Record Sixx
written by A. E. Stover
this version was last edited March 13th, 2013 by yours truly
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Written as a companion fanfic to How to Get a Boyfriend, currently unpublished, and inspired by the lively character dynamic found in sincerely but never yours, written by Alive in Wonderland (dictionary ink, xfucktheglasses, and Pandastacia).
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RECORD SIXX
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For the summer — three days a week, seven hours a day — Sakura worked at Record Sixx, a music store at Konoha Central, a mall an hour from her home by bus and just twenty minutes away by car.
Guess how Sakura got to work everyday.
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"An hour by bus? I'd die."
Sakura giggled at the melodrama in Karin's voice. The older girl was sitting cross-legged on the shop counter, an elbow digging into her thigh as she propped her face up with a hand. Karin had piled her hair up high on her head, secured with a metal clip, and was using the shop's invoice packet to fan herself. It was hot in Record Sixx, hotter outside where the heat felt deadly enough to melt asphalt. Karin was wearing a neon yellow tank and white denim shorts, effectively flipping the bird at the store's employee dress code.
Sakura did the same, albeit in a more respectful, conservative fashion. She wore the employee's store shirt, a red tee made of some scratchy fabric, and swapped the policy's long black pants in favor of a knee-length black skirt. She, too, had tied her hair, sweeping back her bangs and using a white headband to keep them out of her face.
"Are the busses at least air-conditioned?" asked Karin.
"Sometimes. Well... It's mostly luck, I guess. But it's really not that bad."
Karin measured the pros and cons with a thoughtful noise. "Ride's free, since the manager provides bus passes if you take 'em. And I guess you can use the bus as an excuse if you're late."
"You would," Sakura snorted.
Karin pursed her lips forward, thinking further. "But you're stuck in a bus with sweaty people, air-conditioning isn't guaranteed, and it's an hour's ride." She made a face. "Fuck that," she said, making her decision. "I'd fucking die; fried to death, or maybe crushed by sweaty asses and pits."
Sakura wrinkled her nose. "Ew," was all she said, shaking her head.
"Plus, knowing my luck, I'd be standing all the way." Karin leaned back with her palms on the counter, tilting her head. "A whole hour of standing with sweaty meatsacks, breathing in body odor." Karin scoffed and hung her head back with a baleful twist of her lips. "Sounds like fun."
"Actually, if you took the bus, it'd only be a twenty-minute trip."
Karin gave a barking laugh, tossing the invoice onto the counter. She slid her glasses off her face and placed it on top. "It only takes three minutes without air to die." She raised a hand to yank her metal hair clip free. Her hair unraveled in a mess to her waist, and Karin whipped her neck back and shook her hair. "I die in the storage room every day," she said, doing her hair up again a third time that day. "Place is fucking stuffy as hell; feels like I'm tryna snort up cotton balls or something."
Sakura watched Karin twist her hair into a tight bun, watched her pull out an elastic band out from a drawer next to the register and secure her hair in place once more. Karin snapped the metal hair clip decoratively a little below the crown of her head. She hunched over again, slapping a palm to her cheek and propping her head up against her thigh, leaving her glasses on the counter.
"Do you sit or stand?"
"Sit," Sakura answered, feeling a bit of glee as she explained. "I get on at the first stop, so I always have a seat."
"Huh. No shit? That's lucky. What do you do to pass the time?"
Sakura watched Karin's hand wandering up to her hair again, picking at the elastic band. "I read, sometimes," she answered, watching her friend free her hair again. The familiar habit made Sakura wonder if anything had happened recently.
Karin gave her a grin as she ran her fingers through her unruly hair. "Two hours to read, every day, and you still haven't done the assignment?"
Sakura blew out her cheeks in mock exasperation. "I wonder why I haven't been able to do the reading yet," she said, giving her grinning friend an accusing look.
A voice they both knew quite well interrupted them unexpectedly; "Reading? What reading?"
