AN: Uh…This just…I don't even know. Hopefully it turns out well. Yes this is just life schtuff. And yes, it's littered with fall out boy references.
Dedication: To the writers that are amazing on this site but don't even realize it, to staying up all night/morning for no reason at all, and to starving yourself until the sun goes down.
Disclaimer: Don't own Naruto. Nor do I own all of the FOB quotes.
Crosswalks.
And Crossed-hearts.
And hope-to-die's.
Chapter 1: This bandwagon's full, please catch another
Sakura sighed for what seemed to be the nth time. She ran a hand through her pink hair, which fell right below her bust and turned her bright green eyes to the peeling paint of the ceiling. She was just so tired that every muscle in her body ached.
But it was all worth it.
She was out of the house, out on her own, and at university.
The feeling was nearly inexplicable getting away from her entirely loving yet, stiflingly overprotective family.
The only person that she couldn't quite escape yet was her dearest older sister Karin. But she was a cool cat, so no harm done.
Said sister-dearest was also freshly transferred to the University of Konoha (cool it mom and dad, I can handle my own shit 'kay? Thanks a bunch). But honestly her sister was lovely and a psycho all conveniently rolled into one red-haired, red-eyed whoreface.
And they completed each other. Y'know, aside from their raging fights and Karin's lesbian tendencies. Actually, scratch that. Sakura had quite the lesbian tendencies too.
Maybe it ran in their weird ass genetics?
Yes, this shade of pink is natural.
She knew a couple other people that also went to KU, most importantly her current roommate and best friend Ino Yamanaka. Without whom, Sakura's whole world would fade into nothingness and her entire existence would shrivel up. Pfft, according to the little piggy that cried all the way home.
Yup, the ache in her muscles was definitely worth it. With that she resolved to nap on her mattress in her room of the shared apartment and party it up with lots of hot college people later.
Good plan.
"RISE AND SHINE HOEBAG. PARTY IS ON AT APARTMENT 101!" Sakura's lovely best friend, Ino, commanded.
"nnnghfffnhg" Sakura rumbled back unintelligibly.
"What was that?" Ino called back to her while putting her platinum blonde hair up into her signature high ponytail with long bangs covering her left eye.
She pondered what to wear. The tight purple V-neck and plaid short shorts looked especially appealing. Ooh, can't forget the purple vans.
"Stairs, Ino, I fucking hate that shit." Sakura clarified voice still groggy.
It was true, they were in apartment number 329, and therefore apartment 101 would be two flights of stairs downwards.
"You could use the exercise, or else your thighs will be as wide as your gargantuan forehead." Ino said reminding Sakura of what she was incessantly teased for during childhood, while jabbing her finger into her side.
"Go to hell, Pig." Sakura rubbed her side ruefully and begrudgingly headed to the bathroom. Besides, there was no one she trusted more with this whole party scene than Ino. There were always hot guys, guaranteed.
Maybe both of them were a little boy crazy.
Only a little, though.
"Get the hell up you bastard!" Naruto yelled to his roommate, Sasuke Uchiha, from his own room.
He was seriously good for nothing.
Naruto sighed for what seemed to be the nth time that day.
His good-for-nothing-except-his-looks-but-not-really roommate and best friend had unpacked one box and gone to nap.
Who the fuck was he? A damn kindergartener?
And his name wasn't Naruto Uzumaki if he didn't manage to drag the bastard down to their first college party.
Cause college parties were known for hot girls. Lots of hot girls.
He grinned to himself and pulled an orange t-shirt with black swirls printed all over it over his head, already wearing black skinnies and shoved his feet into his ratty old pair of hi top orange chucks.
Now where was his asshole roommate?
Cause if he thought they weren't going to party it up their first night here he was out of his damn mind.
Here, they were practically nameless. And it made Naruto feel like he was on top of the fucking world. He studied his ass off, with the help of aforementioned asshole roommate, to be here.
Here. As far away as possible from that shithole he called their hometown.
Because here, there was no one to shun him and no one after Sasuke's money, or last name or looks. And they could be whoever the fuck they wanted to. Away from that loneliness.
Fuck that shit.
They were going to party.
"Teme, you better be ready by the time I finish eating my bowl of heaven in the kitchen or so help me I will hand you your ass on a silver platter!" Naruto threatened from outside his roommate's door.
There was rustling heard and then a scoff, "As if you could actually land a blow on me, go eat your bowl of shit."
Naruto was about to defend his favorite food (seriously, ramen was heaven-sent and whoever said otherwise was plain scum), but reconsidered upon recognizing his overly moody (ugh was he a girl or something?) best friend's implied agreement.
"Whatever, asshole." Naruto walked away to prepare his favorite food.
