Kill The Messenger
Chapter 1: Never The Right Words
Xx
The incessant beat of the techno music pulsed in her ears. She could feel the bass thumping through the floor.
Untz untz untz untz.
She leaned against the bar as she sat on a stool beside her best friend.
"You should really slow down, Ino-pig." She said, patting the blonde's hand to get her attention over the loud music.
Ino pulled her hand back and picked up her glass, taking a swig of the strong alcohol.
"Just one more drink..." Ino waved aside her friend's worries, clearly drunk as her eyes drooped and her words slurred. The blonde used her other hand to push her long bangs out of her face before slumping over the bar. Her makeup was fairly smudged and her clothes were somewhat dishevelled from all the dancing she had done that night.
"That's what you said four drinks ago."
"Awww Sakura...You're such a party pooper!" The blonde crossed one of her long legs as she leaned towards her pink-haired friend.
Unfortunately for the blonde, the action nearly had her toppling over because of her level of intoxication.
Sakura reached out to steady her as their two other friends came over from the dance floor.
"Whoa there Ino, maybe we should take you home?" Tenten said as she approached with a worried expression on her face.
"Y-yeah y-you don't look so good." Their shy friend, Hinata agreed, taking one of Ino arms and putting it around her shoulders to help Sakura.
"I'm fine! Why do you guys always think I can't handle myself?" Ino slurred as she pulled away from Hinata and made to reach for her glass again.
Tenten quickly grabbed it out of the girl's reach and gulped back the last swig much to Ino's dismay. Tenten made a face, not having quite expected Ino to have been drinking something so strong, and placed the glass back onto the bar.
"Drinking until you pass out isn't going to change what happened." Sakura berated, whispering into Ino's ear to make sure the girl would hear her before firmly re-securing one of her arms over her own shoulders. With Hinata's help, she managed to pull the blonde away from the bar.
"I said I'm fine!" Ino yelled above the music. Her voice got the attention of an attractive man standing nearby.
"Hey now, if your friend wants to stay and party why don't you let her?" He winked suggestively at Ino. Sakura mentally cursed her friend for wearing her shortest miniskirt and tight-fitting tank top.
"Beat it before I break your face." Sakura glared at him, pushing chakra into her fist in case he made a move.
He threw his hands up defensively, "I can take a hint." He said as he picked up his drink and walked over to another group of females.
"Aww, he was cute!" Ino whined, pouting slightly.
"Yeah, no, we're definitely getting her outta here." Tenten said, as she passed some ryo to the bartender to pay for the drinks, "Before she decides drinking away the pain won't be enough..."
Ino tripped in her heels as Sakura and Hinata dragged her out of the popular club. She kicked them off suddenly, and Tenten who was following, picked them up as they walked her home.
Xx
Sakura awoke the next morning lying on a couch in the Yamanaka's living room. Tenten was still snoozing in one of the recliners. Hinata had decided to sleep on the floor in Ino's small room to make sure the blonde was okay.
Stretching and yawning, Sakura tossed aside her blanket before heading over to the kitchen.
"Ah, good morning Sakura." Ino's mom smiled at her as the pinkette sat down at the kitchen table.
"'Morning." Sakura grinned at the beautiful woman.
"I can't thank you enough for looking after her last night." Mrs. Yamanaka said as she placed a plate stacked high with her famous pancakes in the middle of the table.
"No worries," Sakura smiled, "We're her friends- it comes with the territory." The pinkette grabbed an empty plate and took a few of the pancakes, drizzling syrup over them before cutting a piece and taking a bite.
Mrs. Yamanaka gave a short laugh.
"I suppose you're right...I just wish she didn't get like that so often. It's almost like she doesn't think of how it might affect all of you." She sighed, before turning off the stove, "Coffee?" She asked, offering the pot to Sakura, who held out a mug and nodded.
"Thanks." She said, as Ino's mom poured her the greatly needed caffeine. She added cream and sugar before taking a sip. "I don't usually mind too much...Tenten likes to party too, and Hinata likes going for the dancing. It's nice to go out with just us girls...But last night..."