It was a blond with blue eyes, holding a vanilla cone in one hand and a wad of paper stuffed in the pocket of his jeans. His trademark orange shades were hanging on the collar of his green shirt. He was standing with a boy with light hair and bright eyes, accentuated by his dark tank and jeans.
Karin eyed the blond, idly twirling a strand of hair with a finger. She watched the ice cream cone that he had in his hand melt, vanilla beads tricking down the cone and his arm to splatter on the floor. "Do you mind, Naruto? You're dripping all over the floor."
"That's what she said." Suigetsu's remark, a beat late, earned a sharp look from the fiery redhead. He only grinned cheekily at her and winked.
Karin narrowed her eyes at him, obviously not impressed.
With a squawk of surprise, Naruto bent down with his wad of napkins to mop up the mess. Then he licked up his arm, not seeming to mind the looks the girls were giving him, and slurped noisily around the edges of his cone.
"Doing it like a pro," Suigetsu said with a laugh. "Is this how you practice for—"
"You're gonna have a face full of ice cream if you finish that sentence," Naruto scowled.
"Disgusting," came Karin's biting words, though at whom they were for was impossible to tell. Grumbling something fierce under her breath, she made to go around the counter to the back of the store.
Sakura noticed a sudden flicker of emotion that passed through Suigetsu's face, and gave Naruto a questioning look.
He shrugged and made a gesture that seemed to say, "Don't ask me."Naruto made to change the awkward mood with a bright smile.
"Hey, hey, Sakura-chan," Sakura heard him begin, "When's your shift over? We should hang out and catch up on stuff, you and me!"
Sakura looked at Naruto. There was such eagerness on his face, his bright eyes pleading her to say yes, that spread a nice warmth throughout her body. His cheer had a way of being contagious; it spread like wildfire. She could hardly refuse his offer; didn't want to, she realized. How times have changed, she mused, laughing silently to herself. But she sighed; she couldn't take him up on his offer today. "I work until seven," Sakura answered with a shake of her head. "And it's my turn to make dinner tonight. Sorry." She gave him a promising smile. "Next time, for sure. Okay?"
Naruto clapped her shoulder, as if marking her for that rain check, and turned to Suigetsu with a hopeful grin. "Hey," he began, smiling earnestly.
Suigetsu shot him a look. "Man, will ya quit asking me? I ain't going to some jazz thing with you. That's so…" Suigetsu wrinkled his nose with distaste. "…gay," he finished lamely.
Sakura raised an eyebrow. Was that what Naruto had wanted to invite her to? "Jazz?" She gave Naruto a teasing look. "Since when did you get into jazz?"
Naruto scowled and fished some tickets out of his back pocket. "Ichiraku is catering for Hiwatari Ryuuga's performance at the Lounge upstairs," he explained, waving the tickets. "I promised old man Teuchi I'd bring more people to the event in exchange for free ramen for a week."
Hiwatari Ryuuga? The name rang a bell. Sakura sifted through her head to find a memory. "Oh! The third year at Kyokato Gakuen?" she asked. "I heard he was sought-out by a music school abroad."
"Yup," Naruto answered with a grin. "That's the guy!" He waggled his eyebrow at Sakura, presenting a ticket to her and asking hopefully; "Are ya interested now, Sakura-chan?"
Sakura laughed, taking the offered ticket. "I'll see if I can take today off and make up for it another time," she promised. She'd heard about Ryuuga from Ino, who claimed she had dated the cellist for a few weeks. The event interested Sakura; her mother had played the cello for a college jazz band and Sakura had liked the performances she'd seen recorded on tape.
A hand reached out and plucked the ticket out of Sakura's hand. She looked to see Suigetsu studying it through squinted eyes.
"Jazz and ramen?" he said once he'd brought it to his eyes. Suigetsu's nose wrinkled again and he handed it back. "I might not be a classy, sophisticated kind of guy, but to me that sort of combo seems contradicting and just really…" He waved a hand in the air that reminded Sakura of Karin. "…Stupid."
Naruto shoved his wad of the tickets in Suigetsu's face. "Ichiraku ramen is not stupid! Their traditional ramen style will be a great compliment to the smooth, new-age tunes playing at the Lounge!"
