Title: Summer's Tangled In Your Hair
Summary: AU. "Ino, I think I'll take you up on the summer road trip offer."
In which Sakura and Ino take a road trip and complete their list of things to do without a care in the world.
Rating: T/Pg-13
Pairing(s): sasusaku, very minor naruino
Disclaimer: Naruto and associated characters are not a property of mine. I just merely own the plot of this story.
{Prologue: We Own The Night}
"We can do whatever be whoever we like. Spend the weekend dancing 'cause we sleep when we die. Don't have to worry 'bout nothing; we own the night."
-We Own The Night, Selena Gomez
x
Ino and Sakura's List of Things to Do Before College Starts
By Sakura and Ino
(With a few commentaries from the both of us!):
1. I would love to at least bleach my hair or dye it! Squee! (Ino! How cute would it be to like bleach your hair a royal blue? But not all your hair, just a few strands like highlights? It would go well with your blonde hair.) (Dude! That would be such a cute color! Nice idea Forehead!)
2. I must fold at least a thousand cranes before school starts. (Pfffft. Dork.) (Do you want our college dorm to be decorative or not?) (…Yes…)
3. Have a water fight with cute boys while washing a car. (; (Cliche much, Ino?) (A girl can dream, dammit!)
4. I must learn how to cook! (I agree with this one. Your cooking is horrible!) ('Eff you!) (But you can make a mean plate of fudge brownies! Hey can you make me some now?)
5. Go stargazing and camp out at the beach with my gurllllll. (This actually sounds like fun.) (Kekeke.)
6. Stay up all night watching chick flicks with Piggy! (Don't we do this like every week?) (Hah! No big deal.)
7. GO ON A SUMMER ROAD TRIP! OMGOMGOMGOMGOMG. (Yes! With my car! We can drive with the convertible top down!) (Ilyyyyyyyy)
8. Stop by every summer fair and festival in the cities we visit. (Stuffing our faces with popcorn, cotton candy, and candy apples… Sounds fattening, but yum!) (That is, if we ever even go on a road trip.) (The hell you talking about? I'm gonna do this even if you don't want to come with me!)
9. Go skinny dipping! d fadf;lkfladfjlaf! (At midnight!)
10. Find summer romance. (Amen, Forehead. We shall never be forever alone ever again!)
xx
"Don't you dare rip that off your locker door!"
Sakura Haruno jumped startled and banged her head against the top of the metal part of her locker. She let out a hushed curse as she whipped around to face Ino Yamanaka. The blonde gave Sakura a playful yet stern look before stepping forward to carefully peel a colorfully decorated poster off Sakura's locker door.
"This," Ino shoved the poster closer towards the roseate woman's face before snapping her hands back, "is our sacred poster with our oh so wonderful ideas that we must follow!"
"Relax Pig; I wasn't going to even throw that away in the first place."
Ino gave her best friend a snort before carefully rolling up said sacred poster and stuffing it inside her empty purple tote bag.
"Can you believe it? We're starting college next year and we still haven't done anything from the list yet. Well actually, I started on number four but only made one." As if to prove her statement, Sakura reached in her locker to pull out a crushed origami paper that was folded into a deformed crane.
"That's 'cause we were always so busy cramming half the textbooks in our heads. Stupid Iruka-sensei just had to make a big deal about Finals and scare the shit out of people." Ino rolled her cornflower blue eyes and flicked a piece of her long platinum blonde hair over her shoulder. Sakura gave a soft giggle before turning back around to finish getting rid of a few forgotten homework assignments, a few doodles, and a limited edition Cranberry Sharpie Sakura had thought she lost. At the last minute, she scribbled on a post-it before throwing the marker in her messenger bag; it was still full of ink.
"Phew! Four years with locker 210 and now I'm finally parting ways with it. I hope you treat whatever incoming freshman with the same difficulty I had in opening you." Sakura scanned the inside of her locker one last time with her shamrock eyes before slamming it shut. Ino grinned and linked arms with Sakura. As soon as the roseate slipped her messenger bag on, the two walked towards the cafeteria.
