing a strappy dress in dark purple, so thank goodness they aren't matching.
"Can't look out of place," Sakura quips. Ino pours some sake into a little glass for herself then for Sakura.
"I ordered ahead, I hope that's okay."
"I wouldn't know what to order anyway," Sakura points out.
Ino just keeps smiling at her then holds out her little glass. "Cheers." The sake tastes a little like if rubbing alcohol had sugar poured into it, meant to be sipped alongside bites of food.
By the time they step out into the cool night air, Ino's tipsy and hanging on to Sakura's arm, her perfume clouding Sakura's head. Sakura feels like she's floating, unable to make sense of her feet on the ground, so she makes a beeline for the nearest bench and sits down on it, Ino falling inelegantly into a heap beside her.
"Fuck, I have lab tomorrow morning," Ino complains with a laugh.
"Don't go," Sakura suggests.
"I'm going!" Ino squeals. As they fall into silence, she turns to face Sakura and rests her cheek on her fist. "Hey, Forehead, thanks for tutoring me. You didn't have to, you know."
"You were gonna fail—"
"Yeah, but, like, I was terrible to you—When did you make your hair pink?"
Whatever Sakura wants to say escapes her when Ino touches her hair, raising locks of it to reveal her dark roots.
"You're so pretty, god," Ino groans then. "I'm so sorry I ditched you. And Sai turned out to be a total fruitcake. I'm a total bonehead."
"Sai did The Picture of Dorian Gray for the voluntary book report," Sakura reminds her.
"And none of the bitches in the cheerleading squad picked that up," Ino grumbles. "Can you ever forgive me?"
Sakura is weak for pretty girls, so weak. And Ino, with her cheeks pink from sake, caught even under a streetlight, is just so—she's the prettiest girl Sakura knows. But drunk feelings aside, Ino's hand caressing her hair aside, "You hurt me," Sakura says—blurts out—finally. "And, you know, it's not like, 'Guess I should find my own crowd, then.' You were my best friend. And you left me."
Ino's brows furrow together at all that, trying to piece everything together before slurring out, "Why didn't you come with me, Sakura? I was waiting for you."
"Your friends didn't like me."
"So?" Ino scoffs. "I like you. Fuck all those bitches."
"Nooooooo," Sakura butts in. Ino lets her hand fall to rest on the side of Sakura's neck, her skin warm, almost hot, distracting, making Sakura forgetful—forgiving. "You wouldn't leave the squad for me. Be honest."
That makes Ino bite her lip. Sakura's eyelids are heavy and barely keeping themselves open, and she finds it hard to breathe. She raises her hand to match Ino's and peels off her stubborn fingers so they fall to her lap and lay there, curled.
Ino lets out a yawn and folds her arms under her head on the bench. "You're right," she admits quietly then closes her eyes.
Sakura doesn't know what to make of that, really. "Come on, Piggy, let's go home before we fall asleep here," she says instead with a shake of Ino's bare shoulder to keep her from falling asleep. It goes unnoticed, judging from the way Ino's lashes flutter against her cheeks. "Fuck, Piggy." She tries to carry Ino on her back but doesn't get far with her own arms feeling like jelly, so she flips her phone open and calls Naruto.
"Sakura?" comes Naruto's voice.
"I know it's late, but can you come pick me up?" Sakura sighs. "Ino got drunk and fell asleep and I can't carry her."
"No, no, it's not late at all," Naruto rushes to say. The crumpling noise she could hear through the speaker is probably from him putting on his signature orange windbreaker. "Where are you guys?"
"On a bench near Ichiraku."
"Stay right there," Naruto instructs. "I'll be there soon."
Thankful for the streetlights, Sakura can only sit back and wait for him to come. She brushes Ino's hair back, tucking the long bangs covering half her face behind her ear to reveal a simple pair of studs on her lobes and a pair of hoops lined up along her ear cartilage, and wishes things were different—and that she was smart enough to bring a jacket for the cold November night.
"Sakura!" Naruto shouts as he jogs up to her, lazy grin on his face and hands in his pockets. "You okay?"
"Yeah," Sakura says. "Sasuke's not home yet?"
"Uh… I wasn't at home," Naruto says slowly. He brings his hand up to the back of his neck, smile turning sheepish. "I was with Gaara."
"Is he okay?"
