Author's Note: I've felt bad because I haven't posted anything in a while. So I've started something new again. This will be a drabble kind of series. I'll be telling a story, but the chapters will be pretty short. This is a modern day, AU fic and the characters are about 18 years old. I was inspired by Glee's version of Taking Chances by Celine Dion and I tried really hard to make a one-shot/songfic out of it but I failed miserably. -.- So instead, I'm gonna create a drabble series! Each chapter will start with a line of the song but it won't necessarily be in order. I don't expect this to be very long but we'll see how I roll with it. Please enjoy and please review!!

Disclaimer: I own nothing. Not Naruto, not "Taking Chances"

Taking Chances

1. Interruption

~Don't wanna be alone tonight on this planet they call Earth...~

Lying on her side and cuddling with a stuffed dinosaur, Sakura let out a small huff and continued sulking her night away. She really did think that she was being rather immature about the situation but she also decided that no one ever declared as being above it. Sighing and letting a gentle tear roll down her cheek, Sakura clutched tighter to the stuffed stegosaurus that Tenten had won for her at a carnival two years ago. As her arms wrapped around the stego's neck, she remembered that she was wearing the orange tye-dye shirt that Naruto had made for her in his Home Ec class. It had turned out surprisingly bad but the material was soft and the color reminded her of him. Checking the elegant wrist-watch that Hinata had gifted her for her last birthday, the pinkette realized that she had been wallowing in self-pity and not-so-distant memories for forty minutes now. Sighing again, Sakura gazed out her apartment window and tried to remember how it had all happened.

She supposed one could say it had started five months ago, the day of High School graduation.

Finishing High School hadn't been what she expected. She had always heard of cheery times and celebrations but it hadn't felt like any of that. Sure, she was glad to be done with High School but… she hadn't expected the odd sense of separation between her and the graduating class. Their classes had been together for most of Junior High and were absolutely ecstatic when they met again at High School. But now that Universities and Colleges were thrown into the equation… Sakura realized that she probably wouldn't ever see most of these people again. She could've dealt with that easily though – she didn't even know most of the people very well – but she certainly wasn't expecting to head off to Oto University by herself without any of her friends.

She and her friends once had a dream to study at Oto form a band. She, Hinata, Tenten, Ino and Naruto had spent so many afternoons 'jamming out' in her garage. Sakura could admit that they hadn't been all that great, but they had too much fun to care. Besides, they said, they could always improve while studying at Oto. Only, they weren't going to Oto anymore…

Ino had decided to become a hair stylist rather than a musical artist and was going across the country to Root University to study directly under Gai Maito, one of the most admired stylists in all of Japan. Tenten had gotten into Sand via Volleyball scholarship and decided to head over there to reunite with Temari, an old friend of hers. Hinata's father was sending her and her cousin out of the country to study business in hopes that one of them would take over Hyuga Inc. and Naruto had decided to stay in Konoha for a special Ramen Culinary program offered exclusively by Konoha University. Sakura was still adamant about going to Oto and while she was enrolled in a singing class, she really wanted to study under the medical wonder known as Kabuto Yakushi.

Mind still focused on the separation from her best friends, Sakura nearly missed the call her phone was alerting her of. Not bothering to look at the caller ID, Sakura answered and put it on speakerphone.

"Hello?"

"Hello? Is that how you greet your favorite best friend after five months of not hearing squat from her? Geez, Forehead, I thought I trained you better than that."

Sakura sighed. As much as it was a relief to finally hear from the girl, she had interrupted her sulking time. "Sorry Ino."

"Hey, it's no problem… You okay Sakura? You didn't call me Pig." Count on Ino to be acute to Sakura's moods.

"Actually, I'm not doing too great."

"What's up?"

"Just lonely I guess. It's nothing that you should really concern yourself with."

"You sure? 'Cause I could afford to make a quick trip to Oto."

"No, don't be silly! I know you've been working hard and Oto's not exactly next door. It's really not that big a deal Ino."

"Well… okay. If you're sure about it."

"I'm sure. What'd you call for? I know there's gotta be a reason."

"Oh, yeah! Well, first off, I haven't called before now because Gai-sensei has just been an absolute beast; every day he pounds me down with next-to-impossible work that takes me at least five hours to complete! But I've finally gotten through the first gate and -"

"Hold on, the first what?"

"Gate. Gai-sensei has this really weird system for training all of his recruits and he's named it 'The Eight Gates'. Don't ask me how his genius mind works! Anyway, I've finished the first one after five months of hard training and from what I hear, the second gate isn't nearly as bad as the first one. But that's beside the point!"

"And what is your point Pig?"

"I've met a guy."

"Details."

"Tall, pale, handsome and single. He's an artist who's studying under Kurenai Yuuhi."

"Kurenai Yuuhi?! Isn't she like, one of the best?"

"Yup! And so is he! His name's Sai Tomoda and it's his first year of University too. He's a bit older than me though, by the looks of it. I'd say bout four months."

"Does he know you exist?"

"Somewhat. I was in our library looking at some books about famous art and hoping to be inspired to style my hair a bit differently because frankly, my plain ponytail's old."

"Old? I recall you saying that it was 'classic'."

"And efficient! But I want to experiment so badly and you're no longer around for me to play with! So, rather than use any of my new friends as my guinea pigs since that role is completely and forever claimed by you, I decided model myself. Anyway, Sai saw the book I was glancing over and he asked if I was going to check it out. I told him that I was just looking through it for inspiration and he told me he understood. We chatted for a while about what each of us was studying and different things that inspire us. After a while, I gave him the book to look through and he asked for my number so that he could have someone to quickly call up if he was lacking inspiration."

"Someone to call up if he was lacking inspiration? Well, I guess there are worse ways for a guy to get your number."

"I know, right? But anyway, we've scheduled a morning coffee date for Thursday and I'm at a complete loss what to wear!"

"And who better to call up than your best friend who knows your wardrobe off by heart?"

"Exactly! I knew I picked you as my best friend for a reason!"

And as the girls tossed outfit proposals back and forth, Sakura found that she really didn't mind Ino's interruption so much.