Mrs. Yamanaka raised a perfectly plucked eyebrow.
"What happened?" She asked, worry in her voice.
"None of us got hurt!" Sakura waved her hands to assure Ino's mom before she jumped to the wrong conclusions, "It's just that Ino got a bit emotional...and well, drinking when you're emotional usually spells trouble." She explained as she took another bite of the delicious pancakes.
"Why was she emotional?" Ino's mom usually knew what went on with her daughter and her daughter's friends, and she found it strange that she hadn't picked up on the fact that something had happened.
"I'm not sure if I'm supposed to let her tell you first..." Sakura kept her eyes on her plate, hoping it would help her ignore Mrs. Yamanaka's pleading eyes.
"Sakura, if it's important I think I deserve to know as soon as possible." The woman said, sounding as though a stern, motherly edge had crept into her tone.
Sakura sighed, putting down her fork and knife, and turned her attention to the woman across from her.
Mrs. Yamanaka's worry grew as she noted Sakura's serious expression.
"Shikamaru broke up with her." Sakura said.
Mrs. Yamanaka's utensils dropped to her plate as her hands shot up to cover her mouth.
"W-why would he do that?" She asked, clearly astonished, and taking the news rather dramatically. Her daughter had been dating the handsome boy for almost three years. They'd had the kind of relationship that she felt might one day become something serious. She'd pictured them getting married, having children, growing old...They had just seemed so happy.
Sakura just shook her head, lips pressed in a hard line, "She wouldn't say."
"Mmm, pancakes!" Came Tenten's voice from behind Sakura, who nearly jumped at the sudden interruption.
The brunette took the seat beside Sakura, and helped herself to the coffee and pancakes. It was then that Tenten noticed the atmosphere of the kitchen.
"What's wrong?" She asked Sakura, before looking to Mrs. Yamanaka. She realized Sakura must have broken the news. "Oh."
Hinata came in a second later.
"G-good morning." She smiled, taking a seat beside Ino's mom. "Oh my..." She said after taking her portion of the breakfast and having come to the same conclusion as Tenten.
"So...How long do you think we should give her?" Tenten wondered aloud.
"I-I'm sure that when s-she's ready she'll talk to us..." Hinata said shyly.
"Maybe, but she can be pretty stubborn." Sakura added.
"When did it happen?" Mrs. Yamanaka asked, having picked her utensils back up, though she hadn't bothered to resume eating.
"After he came back from his mission yesterday evening, I think." Sakura answered, "She called me, blubbering, at around seven. I couldn't really make out what she was saying but I gathered the gist of it. That's when I called Tenten and Hinata to come with me to pick her up from the shop. She'd gathered herself by the time we got there but we knew not to bring it up. We went dancing after that...I think she was just trying to forget about it."
"Or she's in denial." Tenten added.
Mrs. Yamanaka sighed, "I'll talk to her when she wakes up...Though that probably won't be until later this afternoon."
"Yeah, she's going to have a killer headache." Tenten noted.
They ate the rest of their breakfast in silence as they all worried for Ino. As soon as the dishes had been cleared away and the coffee pot emptied, Mrs. Yamanaka said goodbye to the three girls at the door.
"It's the first time someone's dumped her...Usually she's the one doing the dumping." Ino's mom said, "I'll call you girls when she gets up to let you know if she's okay..."
"Thanks," Sakura said.
"Breakfast was amazing as usual." Tenten smiled.
"I'm glad you liked it; see you girls later." She smiled back at them.
They waved to her from down the driveway before she closed the door.
Xx
Sakura had the day off from work, for once not having to go into the hospital and pull her usual double-shifts. She wondered how long it would take for Naruto to discover this fact and come knocking on her door to get her to go eat ramen.
She dropped her purse and keys onto the coffee table in her living room.
Unlike Ino, Sakura had moved out of her parent's house, finding her small apartment more convenient as it was only a ten minute walk from the hospital-not to mention that she didn't have her parent's constant worries and nagging about how late she always worked while still being in school.
It was nice to live alone, in peace and quiet, so she could get away from the drama that seemed to always fill her life.