"Yeah, he's fine. We, uh, we were just hanging out." As he talks, Naruto shrugs off his windbreaker and places it around Ino's shoulders, the orange contrasting with the purple dress like a hideous exercise video from the eighties, which would kill Ino if she were awake to see this. He picks her up bridal style, and she slumps into Naruto's arms with grace. Naruto lets out a laugh as he asks Sakura, "What did you guys even drink?"
"Just sake," Sakura answers. "It's been a long fucking day, Naruto, and I just wanna sleep, so thanks for picking me up." She shoots out her hand to use Naruto's shoulder to keep her steady till she can walk on her own.
"What kind of friend would I be if I left you alone?"
Sakura just smiles at that as she twirls a lock of her hair around her finger. "My place," she then says. Hinata can lend Ino some of her clothes for tomorrow morning, she's sure.
"Right on." Naruto shifts his arms to carry Ino more smoothly then asks, "So how was dinner? You guys okay now?"
"I… really don't know," Sakura ends up sighing. "We had a talk before she fell asleep."
"Ooh, like a talk talk?" Naruto teases.
"I'm kicking your ass back to Gaara's bed," Sakura grouses, "but yeah, it was a talk talk that didn't get resolved." It saddens her to keep thinking about it, about how she still doesn't know what to say, about her relief that Ino's currently asleep.
Naruto nods like he gets it. "It's a talk you should have sober," he offers.
"Yeah. I think if we do, it'd get somewhere productive," Sakura muses out loud before yawning. From where they are, it's another fifteen minutes before they get to her and Hina's apartment. Sakura can feel her head clearing with the cool night air and is suddenly grateful for the long walk. "So was I right? Are you sleeping with Gaara?"
The question startles Naruto, and he almost drops Ino out of sheer fluster. "He kissed me," he says slowly.
"Gaara?"
"Yeah. Just tonight. We're working on a project together, so I came over. Things just kinda happened after that."
Sakura winces. "Sorry," she apologises.
"Come on, don't be."
"Sorry for Gaara," she corrects before sticking her tongue out at him. "He's been waiting for this since, like, forever, and you're a bonehead who doesn't know how to read the signs." Before he can argue, she continues, "I get it, you have a Sasuke thing."
Naruto pouts as soon as he hears that. "Is it obvious?"
"You nincompoop. You're lucky Sasuke's emotionally clueless."
"Am I, though?"
Sakura's doing quite an amount of sighing for the night, urging him to think: "Use what's in your pretty head for once, please."
"I don't know what to do," Naruto admits. "I don't wanna discount Gaara."
"Then don't," Sakura says simply. "But don't, like, pity him, you know."
"I know. I don't wanna hurt his feelings or anything." Naruto tilts his head back and groans loudly into the night. "Now I'm gonna have to have a talk talk with Gaara, fuck."
"You'll be fine," she reassures him with a squeeze to his arm.
"I'll get the project out of the way first. Just in case."
It's so honest, what Naruto just said, even if he didn't plan on being honest when he said it. They round the corner to the street where Sakura's apartment is, Naruto pausing to shift Ino's weight over his arms.
"You okay?" she has to ask.
"Yup! She's really light, don't worry about it."
Sakura frowns at Ino's sleeping form. "You know, I asked her if she would've ditched her friends for me and she said she wouldn't have," she tells him. "I mean, I knew it, but I'm sooooo bothered—like, I feel like I'm not enough." Granted, there hasn't been time for Ino to explain herself, but Sakura's scared of what Ino will say. The thought of it blossoms into worst-case speculations.
"Does she know you liked her?"
"At this point, I don't know if I should bother with telling her." She just shrugs. "I'll tell her when I feel like it, I guess."
They get to the apartment and Hinata's still blissfully awake watching something on TV with the volume turned down incredibly low. She helps Naruto bring her to Sakura's bed while Sakura grabs the largest sweatshirt from her closet (a university tragedy of forest green replete with dark yellow lettering), her hands shaking as she undos the zipper at the back of Ino's dress.
"Sorry, Piggy," Sakura says under her breath as she shimmies Ino out of her dress, her shoes. She struggles putting the sweatshirt on her, her face heating up a fair amount as she tries to avoid touching Ino's bare skin. Once it's on, she lays her down on the bed and takes off her makeup with some wipes.
"I got it," Hinata says when she comes back into the room with a glass full of water and places it on the bedside table. "Naruto already left, by the way."
"Thanks, Hina," Sakura says with a glance at Ino. "Is this what you feel like when I black out?"