Sakura watched as Suigetsu waved her ticket in Naruto's face. "Seriously? That's exactly what it says here." He returned the ticket to Sakura and continued. "You're a horrible marketer. How many people have you hooked with this thing so far? Like, zero? Pinky here doesn't count."
Sakura couldn't help a laugh from bubbling out. Naruto was, indeed, a horrendous marketer. His enthusiasm, though normally admirable, reached overwhelming heights when he was in his self-professed "marketer-mode," something many found unbearable. Sakura herself sometimes wondered how she'd been able to stand by him for so long.
"Don't be such a jerk," Naruto said with a fake sniff. "No wonder Karin dumped you."
To anyone else, the jab may have sounded like a low blow. But after a year of hearing it, it was almost expected. Sakura registered the update with a sense of enlightenment. So that's why Karin had been so gloomy all day, lounging on the counter top the whole morning. While that in itself wasn't any different from any of Karin's lazy days, the girl had been playing obsessively with her hair, a habit she only did when she was upset. It was something she did with her mother, Karin had told Sakura, and it was soothing for her.
Suigetsu's face fell and he pulled away. "You're the jerk," he grumbled, sounding wounded.
"And how many times does this one make?" Naruto asked brazenly, waving a hand in the air. "Three? Four? Who knows?"
Suigetsu made a half-hearted swing at Naruto, his fist hitting roughly against the blond's shoulder. "Yeah, yeah, keep rubbing salt in my wounds, will ya? Let's see if I ever help you when you get dumped by your lady."
Naruto's lady. Sakura felt a pang of discomfort hit her unexpectedly. Wave after wave of awkwardness came at her as the two continued to bicker playfully.
"Like that'd ever happen." Naruto thumped his fist against his chest with conviction. "Me and my lady are soulmates!"
"My lady and I, dumbass."
"Who the fuck cares, this isn't grammar class."
"I don't understand how an idiot like you could possibly be likeable to the smartass."
"Look who's talking, moron. And besides, my lady—"
Another voice cut in, one Sakura knew too well. "Your lady?" It sounded resentful, though Sakura thought she heard a touch of fondness tucked into the words. "And who exactly is that?"
It was Sasuke; of course he would come. Naruto was here, after all, and that was all the reason Sasuke needed to be anywhere. Sakura tried to regain her composure, willing herself to pull her thoughts and emotions together and contain them. She couldn't — wouldn't —fall apart so easily, not in front of them. Especially not in front of them.
Naruto reacted instantly. "Sasuke! Uh, I was just…" He gave up and jabbed an accusing finger in Suigetsu's face. "Argh! It's his fault!"
"You're the one who said you and your lady were soulmates," Suigetsu scoffed. "If you ask me, you're the one who sounds like the lady."
Sasuke looked on with irritation at the bickering two. His features softened when he looked up and caught sight of her, the creases in his brow flattening slowly and peacefully. "Sakura," he acknowledged.
It took a moment for Sakura to find her tongue. "H-Hello," she breathed. She quickly caught herself and cleared her throat. "What are you doing here? I mean, um, don't you usually have work now, or something?" Her words came out rushed, tripping over themselves, and she could feel a faint blush heating her cheeks.
A corner of Sasuke's mouth quirked up in kind amusement. "I'm playing hooky. Naruto wanted to take me somewhere…" He gave the blond in mention a warning look. "Though it better not be anyplace stupid."
Before Naruto could say anything, Suigetsu clapped his hand on Sasuke's shoulder with a heavy sigh. "It's a jazz thing up on the Lounge. Ichiraku's catering it, so they've got their favorite bus boy going around to spread the news… Right, Naruto?"
Giving the other teen a suspicious look, Naruto answered; "Yeah…"
"Sounds cool, if you like that sort of stuff," Suigetsu continued. "Of course, since it's up on the Lounge, it's pretty obvious what's gonna happen once he gets you up there…" A wicked grin spread across his face, and before Naruto could stop him, his words came out: "He'll probably loosen you up with a special drink and give you backstage access to a private x-rated show."