It was the last day of school, and to most seniors including Ino and Sakura themselves, they had to spend the rest of the day practicing for the graduation ceremony. Every student in Konoha High was given the entire thirty minutes of homeroom to rid their locker of any trash before going directly to their first period class. But of course since Sakura and Ino were seniors, they had the ceremony practice instead of playing cards or video games in classes like all the other lower grade levels.
The two girls slipped through the cafeteria doors and quickly but silently slid into the two nearest chairs in the back. Most of the seniors were already seated and were waiting impatiently for Iruka to take roll call. The cafeteria was loud and lively; everyone seemed to be happy to graduate. Their principal Sarutobi had joked that it was a miracle that everyone had graduated. Apparently there were always seniors getting expelled for getting caught being stoned or whatnot.
"Oh my god! Forehead!" Sakura eyed her friend and mumbled a quick "stop hitting me" before Ino actually stopped slapping her in the arm.
"What the hell is Temari-bitch doing to Shikamaru? Holy crap! Is she trying to suck his uvula out or what?" Sakura couldn't help but suppress the laugh threatening to leak out. She couldn't help if her best friend was so paranoid.
Ino and Shikamaru had dated when they were in their junior year. Since Ino was head cheerleader, this automatically made her popular, and Shikamaru being the intelligent yet lazy genius, the two were one of the most popular couples in Konoha High. Unfortunately, things went rocky in their relationship when Temari started to flirt with Shikamaru and Ino got tired of his "women are so troublesome" attitude. Towards the end of the year, Ino had decided (with the supportive help from Sakura) that she would dump him.
"Ino, you were the one who broke up with him so who cares if Temari is trying to give Shikamaru mononucleosis?"
"Hey! I'm a girl if you haven't noticed, and girls are highly sensitive even when we are the ones to break up with boys." Ino sniffed and gave Sakura a glare before adding, "Thank you very much for your support, Forehead!"
Before Sakura had a chance to reply, Iruka cleared his throat and commanded that everyone be quiet. When there were still a few boys who didn't really give a crap about graduation (they weren't even going to bother to go to college), Iruka yelled a quick "shut the hell up!" which worked. Everyone silenced immediately. It wasn't everyday where Iruka lost his cool and actually yelled.
"High school graduation only comes once in a lifetime, so you should all be proud that you're graduating! Today will be our only day to rehearse for the graduation ceremony, and I'm pretty sure you all want to be done within the first try because it's going to ninety-six degrees out today." There were a few groans and someone even yelled what suspiciously sounded like "go to hell!". Ignoring the protests, Iruka continued on nonetheless.
"Tomorrow's graduation and your parents and family are invited, but remember; only three people from each party will be allowed to go. We just don't have enough space this year for everyone to bring twenty people a party. You will all receive complimentary three tickets when you line up roll call order." It was Ino's turn to groan. Having Yamanaka as your last name meant being near the end of the line, which meant you were almost always last when it came to roll call order.
"And now lastly, the Student Council has officially booked the local night club for your graduation after party!"
"Hell yeah! Beer pong!" Iruka gave the senior sitting in the front a glare before clearing his throat and continuing.
"As I was saying before I was rudely interrupted, your graduation after party will be held at the night club on the same day as your graduation. The after party will begin at twelve o' clock in the morning and will last all day if you're up for it. Before I forget, there will be no beer or alcohol whatsoever in the after party." Majority of the room groaned while Iruka glanced at his students with disbelief. His students were drinking underage? Man, this generation is so messed up.
"We should spike the punch if we're not allowed to have alcohol." Sakura snorted as she heard a few people next to her whispering their plans. She wondered if Iruka had ever seen such a rebellious senior class before.
"Alright! Everyone get in line in front of me once I call your name!"
xxx
"Ouch! I swear I got sunburn from this afternoon!" Ino moaned and touched her arm delicately. Her normally peachy skin was tinted with a faint shade of red.
"I told you to wear a sweater." Sakura shrugged and skillfully pulled her red convertible into her driveway. The two girls were going to spend the night at Sakura's house. Scratch that, Sakura's mansion. The Harunos weren't necessarily the richest in town (okay, second richest since the Hyuugas were the richest), but since Sakura's father was an architect, he had designed their own house. Sakura's mother had died giving birth to her, but Sakura was told by her father that her parents had loved each other very much.