Sakura turned towards the kitchen, pausing as she saw her favourite picture resting on an end table. It was a picture of her and all of her friends: Team Asuma, Team Gai, Team Kurenai, the Sand siblings, Sai, and her own Team. They had all been at the ceremony for when all of them, save the Sand siblings and Sai, had made jounin rank. She'd had Naruto help drag Sasuke into the picture, and had asked Tsunade to take it. It was one of her fondest memories.
She continued towards the fridge and took out a water bottle before turning to the small island that replaced the need for a kitchen table, sitting on a stool, and flipping open her laptop.
She drummed her fingers on the surface of the island as she waited impatiently for it to load.
Finally seeing the screen for her password pop up, she tapped it in quickly and pressed enter.
Her desktop appeared before her and she opened the internet browser, before clicking on one of her favourites.
It was a link to the Academy's school site.
Being nineteen, she was in her last year, along with Naruto and Sasuke, and the rest of the Teams. Gaara and his siblings had even decided to transfer to Konoha for their schooling in the last two years since he had become the Kazekage and as he was constantly travelling between the villages to strengthen their political relations. They lived in Tsunade's guest house, and returned to Sunagakure on holidays and for important meetings.
She clicked on a link to check her most recent grades on the latest exams they'd all taken. It was the end of exam week, and they had all been given a few days off to recuperate before classes resumed.
"Of course." She smiled, pleased with herself, as she noted the straight A's across the board. Her highest grade was in a class that focussed primarily on biology and the human anatomy, and her only A minus was in the Academy's physical training class. Although she had become incredibly strong since being under Tsunade's tutelage, she still had difficulties with stamina and endurance-and the physical exams in the final year of the Academy were no joke, particularly not for jounin.
She took a drink from her water bottle before closing the browser, and opening up her instant messenger, hoping that Tenten or Hinata had signed on.
As she waited for it to open her contacts, her cell phone rang.
She got up and headed back into the living room where she'd left her purse and fished around inside of it, cursing the annoying choice of ring tone Ino had selected for her. She would definitely have to change it from the current Lady Gaga song, Bad Romance.
Finally spotting the pink device, she flipped it open.
"Hello?" She asked into the receiver.
"Sakura?" Came the answering voice. It was Ino, and she sounded like crap.
"Ino? What are you doing up already?" Sakura asked concern in her tone.
"Ugh my head...Talk quieter forehead..." The blonde groaned. Her voice was hoarse and shaky.
"You sound like you're going to be sick, pig." Sakura whispered. She waited as she heard Ino drop her phone and throw up. She hoped her friend was in the bathroom. It was a moment later when she heard the blonde scramble to pick her phone back up.
"Sorry..." Ino apologized, "I think I drank too much."
"You think?" Sakura asked sarcastically. The pinkette herself had only had two drinks the entire night, positive that she would need to remain sober in order to help her unstable friend.
"Don't be mean-I feel like I'm dying..." Ino grumbled.
"So why aren't you getting back to bed?"
"Why did you have to tell my mom?" Ino asked suddenly, though she didn't sound angry.
"You know it's impossible to fight that look of hers." Sakura answered.
"Ugh, you're right..." Ino agreed, "I can never lie to her..."
"I know." Sakura spoke softly. There were a few minutes of silence as Sakura waited for Ino to say something.
"Forehead?" Ino finally asked, as though double-checking that Sakura was still on the other end.
"I'm still here." Sakura answered.
"Oh...Okay good..." Ino grumbled. It sounded as though she was lying back down in her bed.
"Um..." Sakura said as she paced her living room impatiently, biting nervously on her bottom lip. She heard Ino sigh.
"Go ahead...ask it." Ino gave her permission.
"Are you okay?" Sakura tempted.
"Of course not." Ino whispered. Sakura envisioned the sad state of her best friend as she lay in her bed with the worst hangover in the world.
"Do you want to talk about it?" Sakura could already guess the answer.
"Not really."
"But you're going to talk to me anyway because you know I won't quit bothering you until you do?" Sakura asked, hopeful.
"Probably." Ino's voice was barely audible.