Sakura watched Naruto's face turn a shade of dark red. Whether it was out of fury or shame was impossible to tell. He gave Suigetsu a sound smack to the back of his head. "O-Oi! Don't you go saying weird shit like that to him! Why the heck would I do something like that?! That's something you would do, you sick bastard!"
"Are there any other weird kinks you have that I should know about?" Sasuke asked with a mocking seriousness in his tone.
"No way! You wish! And I don't have any weird kinks, asshole! Don't put words in my mouth!"
"You're the one putting words in your mouth," Suigetsu jeered. "Sasuke's only interested in putting something else in your mouth…"
Sakura was vaguely aware of the way her mouth hung open in shock at the abrasive comment. She definitely didn't want to hear that. She wasn't hearing that. She wasn't hearing anything. This was just a normal conversation amongst normal friends. Everything was completely normal. Nothing was wrong.
…Oh, thank god they were the only ones in this store. Thank god her manager wasn't here. Thank god, thank god, thank god…
Naruto sputtered. "Y-You!" He screeched, shoving the boy in his embarrassment. "Can't you control yourself?!"
Suigetsu laughed. "Why? I'm sure you—"
This time, Sasuke was the one who cut the loudmouth off. "Cut it out," Sakura heard him hiss, subduing him with a look. Then, slowly, all three of them fell silent as an awkwardness unlike any other descended upon them.
Without raising her head, Sakura could tell they were looking at her. Sasuke would be discreet about it, while Naruto would try — he was probably looking back and forth between her and the others, all the while giving Suigetsu an accusing look — and Suigetsu wouldn't even bother hiding the fact that he was openly staring; though, it'd be more out of concern than anything.
It was because of her, Sakura thought as the feelings of anxiety churned in her stomach. It was always because of her.
She'd dated Sasuke a year ago, and had been dating him for a good six months until it'd been suddenly broken off. Then Naruto helped her get back to her feet, and she'd fallen in love with his charming nature…
They were best friends, those two, and more. Only, she hadn't realized. It was a carefully concealed relationship, one which everyone knew but didn't point out. They'd all thought she knew that, and when she'd voiced it aloud it was in front of Sasuke's parents. Everything they'd been working hard to hide for the past two years had crumbled, because of her.
But what tore her apart was the guilt in almost destroying the two people closest to her. It was the fact that they stuck by her all the same, loving her in their own way — as best friends; as family. She didn't deserve any of that, not after the horrible things she'd done to them. She was a horrible, horrible person.
"What's up with the atmosphere in here?" Karin asked, her voice coming before herself. "It's like somebody died…" She stopped just beside Sakura and sniffed in disdain. "Oh," she said, and Sakura knew the redhead was giving Suigetsu a spiteful look. "You're still here. Can't you take a hint?"
"No," Naruto said with a quick glance at said teen, "he can't."
Karin gave a barking laugh. "Don't you have a smoothie bar to run, fruit-boy?"
Suigetsu scowled. "It's my lunch break, so get off my back."
"I would," Karin said in her all-knowing voice, "but knowing you, you're probably doing over-time with your break and left Juugo manning the table alone."
"Yeah, yeah, whatever," Suigetsu grumbled, waving a hand dismissively as he began to retreat. "I'll be taking my leave now, ladies and gents. I know when I'm not wanted."
"Oh, wait!" Naruto hollered after him, waving his tickets in the air. "Are you coming to the Lounge's jazz night?"
"Sure. When I'm good and dead," Suigetsu answered jeeringly as he disappeared through the doorway. He left just before Karin's remark of, "took you long enough" reached him, and the store was quiet again, though comfortably so.
"So," Karin began with vague interest, turning to Naruto, "what's this special event thing up at the Lounge you were talking about?"
The excitement flared in Naruto's eyes. He thrust a handful of tickets in her face. "There's a jazz performance up at the Lounge that Ichiraku Ramen is hosting—"
Karin scoffed rudely. "Are you serious? Who'd waste their time eating ramen on a Friday night—"
"Shisui's helping out at the bar."
