AU, college. It's New Year's Eve and Sasuke has something he needs to tell Sakura.
Dearest reader. I so want this story to be out before New Year's Eve so I'm uploading it with less scrutinizing glasses than I normally use upon my stories. Hope it will still put a smile to your face. (^-^) HAPPY NEW YEAR!
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"Uh, Naruto, perhaps you shouldn't…" But as always the guy didn't listen. Sakura couldn't help but laugh when even Hinata gave up trying to stop her boyfriend's childishness.
Shikamaru rolled his eyes upward but he also had a smirk on his lips; perhaps it was the atmosphere and the company that loosened up everybody.
With the remarkable thing that everyone had finished their exams before the holidays, they were all able to let loose and, well, they did.
The friends were gathered in the communal room at the guys' dormitory. After Naruto had declared that they should celebrate the New Year together, Shikamaru had shocked all of them when he announced that he had already reserved the place, but of course no one had complained. It also didn't take long for Chouji to make plans for whom brought what to the party. Well, leave the planning of the food to the culinary expert, had Shikamaru said. Now the group sat together with an hour left before the clock would strike twelve talking about school and life, laughing and beating each other in table football or drinking games. The guys, Naruto, Neji, Shikamaru, Sai, Chouji, Lee, Shino and Kiba had been warming up before the girls got there.
Tenten had had gathered all the girls, Ino, Hinata, Temari and Sakura in her own dorm room some hours before meeting the guys. They had spent the time listening to old pop songs and "dolling" up, and when they joined the guys all spirits were high. Of course some had their reasons to be extra pretty tonight.
Though Temari hadn't said anything the other girls' had teased how much more attention she had paid to dressing up than she used to do. She denied everything but Sakura spotted how Temari checked her clothes an extra time just before they walked into the room with the guys and how her eyes had immediately sought out Shikamaru. Temari then proceeded to mostly ignore the guy for the next couple of hours only making contact with him to either correct him or to belittle him. Not that that affected someone like Shikamaru, actually it just fuelled him to comment back.
Grinningly Tenten nudged to Sakura. It was obvious that there was something going on between these two if they wanted to admit it or not. Tenten herself was less rowdy in her pursuit though her intentions were quite apparent. She had squeezed herself in between Sakura and Neji on the couch having no trouble in making Neji blush when she had to sit askew leaning close up against him.
Since Sakura had no one at the party she intended to kiss she had to privilege of being the designated "helper", somehow though this had also made her the kinda 'hostess' of the party as people got more and more drunk she maintained the overview on things.
Since it was New Year's Eve and her friends had their eyes set on a special someone she would use the time until midnight to further their cause. Like when she unnoticeably moved enough away from Neji for Tenten to sit next to him.
But she had made many more plans, with Temari and Shikamaru being easy. Make a statement that one of them would strongly agree on and the other would object and they would be entertained for hours. And in case Sakura needed backup Ino had sensed her objective immediately and signalled that she was ready to help out.
The problem was not helping to get the couples close the each other; it was how to not make it look scheming, and with someone like Naruto in the room it could be quite the challenge. He had a knack for spotting uneasiness among his friends but never able to determine the reasons behind it or at least be discreet about it. He just had to blatantly point it out to everyone, and that would often make people too embarrassed to try anything, but tonight Sakura had to distract him long enough so he wouldn't interfere.
If Sakura should say so herself she was brilliant at distracting her childhood friend. Her first attempt and she only had to imply how their common childhood friend Sasuke was better at a drinking game and now Naruto had challenged everyone to beat him, and to his own satisfaction he actually wasn't bad.
A bonus was how the alcohol he made the others drink loosened up any nervousness that had showed when the girls joined the guys.
For now Sai, Ino, Lee and Kiba were fighting an intense battle over the table football game and while Tenten prepared for a quiz game, judged by Shikamaru; because it was boring to play against him, Sakura had a little moment to herself.
She had used Sasuke's name to rile Naruto up, but not without missing him so much herself. He was spending the year or two semesters abroad and though Sakura was happy for his opportunity she really missed him a lot. She had had a crush on Sasuke since as far back she could remember but not until he was gone did she realise that it had turned into love. He had never responded to her small advances; there was this one time she had been tipsy and tried to kiss him, which he kindly rejected, so she had no expectations of them becoming a couple, but still… it would be nice to have him around again. If for no other reason it would be to keep Naruto on his toes.