Hinata laughs with her hand in front of her mouth. "Kinda. I'm used to it, though."
"My hero," Sakura teases. She wraps her arms around Hinata and kisses her on the cheek, letting the hug draw out.
"Do you wanna use my bed?" Hinata offers.
"Why not? It's big enough for both of us anyway."
By morning, there's a Post-It note stuck to Sakura's door, reading:
Hey Forehead!
Thanks for taking care of me. That was pretty embarrassing, but I'll make it up to you! xoxo Ino
.
xxx
.
Akimichi's is a family-run place, a little cheesy from all the banners of UNIVERSITY OF KONOHAGAKURE CLASS OF '79 lining the light wood walls with green. There are graduation pictures of the family as well, taking up space near the door that leads to the kitchen. Choji, when he first brought everyone to the restaurant, pointed out the spot where his future graduation picture will be. Since then, it's become the regular place for them to hang out as a group.
By the time Sakura and Hinata get there, everyone's already seated, listening to Sasuke bitch about somebody in his contemporary visual art class.
"It's that guy who thinks modern and contemporary art are in the same time period, what the fuck is he even doing in this class—"
"Sakura! Hina!" Tenten interrupts, making Choji let out a hearty laugh.
"Sorry we're late," Hinata apologises.
"Give it up, Sasuke!" Kiba barks out. "Quit holdin' up the talk!"
"Was is that Kabuto guy again?" Sakura says as she and Hinata take their seats, Temari pouring wine into their glasses. "God, Sasuke, stop giving him attention. It's what that loser wants."
Sasuke scowls into his beer. "You're right. Besides, he's been here forever."
"So what's the news you made us all come here for?" Gaara prompts with his head turned towards Lee. "Now that Sakura and Hinata are here."
"Oh, right!" Lee stands up and, with a clear of his throat, declares, "I'm going on exchange next semester!"
"You never mentioned you were applying, you bitch!" Tenten protests. "Where are you going?"
"Sunagakure," Lee answers with a grin.
Kankuro ends up laughing and he pats Lee on the back when he sits down again. He quips, "I guess if anyone's going to Suna, it'd be you, Lee."
"Pack warm clothes for nighttime," Gaara advises.
"Congrats," Sasuke says.
"Congratulations, Lee!" Naruto says. "So is this round on you?"
"I already ordered," Choji announces with a wide grin. "Lee's treat."
"Fine, fine," Lee concedes without his grin leaving his face.
After a toast, the food comes in and Sakura holds her plate out for a slice of pizza. She barely gets to put it in her mouth when she hears Shikamaru call out, "Ino!"
Sakura puts the chicken down and mouths fuck to herself. She shoots a glare at Temari, who's busying herself with a buffalo wing.
Ino approaches her, places her hands on Sakura's shoulders. "Hey, sorry for intruding," she says, and Sakura tilts her head up a bit to see a shy smile on Ino's face. "Just wanted to give something back to Sakura."
"How'd you know I was here?" Sakura asks.
"I texted Shika," Ino answered simply. "Hope you don't mind." From her bag, she brings out Sakura's sweatshirt, all folded out, and she hands it to her. It's soft between Sakura's fingers, smells clean, smells like… fabric conditioner? Ino's perfume? Sakura doesn't bring it quite up to her nose, but she can smell it from her lap as she smoothes it out with her hands.
"Do you wanna join us?" Lee asks. "We still have room."
"I gotta get back to the house," Ino answers, but she steals a fry from Temari's plate. "Thanks, though. And thanks a lot, Sakura."
"It was no problem," is all Sakura manages to say before Ino leaves. Everyone's gazes descend on her, making her shiver a bit. "Guys, quit it. My skin's crawling. And—what the hell, Shika?"
"I don't know anything," Shikamaru divulges with both his hands up in the air.
"Did you sleep with her?" Temari asks Sakura.
"No! She passed out and my place was nearer than hers. Naruto, back me up."
"Is that why you came home late?" Sasuke asks.
Naruto's pink up to his ears, raising his beer to his mouth to cover his face. "Uh huh," he says before taking a sip. Gaara keeps his gaze locked to his plate.
"How did this even happen? You were like, 'God, fuck this bitch' dramatic about her," Tenten points out.
Sakura swirls her (frankly shitty) wine around in her glass. "We're studying organic chemistry together," she says. "So we're friends now, I guess. Hey, Choji, why don't you get us a fucking salad next time?"