Ino gave a snort before responding to Sakura, "Only you would wear a sweater and jeans to school." And it was true. Almost all the girls at their high school wore skirts, shorts, and dresses. Sakura was one of the few girls who didn't bother to dress up for school. It was school after all, not a fashion show. But of course Sakura had no grudge against skirts or even shorts; she actually loves shorts to be honest. It's just that after spending almost her entire lifetime with her father, she was more of a daddy's girl and not that girly since her mother wasn't around to force her into dresses.
"We're ho–oh my god." Sakura gaped at her brother once she threw her keys on the nearby kitchen island. Sitting on the nearby table was her brother Sasori, who was heatedly making out with his girlfriend. Ino popped her head from behind Sakura and had to slap her hand over her mouth to keep herself from squealing (okay, so she had a slight crush on her best friend's brother, and watching him kissing was hot as hell). Sasori, finally taking notice in his younger sister and her friend, pulled away and gave them a lazy smile all while trying to keep his breathing even.
"Welcome home, little sister and her friend." Ino giggled and waved before walking towards the fridge to find herself an ice pop. The Harunos apparently had everything ranging from ice cream to frozen pizza to even flan in their fridge; basically the Harunos had an endless supply of good food which Ino had no problem with. Endless snacks and drinks meant pigging out as much as she wanted to.
"Oh my god, Sasori. Can't you and Nariko go suck faces somewhere else?" Sasori chuckled while Nariko gave Sakura a meek hello, which Sakura returned.
"Don't worry little sister; I was just about to bring Nariko home." And to prove his statement, he grabbed his girlfriend's hand before grabbing his car keys in the other hand.
"Bye Sakura-chan, Ino-chan." Nariko gave one last smile before following her boyfriend out the front door. After making sure the two had officially left the house, Sakura rolled her eyes before joining Ino in rummaging through her fridge.
"Sasori is such a creep. I bet he was making out with Nariko just to rub the fact that he's in a relationship in my face."
"Dude, you can't be serious. Sasori is so cute, what the hell are you talking about Forehead?" Ino tiptoed as she reached her hand further back to find the box of Popsicle she had witnessed a maid storing it there a few days ago. "Besides, I wouldn't blame him at all. You haven't had a relationship since like, tenth grade."
"Okay, I'm going to let that comment slide because you're my best friend." After pulling a Coke out of the fridge and Ino finally finding the cherry flavor of the Popsicle, the two headed up the stairs and towards Sakura's room.
"Oh, take the extra ticket before I forget." Sakura pulled out a slightly bent ticket and handed it to Ino who shoved it in her tote.
"So what are you gonna wear to the after party?" Ino suddenly jumped up from Sakura's bed and skipped over to her walk-in closet. The blonde disappeared as she walked in through the doors to reach the dresses Sakura had stored deep in the big closet that once used to be a separate bathroom. When Sakura was a mere freshmen, and of course, all freshmen just had to have a big closet to hold all their clothes (now Sakura realized how stupid she sounded when all she usually wore were jeans and a sweater), she had begged her father to demolish the bathroom next door and turn it into a walk-in closet. After noticing his daughter was never going to give up, he finally agreed since Sakura had a connecting bathroom to her room and another bathroom next door just didn't make any sense like it used to when he had first designed the mansion.
"I don't know. It doesn't have to be really fancy, right? What about you?" There was a muffled response, and Sakura followed the noise. The rosette found Ino thumbing through a few dress racks.
"You have to wear this! This is perfect!" Before Sakura could react, Ino had thrown a golden dress at her. Caught off surprise, the dress hit her before falling down onto the Champagne colored marble floor. As soon as she reached down to swipe the dress off the floor, Sakura gasped. She hadn't even realized when she had bought the dress. The dress was a simple, one shouldered golden cocktail dress, and it was rare to a find a one shouldered dress that was actually worth wearing. What Sakura liked most of the dress was that it wasn't fancy at all, and there was no design on it; the dress itself was a ruched dress.