Karin swiped one of the tickets with a gleeful expression. "Ichiraku Ramen tastes best on a Friday night," she giggled madly.
Sasuke clicked his tongue impatiently at the blond. "Didn't I tell you not to do that? I don't want this witch related to me any more than she already is." (1)
Naruto didn't look concerned at all. "Well, considering how she dumped your cousin for about the thousandth time, you can't really say she's related to you in any way now — Ow!" Naruto quickly maneuvered himself between Sakura and Karin. "That actually hurt! What the hell did you do to my ribs?" (2)
"I elbowed you," Sasuke answered through his teeth.
"Don't lie to me, that was like a fucking knife jab," Naruto scowled. "Man, you better not be starving yourself or some weird shit, you jackass. You're always so bony and freaking, like… stabbing me in places and stuff. Be more considerate to your husband!"
Sasuke just glared.
"Shouldn't the abuse be the other way around?" came Karin's absent-minded thought. "Isn't the husband usually the one who abuses the wife?"
At this, Sakura responded; "Well… it's rare, but there are cases of domestic abuse where the wife is the abuser."
"Yeah," Naruto joined in, nodding vehemently. "You tell him, Sakura-chan!"
Karin gave the blond a sneering look. "Sasuke-kun wasn't the one who wanted to drug his date for uninhibited ravishing."
Naruto balked. "You heard that?! That—That was part of a private conversation!" he shouted in protest. In a blink of an eye, however, his excitement level dropped and he stood staring dumbly at the redheaded witch his wife had so fittingly dubbed. "Oh wait," he said suddenly, sounding intensely thoughtful. "I just remembered. I was gonna ask you something earlier but your boyfriend—"
"Don't call that unromantic idiot my boyfriend—"
"—said something that made me forget. Ah… And it was really important, too."
"Clearly."
"Shut up, Sasuke."
Sakura laughed and gently patted Naruto's shoulder. "The reading. You wanted to ask her about the reading, remember?"
Naruto blinked at her owlishly over his shoulder. "The reading…?"
Sakura nodded. And then her nodding slowed, until it stopped and she was just giving him a blank look. "…You do remember that we were assigned work over the vacation, don't you?"
Her words sparked a connection.
"Ah!" Naruto's face morphed into shock. "I completely forgot! When's that due?"
"When class starts, blondie," Karin answered in a drawl.
Naruto whipped his head to look at her. "And when's that?"
Karin gave him a look. "And you are a scholarship student... how, exactly?"
"Come on!" Naruto cried in frustration. "You can't be serious! I totally forgot! What're we supposed to do?!" he asked the redhead with a wild, desperate look in his eyes.
Sakura looked on sympathetically. "Well, we were given a bunch of assigned readings on Souseki Natsume…"
"Yeah, yeah?" Naruto turned to her eagerly.
Sakura bit the inside of her cheek. "Ah… Well, honestly, I… haven't really started the assignment myself. Sorry."
"Whoa, seriously?" Naruto exclaimed, very much surprised. "This is like… the first time ever you've done that!"
Sakura laughed and playfully slapped the blond on the shoulder. "Hey, I'm allowed to slack off during the break too," she said with a grin. A quick look over his shoulder showed Karin raising an eyebrow at her with a questioning look, and Sakura glanced away. It just so happened that her eyes wandered off to the side to where Sasuke was, who was suddenly standing a lot closer to her than she had thought, and met his curious gaze. Sasuke's sudden undivided attention on her aroused in her a compelling desire to provide an explanation, and Sakura found the words coming easily to her head. "Actually," she began sheepishly, "I haven't been able to do the reading because I left it behind on the bus during the morning rush a week ago."
"I have the reading with me," Sasuke quipped conveniently. "I have it in my bag I left at work. I could go get it if you—"
"Mine's in the back," Karin interrupted. "Take it with you, Sakura. I'm done with the assignment anyway."
"What? You're already done?!" Naruto squawked.