Just add water and wait three torturous minutes.
Large almond-colored eyes roved the inside of the large yet cozy (the amount of floor-to-ceiling shelves were endless) used books slash music store.
Prism.
Ahh, she had been working at Prism for almost a year now and it was almost second nature to her where everything was, the order of it all.
The Konoha-native closed her eyes after taking it all in. Something was going to change this year and she could feel it in the air. Oh, and did she mention these gut-feelings of hers were never wrong?
She let a small smile come to her face as she reminisced the last time she had a feeling like this. That feeling had got her, her current boyfriend, Neji.
Speaking of Neji (where in the hell was he anyway? Jeez boys are lame). Tenten sighed and fiddled with one of her solid black midi-rings.
She was bored.
But thank Kami classes were about to be back in session, cause that meant one thing; Tenten's favorite thing.
College parties anyone?
And ooh! Perfect chance to harass her favorite little university freshman too! Said freshman being Neji's shy little cousin and her own best friend, only caused the small smile on Tenten's face to turn into a full out, nearly maniacal, grin.
If only the customers could see her now, they would run for the hills.
Fishing out her iPhone she shot a quick text and waited for a reply.
From: Tenten
To: Hinatatatatata
CONGRATULATIONS. You are SO going to your first COLLEGE PARTAY tonight. No objections! Don't worry about Neji, I'll handle him. So... YAY! How does that make you feel?
sent: 4:30 p.m.
From: Hina
To: 1010
Uhm… Are you sure about this Tennie…?
sent: 4:31 p.m.
That was one thing Tenten absolutely loved about Hinata; she always texted back, oh, and she used proper punctuation in her texts, just another one of the many things on Tenten's favorite things list.
From: Tenten
To: Hinatatatatata
Ofc I'm sure! Why the doubt, little one?
sent: 4:32 p.m.
From: Hina
To: 1010
Tenten, you do realize that I have, uhm, NEVER even been to a high school party?
sent: 4:33 p.m.
From: Tenten
To: Hinatatatatata
Oh pish-posh! That's coz of your sourpuss of a cousin and you know it. Let that inner party girl come forth gurl. Just let it happen. Plus! It might just be a little more fun this way..?
sent: 4:34 p.m.
From: Tenten
To: Hinatatatatata
OH THERE'LL BE CUTE/HOT BOYS AND WHO DOESN'T LIKE THOSE? Just don't tell Neji I used them to bribe you, like hello, I'm too young to die. kthnx. ;D
sent: 4:34 p.m.
From: Hina
To: 1010
Well…when you put it that way. Alright. I'll come. But if anyone asks, it was one hundred percent YOUR IDEA.
sent: 4:37 p.m.
Man, She should have been a lawyer. She loved getting her way.
Tenten grinned like the Cheshire cat.
Tonight was going to be fun.
Sakura got up from the tiny common room in her shared apartment and stretched.
Good lord Ino took forever getting ready. She may as well pick out a matching pair of shoes for the simple floral skater dress she was wearing with her favorite white cardigan. Her chunky black boots looked absolutely fab with it.
"Ino, you hoe, when are you gonna be done?" She called back to her roommate.
"Be patient, I have to be extra fabulous to make up for your ugly ass" Ino retorted walking out of the bathroom with her hair in a fish-tail braid.
"Whatever you hipster-bipster" Sakura quickly did her hair in to two low pigtails.
"What a creative comeback, is my wifey going to be there?" Ino asked.
"Karin is unpredictable, you know that, she may as well be half way across town partying it up with some seniors or some shit" Sakura reminded her.
As they walked out the door and Ino turned to lock it behind them, Sakura looked out the windows lining the hall while walking to the stairway and failed to notice the tall figure she was about to crash into.
"Sakura!" Ino called from down the hall.
Sakura stumbled a bit but didn't fall entirely thanks to the hands wrapped around her upper arms.
She looked up to meet tan skin, and greygreygrey eyes with shaggy red hair.
Ooh… he's pretty.
"I'm so sorry!" She exclaimed after her momentary shock subsided.
Why did she always do stupid things in front of pretty people?
The redhead just shook his head in return and asked, "You okay?"
She nodded and rubbed the back of her neck sheepishly, when Ino interrupted.
"Yeah, she generally struggles at life, don't worry about it. My name's Ino and the one who ran into you is Sakura" Ino flashed her loveliest smile.
"That's chill. I'm Sasori." He offered with ease and slight tilt of his lips.
"Nice to meet you Sasori, we'd love to stay and chat but we got a party to catch!" Ino exclaimed pulling Sakura along with her.
"Yeah, we'll catch you later!" Sakura threw in, still slightly embarrassed about not paying attention to where she was walking.