"Try it on!" Ino demanded and Sakura rolled her eyes before stripping herself right in front of Ino. She didn't care; the girls had been best friends since they were seven. After slipping on the dress carefully, Sakura ran her hands down the front, taking in the feeling of the silkiness.
"Oh my god! Forehead, you look amazing."
"Are you sure? I have a feeling my pink hair clashes with this dress." Okay, so having pink hair wasn't necessarily the best thing in the world. Sure, Sakura loved her hair and how it labeled her unique, but she could sometimes do without having her hair clash with some of the prettiest clothing she had ever laid her eyes on.
"No! You look hot!" Ino laughed and pulled Sakura's arm so she could drag her towards the mirror near the corner of the closet. Ino was right, Sakura decided. The dress had fit her perfectly, hugging and exaggerating every little curve she had (Ino often teased Sakura that she was curve-less) and it wasn't as short as what most girls in her school had worn to previous parties; the hem of the dress ended at the middle of her thigh, the perfect length for an after party.
"Here; catch!" Before Sakura could process what Ino had said, two pairs of heels jabbed her in the stomach. She let out a groan before reaching down to slip on the shoes. Ino's baby blue eyes sparkled with amusement before she continued to turn back around and face the shoe shelf.
The shoes that were thrown at Sakura were Louboutins with a peep toe in the front and a slingback. The six inch heels were a sleek black color while the inside of the shoe was the same dazzling gold, and it definitely matched with the dress. Sakura walked (read as stumbled) towards the mirror to check herself out once more. Ino was a fashion guru, Sakura noted mentally, as she slid her right hand onto her hip before turning sideways to check her profile. The dress complimented Sakura's figure and her emerald green eyes seemed to glow in joy as she realized her hair did not clash with the dress. Her platform heels seemed to make her already long legs longer and more slender. This was the dress she would definitely wear to the party.
"You look sexy." Ino laughed and sat down on one of the velvet stools.
"Thanks Pig. I didn't even know I had this dress to be honest. Hey, are you going to borrow anything?" Sakura slipped off her heels before working on getting the dress off.
"I'm gonna see what I have at home first. Oh, by the way, I'm borrowing your purple corset heels."
"The one with the ribbons?"
"Mmhm."
"Alright, let me change and let's get out of here." Sakura padded towards her shorts drawer before pulling out a random one and exchanged her jeans for the denim shorts. She quickly pulled her rosette locks up in a sloppy high ponytail and nudged Ino out of her closet, making sure to shut off the lights before closing the door. There was this one time where she forgot to turn off the lights before leaving to Paris with Sasori and her father. When she found out, she freaked out and pretended nothing had happened. Unfortunately, Sasori broke the news to her that their father was having a mini heart attack downstairs over the electricity bill.
xxxx
"Oh my god. What the hell! Are you freaking stalking me?" Sakura groaned as she caught sight of a redhead poking out from behind the couch. Sasori turned around and gave his sister a smile.
"Au contraire ma petite soeur(1), you're the one who came here after I did."
"Touché, Sasori, touché..." There was a pregnant pause before Ino rolled her eyes and dragged her friend out of the living room and towards her own room.
"Is your brother even home?" Sakura asked while Ino led her into her bedroom. Sakura's eyes widened as she gaped around the room. Ino's usually clean room now had a bunch of clothes lying on her messy bed with a bunch of magazines scattered everywhere. Sakura had to make sure to look twice where she was stepping or else she would trip on either a shoe or a romance novel.
"Who cares if the creep's home? You have to help me pick a dress! Preferably purple so it can match your cute pumps!" Sakura nodded wordlessly and followed Ino towards her overflowing closet. The Yamanakas lived in a normal one story house with three bedrooms, one guest room, two bathrooms, a kitchen, a dining room, a den, and a family room.
Ino's father worked as a detective in the police department while her mother was a clothing designer. Ino's brother, Deidara, often worked part time as an art teacher assistant back at Konoha High. Sasori and Deidara were best friends, so it wasn't difficult to figure out where either of them had gone when one of them was missing. If Sasori wasn't at Deidara's house, then Deidara was either over at the Harunos' house. Either that or they were always seen together with their group of friends.