"Are you going to sleep now and call me back as soon as you wake up?" Sakura offered. They had always been particularly good and guessing what was on the other's mind.
"Yeah..." Ino muttered.
"Sleep tight." Sakura smiled softly as she closed her phone, knowing her friend was drifting to sleep.
Pleased that her friend would be getting some more than needed rest, Sakura returned to her laptop, putting her cell phone down beside her.
She paused as she saw an orange bar flashing, indicating that her messenger had a new window open.
She clicked on it.
"No name face at hotmail dot com wants you to add him or her to your friends list..." Sakura read aloud to herself, before shrugging and clicking accept.
It wouldn't hurt to see who this was.
Once she found the new contact on her list, she saw that the person was online, under the username: Nocturnal19.
Sakura frowned.
"That doesn't help at all..." She muttered to the screen, "Let's just see your picture then..."
She double clicked the contact, and a new conversation window opened.
The contact's picture didn't appear, and she rolled her eyes. Of course they wouldn't have one...She thought.
She decided to simply ask who it was.
CherryBlossom13: Who is this?
She stared at the blinking cursor for a minute, waiting and suddenly becoming self-conscious of her childish screen name and ridiculous picture. It was of her and Ino at a bar one night, the blonde had her arm around Sakura's shoulder and was cheering her on as she chugged a bottle of sake.
Nocturnal19: Aren't you supposed to start with 'hello'?
Sakura blinked at the response. Whoever it was didn't use typical chat etiquette and abbreviations, and had even used correct punctuation. As far as she knew, she was the only one of her friends who bothered to write normally in instant messengers and texts.
She glared as she realized they had been rather cocky.
CherryBlossom13: You didn't say 'hi' either.
Nocturnal19: How do you know I wasn't about to?
CherryBlossom13: Whatever.
A few minutes went by without a new message.
CherryBlossom13: So...Why don't you tell me who you are?
Nocturnal19: Why does it matter?
CherryBlossom13: Because I like to know who I'm talking to.
CherryBlossom13: How did you get my e-mail?
Nocturnal19: A friend.
CherryBlossom13: Who?
Nocturnal19: Doesn't matter.
Sakura was about to break her keyboard in frustration with how hard she was typing.
CherryBlossom13: Fine. Don't tell me who you are. I'll just delete and block you.
Nocturnal19: Why did you add me in the first place, then?
CherryBlossom13: I thought I would be able to guess from your screen name.
Nocturnal19: And you couldn't...So why don't you guess from talking with me?
Sakura sat back and thought about the proposition. It had the potential to be fun.
CherryBlossom13: I'll bite...If you give me a hint.
Nocturnal19: Depends on the hint.
CherryBlossom13: Are you a boy or a girl?
Nocturnal19: Guess.
CherryBlossom13: Well...You're not using emoticons...Or that many descriptive or emotional words...So you're probably not a girl.
Nocturnal19: You're not using any of those either.
CherryBlossom13: That's because I don't know you.
Nocturnal19: You're right.
CherryBlossom13: You're a guy?
Nocturnal19: Yeah.
Sakura thought a moment. She believed she had every guy she knew and cared to talk to on her contact list already, except for those who didn't use messengers. She knew she had Naruto, Rock Lee, Sai, Shikamaru, and Kiba on her list, for she frequently had chats with them. She didn't have Shino, Neji, Gaara, or Sasuke, because, well, they were all fairly anti-social, or simply didn't bother with instant messaging. She rarely spoke to Kankuro, or Choji, so she hadn't bothered trying to find out what their addresses were.
It still left quite a lot of possibilities for who this new contact was. There was even the possibility that it was someone she knew just messing with her, like Kiba, or Ino...Though Ino was almost certainly comatose at that point.
CherryBlossom13: Do I know you from the Academy?
Nocturnal19: Who said you get more than one hint?
CherryBlossom13: I do, so answer me.
Nocturnal19: Yeah.
CherryBlossom13: Do I consider you a friend?
Nocturnal19: Not sure.
CherryBlossom13: What the hell does that mean?
Nocturnal19: ...
CherryBlossom13: Do we talk usually?