Sasori just nodded as the two girls walked away from him.
They were cute.
"Damn Forehead, you find the hot ones quick, tell me all your ditsy secrets, please oh-wise-master-of-all" Ino poked fun at her best friend.
Okay, he was hot though.
"Shut the hell up, that was me being my normal 'oh let me fuck something up in the presence of pretty people' self and you know it" Sakura explained.
Ino rolled her eyes, sometimes her best friend just didn't understand how she attracted the opposite gender to herself without even trying to.
"Yeah, yeah. Walk faster I hear the music already!" Ino pushed Sakura in the direction of the sound of the bass.
Time to dance.
Sasuke absolutely did not understand how he got himself dragged into another one of Naruto's ridiculous suggestions.
Though he could say the slight buzz from the booze was making this generally horrible experience manageable.
He had fended off plenty of scantily dressed girls and watched as his idiot best friend disappeared into the crowd and left him to his own devices.
He hated crowds.
So he found a not so dirty looking couch without a couple making-out on it and let himself sink into it, the sound of Far East Movement drowning out everything else.
Then he felt a shift in the couch cushions and looked to his side to be greeted with, just great, another girl.
Her head was turned in the opposite direction and he took this time to observe her, pastel pink hair, on the short side, fair skin, and two red cups in her hand.
He inwardly snorted.
Was she even in college?
She then turned her hazy green eyes to his and they sparkled the instant she saw him.
He knew this couldn't be good.
And then she proceeded to place her cups on the ground by her feet and grabbed his face into her hands.
Well that was direct.
Hinata could feel the nervous energy surround her.
She looked down at her hands; nails painted a reverse-purple-to-black-with-glitter-at-the-cuticle-ombré, and noticed she was doing her nervous habit of poking her fingers together. She immediately separated her hands and began to lecture herself.
After her short lecture to herself, she remembered the reason she had even reverted back to that old habit of hers. She was waiting for her best friend Tenten outside of the apartment building where the party was being held.
Hearing the bass bumping all the way outside Hinata gave herself a once-over. She'd never been to one of these things before so she figured she should dress pretty casually.
Wearing a plain gray t-shirt with a pocket on the left breast tucked into a black flow-y skirt with leggings underneath and gray studded flats, Hinata felt satisfied that she looked the part. She left her long nightshade colored hair down straight and her blunt bangs fell just right above her eyebrows.
Fishing her iPhone out of her bag and clicking the screen on to check the time (What on earth was taking this girl so long?) she began to think about the situation she was in.
What if her father found out about this, or what if Neji-nii was just coming to take her back home, or what if—
No.
Hinata needed to calm down. She was over-thinking and overreacting before anything even had the chance to happen. She reminded herself to breathe and have fun.
Okay, if Tenten doesn't show up in the next two minutes, she would go it alone.
To her utmost relief she spotted a lean figure walking toward her in a plain white tee, black leather vest, dark wash skinnies, and maroon doc martens.
"HAY CUTIE IN GRAY!" Tenten shouted from no more than three parking spaces away.
"Tennie I'm r-right here, n-no need to shout"
"Oops, Sorry Hina. I'm just so excited y'know?" Tenten slung her arm around Hinata's shoulders and led her into the building.
Let's get this party started.
Hinata's first impression was: loud.
It was odd feeling the vibrations from the bass through the floor. But after a moment or two, Hinata decided that she quite liked that feeling.
Not to mention how odd she felt being stared at from males and females alike. She was certain her face was already pink.
Now was the most perfect time to practice that whole "IDGAF" thing she so desperately wanted to embrace.
Like seriously Hinata; get it together, new school new you.
Hm, maybe some alcohol could help that along. She was definitely feelin' this song right now.
I don't care. I love it.
So as it turns out Karin was at this very same party and disappeared with Ino the moment she spotted her "lesbian lover".
Sakura was almost certain that it was they, drunkenly belting 'The Cup Song' and mashing cups around.
She had downed a whole drink that Karin had managed to give her and was finally starting to feel its effects. Then deciding that spinning around on the dance floor with strangers wasn't the best of ideas; she flung herself into the nearest empty seat.
She looked to her right and could see the intense game of beer pong going on in the back and slowly turned her head to see who would be her couch buddy for the time being.
Ooh… he was pretty too.
Her tipsy body reacted before her mind could and the next thing she knew his face was squished between her small hands.
"You are soooo prettyyyyyy. Did 'ja knowww that?" She slurred.
Her face seemed to turn serious for one moment before she asked, "Like seriously, how do you get your skin so clear and soft?"
He proceeded to give her his classic 'what the fuck?' one eyebrow raise.
It seemed to have no effect on her and he forcefully removed her hands from his face.