The embarrassment gives way to laughter when Choji announces that all he got is a cake for Lee and if Sakura wants a salad, there's the celery next to the wings.
.
xxx
.
After Ino's ninety-two, Sakura doesn't expect to have to keep studying with her, but as soon as Shizune announces the upcoming exam for next week, Sakura gets a text saying, Jamba Juice at 4! 3, and all she does is text back, C u, with her phone kept well under her desk. She looks up and sees Ino shrugging her denim jacket closer to her body because of how cold the lecture room is, her other hand writing down the reaction mechanism on the whiteboard.
Ino must've forgotten the whole thing. Sadness washes over Sakura again, her mind going to where she'd have to remind Ino of what happened and maybe even tell her—
"Miss Haruno?" Shizune prompts. "Aside from alkyl halides, what other compounds can Grignard reagents be formed from?"
"Uhm… Alkenyl… and vinyl halides," Sakura answers. Shizune nods then goes back to her lecture, calling upon someone else.
.
.
At Jamba Juice, Sakura finds Ino with no notes on the table, leaned back into her seat with her drink. Something's unsettling about the way she doesn't move to get her stuff out of her bag when she sees Sakura enter the store. It makes the butterflies in Sakura's stomach flutter wildly.
"Hey," Sakura says when she gets to Ino's table without buying a drink. "You ready?"
Ino puts her drink down first, her bottom lip caught between her teeth. "Can I ask you something first, Forehead?" At Sakura's go signal, Ino asks, "Did anything happen…? Like, after we left Ichiraku."
"No," Sakura answers, maybe too fast that it's suspicious, so she adds, "We talked for a while… You fell asleep."
"Oh, okay!" Ino tells her brightly as she brushes her hair over her shoulder.
"Why would you think something happened?" Sakura ventures to ask.
"Just—It's nothing, Forehead."
Sakura raises her brow at her. "I think we need to talk," she says slowly.
"Fine." Ino leans on the table, placing her arms on the surface. This close, Sakura's eyes gravitate to Ino's and the pretty light blue-green shade of them, her lashes outlined with mascara.
Sakura's words fly out the window. She has to remind herself by going, "We talked about high school." Ino nods, her eyes fluttering closed then opening again. Sakura continues, "You said you wanted to keep being my friend, but you couldn't leave the squad if you had to."
"About that…" Ino starts. She chews on her lip again, the lipstick gone to show it swollen and dark pink. "It's not that I wanted to pick them over you—"
"But you did. And you let them do all this stupid shit, like the prom prank."
"I'm really sorry," Ino tells her again. Her gaze drops down to the table and she ghosts her hand over the back of Sakura's until she gathers her courage to bring it down. "I can't even imagine what you're feeling."
"Yeah, 'cause it's not like you knew I liked you," Sakura deadpans, voice kept low because it's a Jamba Juice, after all. To her credit, she doesn't snatch her hand back from under Ino, but it's Ino who takes hers back like it's been burned.
"Are—Are you serious?" Ino's eyes widen, her cheeks take on colour, and she says, "Oh my god, I'm so stupid, Sakura. I should've known."
Sakura crosses her arms over herself and leans back into her seat. "You didn't know? Everyone was giving me shit for it, remember?"
Ino huffs at that. "Sorry, I was too distracted by fruitcake."
"They seem to be your type," Sakura says, thinking of Sasuke.
"I know, right? Ugh. Anyway, who even pays attention to stuff like that?" she complains with a wry twist of her mouth. "So when did you…?"
"I don't know… Middle school?"
"Our first sleepover," Ino sighs wistfully. They stayed up all night reading through copies of Cosmopolitan Ino stole from her parents' room, giggling at sex tips, Sakura fawning over the covers while Ino slept, who was tired from staying up past her strict sleeping schedule. "That was a good time."
"It was," Sakura agrees.
"Why didn't you tell me? It's been so long, too, Sakura."
"I—I couldn't say anything. I didn't know how you were gonna take it." Sakura really wishes they weren't in a Jamba Juice. She should've at least bought something. "And I was so, like, mad at you, I just forgot about it."
"And now?"
"What?"
"Do you still like me, Sakura?"
"Don't flatter yourself, Piggy," Sakura scoffs. "I don't do straight girls."
Ino hums. "You think I eat pussy, though," she reminds her, making Sakura groan. "Wishful thinking, Forehead?"