"Of course I am," Karin said haughtily. "And since I'm such a nice person," she slung her arm around Sakura's shoulders, "I'll help you out with the assignment."
"Oh, ah… Thank you," Sakura managed with a smile.
Naruto hummed in approval, nodding his head. "Teamwork; that's the best kind of work there is. Especially for a big assignment like this one…" He turned around and gave Sasuke his best grin. "Hey, Sasuke…"
Sasuke gave the grinning blond a sharp look. "No."
Naruto stared at him like he'd suddenly sprouted another head. Then he scowled. "I could've been wanting to ask you whether or not you wanted to grab a bite to eat for all you know, asswipe!"
Sasuke was unconvinced. "I doubt it."
"I just need a little help, you jerk," he grumbled irritably.
"I don't think letting you copy my homework is any help."
"It's loads of help! My homework would be done! Iruka-sensei wouldn't need to throw things at me! The world would be a better place if you'd just let me—"
"No."
"You are such a… a… You're such an asshole!"
"Thanks. You too."
"I hate you. Consider this our annulment."
"We were never married in the first place."
"Is that all you can say in the face of our annulment, you cold-hearted bastard?!"
"Well, I'm trying to get over the initial overwhelming shock from all this joy I'm suddenly feeling right now…"
"Arrgh! I can't believe you!" Naruto threw his hands up in the air. His grumbling face melted away to cheer when he turned to face Sakura, and gave her a quick kiss on the cheek.
"Going to terrorize the shoppers?" Sakura teased with a giggle.
Naruto grinned brightly. "It's what I do best, isn't it?" He gave Karin a wave, who returned it half-heartedly, and grabbed Sasuke's arm as he went for the door.
Sasuke suddenly pulled himself out of Naruto's grip. "Wait a minute — You called me out because you wanted to go somewhere," he said.
Naruto blinked and gave Sasuke a look. "Yeah, we're walking around."
"You're selling those tickets!" Sasuke accused incredulously. "You want me to help you sell those tickets!"
Naruto scowled. "What do I look like, a panhandler?" Naruto waved the bright tickets in Sasuke's face. "These tickets are free! They're free!"
With a growl, Sasuke knocked Naruto's hand away. "You did this to me last week! I told you I wasn't going to do this sort of thing again! Do you have any idea how embarrassing this is?"
Karin nudged Sakura with a grin. "From they way he's reacting, you'd think Naruto was tryna convince Sasuke into doing some exhibition play."
Surprisingly, Sakura managed a laugh.
"We're spending quality time, Sasuke! Don't be fussy about it," Naruto argued as he pulled Sasuke through the doorway.
"I thought you divorced me."
"Well, then we're married again."
"Don't be stupid," Sasuke grumbled as Naruto dragged the last of him out the door and out of the shop.
He spared a quick glance over his shoulder, which Naruto caught and followed up with a big wave and a bright grin.
"See ya at the Lounge!" he shouted with cheer. "I'll tell Shisui you two're coming!"
With a very audible growl, Sasuke elbowed Naruto and shoved past him, fuming past the shop window with Naruto coming up behind him.
Inside the store, Karin couldn't help the chuckle from coming out. "With the way they treat each other all the time, you'd think those two are just itching to kill each other."
"It's how they support each other," Sakura answered softly, "Because very few people can understand them." She clasped her hands together behind her back. "They're all they've got."
Karin looked at Sakura for a long, silent moment before adding; "They've got you, too."
Sakura laughed and shook her head.
"You keep them together," Karin pressed. "They need you for that."
"I…" Sakura squeezed her hands tightly. "I'm not what they need."
Karin scowled loudly, pushing off the counter she'd been idly drawing patters on as Sakura struggled with her words and walking towards the pitiful girl. "Stop blaming yourself. They're as much to blame for that stupid thing that happened. They should've been up front about their relationship instead of dragging it around behind them." She put a hand at her waist and turned Sakura around to face her with her other hand. "So stop blaming yourself over something they should have—"
There were tears on her face. There were tears on her face — on Sakura's face. She was crying. Sakura was crying, and she didn't make a single sound.