Nocturnal19: That's enough hints for today.
CherryBlossom13: Okay...
Sakura stared at the screen. The guessing game she thought might be fun was proving to be more frustrating than anything. She took another sip of water while she waited for Nocturnal19 to say something. After a few minutes passed without him typing anything to her, she sighed and began opening some music files in the meantime.
When she clicked the conversation window back open, she couldn't believe what she read.
Nocturnal19 has gone offline.
"That's kind of rude..." She muttered to the screen before closing the window and returning to her contact list.
A few of her Academy friends were online, and just at that moment Tenten's status turned from away to available.
Sakura double clicked her friend's screen name.
CherryBlossom13: Hey!
RunswithScissors: supp!
CherryBlossom13: So I just got off the phone with Ino and she doesn't sound too hot
RunswithScissors: ya, didn't think she would D:
RunswithScissors: did she say anything bout Shika?
CherryBlossom13: Not yet, but she said she would when she calls me back later.
RunswithScissors: cool, keep me up to speed kk?
CherryBlossom13: For sure
CherryBlossom13: By the way, do you know anyone with the e-mail address nonameface(at)hotmail(dot)com?
RunswithScissors: nope
RunswithScissors: why
CherryBlossom13: Oh, well they added me and I don't know who they are...
RunswithScissors: did you talk with them
CherryBlossom13: Yeah, for a minute or two; I gathered they're a guy.
RunswithScissors: Ooh mysterious!
CherryBlossom13: Yeah, and annoying.
RunswithScissors: lol, well let me know when you figure it out
CherryBlossom13: Will do.
RunswithScissors: hell, you can invite me to your next convo with him if you need some help haha
CherryBlossom13: Good plan! Thanks!
RunswithScissors: no prob...gotta go someone's at the door
CherryBlossom13: Later!
RunswithScissors is now Away.
Sakura sighed before scanning her contacts list one more time. Hinata wasn't online yet, which was unfortunate because she wanted to ask her too if she maybe knew who her mystery contact was...She was sure her shy friend would want an update on Ino as well, and rather liked talking to her over the internet because she didn't have her usual stuttering tendencies.
She heard a knock on her front door.
"Creepy..." Sakura said, remembering Tenten had just gone to answer her own. She picked up her phone and before leaving the kitchen; not wanting to be without it should Ino or Mrs. Yamanaka call.
Sakura reached out with her chakra to sense who was behind her front door, and smiled when she recognized a very warm and bright chakra.
"Hi Naruto!" She smiled brilliantly as she opened the door.
"Hey Sakura-chan!" Naruto beamed, "Heard from Baa-chan you don't have to work today!"
"Yeah, it's my first day off in forever." Sakura grinned, "Want to come in?"
"Only if you've got some instant ramen!" Naruto laughed.
"Uh, I think you cleared me out last time you were here..." She rubbed the back of her head. It had been a while since she'd had the chance to go grocery shopping and she hadn't replenished her cupboards.
"Aw, well I guess that means we're going to Ichiraku's!" Naruto took her hand and began to pull her in the direction of the ramen shop.
"Wait Naruto! I need my purse!" She called to him as she quickly pulled her door shut to follow after him, lest he pull her arm off.
"I'm buying!" Naruto yelled.
Sakura frowned.
If Naruto offered to buy ramen, it only meant one thing.
Sasuke was going to be there too.
XxTBCxX
Author's Note: Yay my first online chat fiction-which I know is sort of against the rules...but I figure, as long as the entire thing isn't all just lines of chat, and actually is using the chat bits as 'artistic devices' or something like that...Should be alright! Haha. Anywho, the universe they're in is only similar to the one from the manga, because it has significant differences, like having technology like computers, cars, cell phones, and etc. Sasuke's situation in my story will be explored next chapter, and a hundred other things will be explained in later chapters, like what all the characters are doing now for jobs and missions and such. I'm using the Academy to be sort of like, their education system...It's the same school they attend from when they're young...It will be similar to a college level for the jounin, although the style will be more high school-like, because I can do whatever I want in an AU!
Hope you liked! R&R!
xo
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