Deidara and Ino looked alike; Sakura had decided when she was first introduced to him. Both Yamanaka siblings sported the same hairstyle, with a thick strip of bangs covering one eye and their hair up in a high ponytail (although Deidara only had half his hair up in a ponytail and the hairstyle didn't even look gay on him! If anything, it actually made him look even hotter with his crystal blue eyes). Deidara always teased Ino for copying him which Ino always argued back that she was the first to invent the hairstyle. The only difference with their hair was that Deidara's was a sunshine blonde while Ino was a platinum blonde.
"What the hell happened to your room?" Sakura asked while picking up an empty coffee cup and throwing it in the overflowing trashcan nearby.
"Ugh. Finals week. Remember how Coach threatened me that if I didn't pass English she wouldn't let me compete in the state finals?" Ino rolled her eyes before stepping across what suspiciously looked like a bowl of leftover oatmeal. Oh god. Sakura quickly looked away and shuddered a bit. If there was anything Sakura hated, it was oatmeal. And week old oatmeal didn't look too appetizing either.
"You are never going to find anything in your room if you don't clean up. Heh, your mess suits your name Piggy." Sakura giggled and saw a satisfying scowl on Ino's face. While Ino began to dig in her closet, Sakura decided to fix up Ino's room, and started by bringing a garbage bag back upstairs. If Ino's father saw this big mess, the whole house would explode. Unfortunately for Ino, her father was a neat person, and he hated it if something was crooked. It was probably a good thing her father didn't check up on her room, Sakura mused.
"Hey! Watch where you're throwing things!" Sakura squeaked and dodged another jacket that flew over her head and landed on Ino's bed. It was actually a wonder how Ino always managed to find nothing to wear when her mother was a clothing designer.
"Sorry!" Sakura could tell the blonde didn't mean the sorry, since she didn't spare Sakura a second glance as she continued to rummage through her clothes with a concentrated look. Sakura decided to let Ino continue looking through piles of clothes and finished cleaning up the room. It was somewhat neater, and a full-sized bed was now visible with lilac bedspreads, covers, and pillows. The room was now cleaner and organized, thanks to Sakura's help.
"How does this look?" Sakura glanced up to see Ino emerging from her closet. She had changed out of her baby doll tank top and shorts, and was now clad in a lavender cocktail dress.
"Woah! When did you get that?" Sakura smiled and stood up from the floor and circled around Ino. On her body, Ino was wearing a strapless silk dress that ended right above her knees; nothing too trashy for a graduation after party. A trio of folded rosettes tops the ruched, crisscrossed sweetheart bodice of the chiffon dress.
"It was my mom's. She wore it when she graduated from high school." Ino grins and twirls around once. "Now, let's talk hair and makeup!" she added, smirking deviously.
xxxxx
As the two girls entered the night club the next day, they were immediately surrounded by the smell of sweat, hairspray, and smoke.
"Let's do this shit!" Ino cheered and grabbed Sakura's arm. She dragged her towards the drink station ("No alcohol!" Iruka had demanded. But seriously. They're graduating. What's a graduation after party without alcohol?) and ordered two Cherry Cola Cocktails for Sakura and herself.
"Let's dance! I want to get a hangover from all this!" Sakura rolled her eyes at the blonde, but nodded nonetheless. She let herself get dragged over to the middle of the dance floor by Ino. Almost immediately, Ino had her body moving to the beat of the music. Sakura laughed and took a sip of her drink, liking the taste of the rum and cola burning her tongue. Sakura began to feel comfortable after taking a few more drinks of her alcoholic beverage and danced alongside with the bubbling blonde.
"Cheers! To graduating from high school!" Ino raised her glass and Sakura followed, clinking their glasses together.
"Cheers!" she slurred right back.
(1) Au contraire ma petite soeur – On the contrary, my little sister
Happy summer break! Or, well, those who are on summer break anyways.
I present to ya'll a short story that contains at most a prologue, ten chapters, and perhaps an epilogue! Just a small summer ficlet involving cliché summer romances and summer trips!
Happy reading, and don't forget to pass along some constructive criticism – I love to learn new things that can improve my writing!