There were two red handprints from how tightly she had been gripping his face.
He scowled; he needed another drink.
She then wailed at what Sasuke deemed entirely unnecessary octaves, "WOW THIS PRETTY GUY HERE IS MEAN."
She also drew an unnecessary amount of attention to them.
He definitely needed another drink.
Light streamed through the edges of dark curtains as Sakura groggily opened her eyes. "What a nap…"
She slowly rose up, stretching her arms to release some of the kinks in her back her eyes were still closed.
She rubbed the sleep out of her eyes as she tried to wake for the day. As her eyes adjusted to the light and to the room she was in, a sense of panic rose within her.
"This isn't my room."
Frantically looking around the plain room she was afraid and confused. She couldn't remember a single thing that happened last night and that's what freaked her out the most.
"Fuck, fuck fuck!" She said hitting her palm against her head.
Like a strike of lightening a thought hit her head, "Ino." She breathed, searching for her phone in her back pocket she was disappointed to know that it wasn't there.
Thoughts of her being mutilated and killed and possibly tortured started swimming through her mind, until the door opened slowly. Thinking fast, she jumped out of the bed and hid behind the dresser.
Sakura pounced before her supposed kidnapper could even say a word. "You kidnapped the wrong girl you psychopath."
"What?" He made out with his muffled voice. "Yes, kidnapped, first tell me who you are and what the hell do you want from me?"
"Hn. Get. Off. Of. Me." He enunciated rising up abruptly which caused her to be pushed off. She landed with a thud next to him on the wooden floor. She gasped as a string of flashbacks started to hit her when she made eye contact with her kidnapper.
"Y-you…are…" She had no words. He rolled his eyes and turned around to walk back out.
"Hn. Annoying." He murmured.
Sakura's face turned beet red as she turned away hoping he wasn't looking at her. She had completely made an utter fool out of herself the night before and the string of flashbacks thoroughly proved that.
She really needed to learn control when around pretty people. Like, seriously. She was surprised she had enough self-control to not have swooned at all with his deep dark eyes that were like the night of the new moon and ooh that black hair that had the subtlest undertone of blue and don't even get her started on his bone structure, just wow.
Okay Sakura, you can stop fangirling now.
But as her pounding head flashbacked to the night before, she recalled that the pretty person in front of her was not the nicest of them all.
She poked a finger in his direction, clearly affronted, "You're not even nice! Why would you bring a random girl home for the night then?"
Sasuke just looked like he wanted Kami to smite him right then and there. But unfortunately nothing happened.
He dragged a hand down his face in exasperation but gave away no other emotion.
"It was my stupid roommate's idea" With that stated, he walked out of the room, hopefully to make a cup of coffee.
He seriously can't deal with this bullshit. Not today.
Not ever.
Sakura just stared at the empty doorway through which the pretty, possibly the prettiest she's ever seen, person exited through.
Huh. She looked down at herself and did a general check. She was wearing all her clothes minus her boots and nothing else seemed out of place, except her cell phone. Might as well join her saviors outside. The quick check helped her calm herself after her own train of thought made her panic.
She walked out to meet a sunny looking blonde boy and the prettiest boy ever. Both were seemingly in an intense match of Mortal Kombat.
"What Up." She greeted the blonde boy. He was pretty too.
"AYY. Pretty girl from last night. What's yo name?" He shouted from his spot on the couch, looking up at her.
That was when the other boy made his final blow.
Fatality bitch.
"AWW TEME THAT WAS A CHEAP ASS SHOT."
"It's Sakura, haha. Can I play?" Sakura knew she should be getting back to her own apartment and looking for her missing phone, cause that shit is expensive, and performing her usual morning hygiene routine but she just couldn't resist.
That was when the two boys shot her an incredulous look.
"What?" She intoned.
The blonde one snapped out of it first, "Alright! I'm Naruto by the way."
"Hn."
"And this monosyllabic bastard right here is Sasuke-Teme" Naruto finished their introductions.
"Sweet, nice to meet 'cha guys." She sat down and grabbed Naruto's controller, flexing her fingers and getting a feel for it.
There was a voice in the back of her head happily reminding her that after her first night in college she woke up and was currently playing video games with random guys in said random guys' apartment.
At least her parents weren't here to judge. Nor shall they ever know of such judgment inducing actions.
Hell, she was probably better off than Karin and Ino for all she knew.
Welcome to the college life.
AN: Wow, I really don't make sense half of the time. I should try and fix that. Huh. Also, I'm working on the second chapter so uh who knows when that'll get done? Anyways, I hope you kids liked it coz I like spent time on it and schtuff. I apologize for the italics abuse. Lemme know your feels on it.
Later days. Liz.