Karin lowered her arm. "Sakura…?"
"I can't let go of him," Sakura finally said in a fit of silent desperation. "I don't want to. I know I have to, but I don't want to. I can't — I can't let go of him, of both of them. I love him — them — so much, and I—" Here, a watery gasp stopped her words, and Sakura brought her hands up to her face. "What's wrong with me? I'm so selfish…!"
She looked so small like that, crying into her hands with sobs that were starting to shake her whole body. Karin had never seen her cry before. She'd always thought of the girl as someone who suffered in silence. A withering rose, maybe, keeping her suffering to herself so she wouldn't burden others with it and taking care of the suffering of other people, friends and strangers alike. A strong, brittle woman — that's who Sakura had always been in Karin's mind.
And to see her break down before her… It was unreal.
What should she do? Karin's hands were itching at her sides. Finally, she brought one up to Sakura's shoulder, and shook the girl gently from her cries. "Hey…" She didn't know what to say. "You're… You're not selfish. What you feel is natural. If you really were a selfish person," a corner of her mouth tugged upwards in a smirk, "you'd be doing what I do and do stupid things like dump your boyfriend just to get a little attention from him."
"I lied to Sasuke-kun," Sakura said with a sniff, "about losing the reading on the train because I — I don't know, maybe I wanted to spend some time with just him, and—"
Karin snorted. She poked the girl's forehead back and looked into her red-rimmed eyes with a teasing look. "You know," she began, "Ino's always going on about this giant forehead of yours right here, and how she can't have you over at sleepovers anymore because the rocks in your head rattle too loudly when you toss and turn at night without some favorite pillow you're too much of a wuss to bring with you to her house." She tapped her finger on Sakura's forehead with a grin. "I'm gonna start believing that blonde friend of yours if you keep up with your nonsense. You think that's being selfish? Che..."
Karin stepped back and watched her shorter friend wipe away her tears. There was a bit of awe in the girl's eyes as she looked up at Karin, which prompted the redhead to continue with confidence.
"Sasuke can't man up and tell you himself that he wants to hang out with you because he's too busy being afraid of making things even more awkward between you. You're important to him, as important as Naruto is to him, and he doesn't want to lose you over something like this. So you better grow a pair since Sasuke is apparently incapable of doing so, and go back to doing whatever it was you were doing before this whole stupid shit got all dramatic and complicated. Okay?"
"Um…" Sakura wavered hesitantly, sheepishness and embarrassment staining her pale face and neck pink.
"I'll take that as a "Yes, thank you, Karin-sensei," and mark you down for owing me a latte next week." She adjusted her glasses and pulled away then, crossing her arms. "And I'm just letting you know that I tack on interest every week you're late. So if you think I've forgotten about your debt and there's no latte in my hand next week, you owe me a bar of chocolate. Got it?"
Sakura could only laugh, embarrassment keeping herself from answering outright. "Got it," she said at last, looking at Karin in the eye and nodding her promise.
Karin nodded her head, taking in Sakura's agreement to the terms of her pep-talk, and walked to the back. "I'll be "taking stock" in the back. Wake me up when it's time to close."
"I will," Sakura replied. She hesitated. "Thank you," she added.
The redhead only waved a hand in the air as she ducked out to the back room. It was just a few minutes past when Sakura heard the girl's familiar soft snores, and surmised that she had fallen asleep. Sakura returned to the counter just in time for two girls to walk into the store. She quickly checked her face with her phone, walked around the counter, and smiled a bright, genuine smile.
"Hey! Welcome to Record Sixx! Can I help you with anything?" she asked in her customarily cheerful tone.
And just as simple as that, life went on.
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AUTHOR'S NOTES
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(1) Karin is Naruto's cousin, and so is "related" to Sasuke through him.
(2) Suigetsu, who's in a shaky relationship with Karin, is distantly related to Sasuke; Suigetsu's great-grandfather is the younger brother of Fugaku's grandfather.