Under the table, Sakura can feel something nudge at her calf. It feels like Ino's strappy sandal, and Sakura feels a smile coming on when she meets Ino's smile. "You're gonna prove me right, Piggy?" Sakura teases.
Ino pretends to think about it. "I'll think about it," she hints. "Anyway, wanna get outta here?"
Sakura orders a Banana Berry while Ino waits for her outside, the entire length of her hair swept over to one shoulder. It could be fake, Sakura's inner voice is telling her, and it'll be like high school all over again. She has friends, at least, and things will be okay, but does she have to go along with Ino?
When she comes out of the store, Ino hooks her arm around Sakura's. It's almost laughable, walking with their arms linked and sipping drinks like they're kids again.
"I couldn't say it in there," Ino begins with a shy laugh, "but you know, I was hoping we did do something."
"While you were asleep?"
Ino laughs and rests her head on Sakura's shoulder. "Before that. Is it too late?"
All Sakura can do at that is laugh with her nerves all on fire. She wants to tell her inner voice to go fuck herself. "I still like you," she confesses. "I don't know what to do."
They reach an intersection and slow to a stop. Ino removes herself from Sakura then threads her fingers through Sakura's hair, like she did the other night, twirling a lock of it around her well-poised finger. Sakura leans in to meet her lips, giving her a small kiss that's over as soon as it started.
Something inside her bubbles. Ino smiles at her and kisses her again before the pedestrian signal turns green.
.
xxx
.
"Are you sure you wanna come to Sasuke's open mic night?"
"We have to fulfill our philanthropy hours every sem," Ino answers through the phone.
"God, you can be such a bitch," Sakura tells her with a laugh. "Sasuke's pretty good."
"Shika doesn't think so."
"He doesn't even get invited," Sakura argues. "Trust me, babe, he's good."
"Fine. I'll be the judge of that," Ino concedes. "Pick me up at nine?"
"You act like I have a car."
"Sue me. I wanted to date someone who had a limo—Are you rolling your eyes?"
"No," Sakura lies. "I'll pick you up at nine. Bye, babe. I love you."
"I love you, too."
Hinata's still giggling after Sakura puts the phone down and gets back to her notes.
"What, Hina?" Sakura prompts with a nudge to Hinata's side.
"Nothing," Hinata says then clears her throat. "How's your paper for Hatake's class?"
"Shit," Sakura curses. "Is that due today?"
"Yeah, at midnight. At his pigeonhole outside the department."
"What a dick. It's Friday," Sakura grumbles. She brings up her notes for philosophy of logic class and cracks it open. It's currently four in the afternoon. The sun's setting while Sakura does some mental math: if she has to pick Ino up by nine but takes around ninety minutes to get ready… "Oh my god, I only have three hours to do this."
"I'm almost done," Hinata tells her. "I can help you out."
"So much for pregaming," Sakura laments. "I got it, Hina. Thanks, though." On top of that, Hatake has a knack for figuring out who copies their work from someone and drops them from the class without mercy.
Hinata shrugs at that then goes back to her own (handwritten, fuck Hatake) essay. After five, study room C of the library settles down into quiet when people finally leave for the bars across campus.
"Fuck, I'm finally done!" Sakura announces. She stretches her arms high above her head. "Come on, I gotta get ready soon!"
.
.
"Ready?" Sakura teases Ino once they've paid the cover to get into Q. She kisses Ino on the cheek and says, "I'll go get us drinks."
"Cosmo," Ino reminds her once she's taken her seat, her hand on the small of Sakura's back.
Shikamaru goes with Sakura. "You happy now?" he asks before he lights up the cigarette in his mouth.
"You know it."
"Good, 'cause I'm practically honour-bound to kick your ass if you break her heart," he tells her, "which I don't want to have to do."
"You're here right now, aren't you?" she points out.
"True. I'm drinking with Shino later till I pass out and forget tonight."
Back with drinks in both hands, they find more tables pushed together to fit everyone in, but they move down so Sakura can resume her place beside Ino, who plucks her drink from Sakura with a kiss to her mouth.
"Having fun?" Sakura asks.
"This beats a social with Sigma Chi," Ino answers with a laugh. She kisses her again, lets her tongue slip into Sakura's mouth, her hands cupping Sakura's face. Sakura's hand goes down to Ino's knee and inches up, grazing over her hip and staying there. They pull away to breathe, lips ghosting over each other's. Then, Tenten's voice rises above the din of the smoky bar:
"You know what? I low-key wish you guys were still fighting."