…
Said friend now found himself in desperate search of a taxi. Which was impossible since it was New Year's Eve. Just his luck that his plane had been delayed for three hours; one more and he would have celebrated the New Year in the air with a bunch of strangers. To make things better: his bus had left ten seconds before him, he just manged to see the taillights disappear as he reached the bus stop. A perfect night.
Sasuke tried to call his parents again, but they didn't pick up. They were most likely celebrating with the extended family, which were a lot of people, so they didn't hear they phone ringing. Oh and it was starting to rain… Just great!
He groaned in annoyance and wondered if this trip was worth the trouble. Tsk. He knew it would be, if he could just get there..!
"Up on the mountains I see down below
It's easy to lose yourself I know
Can't hear what your shouting, I'm deaf to your show
It's easy to lose your self-control"
It took a moment for Sasuke to realise it was his phone that was ringing. He quickly picked it up hoping to hear his mother or father's voice; instead he was greeted by his brother.
"Sasuke!"
"Oh, Nii-san?"
"Where are you? I'm standing at the exit for passengers but I can't see you? Still picking up your luggage?" Sasuke knew his brother was awesome, but right now it seemed like he was a lifesaver as well.
"I only have my backpack, I was trying to catch the bus back…" His brother laughed.
"No, no… You can't take public transportation today. Besides didn't dad tell you I was coming?"
To be sure Sasuke checked his phone, no messages or unanswered phone calls.
"No."
"Eh, he probably pressed the wrong number…" Itachi said encouraging. "Anyways! Can you come back and meet me inside? I parked at the far corner. Got dad's car…"
Yep, Sasuke thought as he turned back towards the terminal, Itachi was definitely a life saver.
…
Sakura's attention returned back to the party when a mocking laughter was heard from the football game. Lee and Kiba were looking rather defeated as Ino was high fiving Sai, well; she was trying to since Sai was kinda socially awkward and didn't get the intention immediately. Ino ended up holding his wrist and moving his hand to demonstrate what she wanted him to do. Chouji, who had been making sure there were enough snacks, laughed at the little antic as he placed refilled bowls on the table, and Naruto and Hinata, who had been the audience of the game, took Sai and Ino's spot at the table. Ino danced victoriously over to Sakura.
"Sooo… How are things going?" she wriggled her eyebrows and the true meaning of the question was clear, but she kept her voice low so the others wouldn't hear her.
Sakura smirked. Things were going pretty great in the case of Tenten and Neji. Tenten and Neji were involved in a conspiracy discussion with Shino, but the important thing was that they were sitting next to each other. Close. And Tenten was brilliant at using this opportunity to occasionally touch Neji. Shikamaru and Temari was standing to themselves in another heated argument, perhaps started by Sakura, but at least they were paying attention to each other, right?
Not wanting to congratulate herself too quickly Sakura looked out the big windows in the room. They were turned toward the common outside area, the only place where fireworks were permitted, and were thus perfect for their gathering. A single door let to a balcony which was actually connected to the fire escape, but also functioned as a balcony at times like this. Sakura planned on watching the fireworks from inside thus avoiding standing outside in the rain.
…
"Hey little brother!" Itachi greeted Sasuke with a big hug followed by messing up Sasuke's hair which was damp from the rain.
"Oi. Leave me alone." Sasuke tried to back away too aware that people were looking amused at them as they passed the two brothers, and Sasuke hated when people were staring at him. Itachi made a grimaced pout.
"Aw come one. I haven't seen you in months."
"Tsk, you haven't had someone else to tease while I was gone?" To that his older brother just smirked; to Itachi no one was as fun to tease than his little brother. Sasuke sighed while looking at the time on his phone. He had half an hour until midnight.
"Nii-san, where are you parked?"
"This way." Itachi answered leading them towards the parking areas.
"You know… Mom and dad are thrilled you have come to visit. They've been talking about you all day."
"Hmm…" Sasuke replied. He didn't quite know how to explain that he didn't intend to go back to the Uchihas tonight but that he had other plans. He tried misdirection.
"How are they? Together with the whole family as always?"
"Heh, you know it." Itachi laughed handing Sasuke an umbrella as they reached the outdoors. "When I left to get you Shisui was teaching them a new 'New Year' song, which I don't think neither mom nor dad would be singing if there hadn't been sake at the table." Sasuke chuckled. He could easily imagine this scenario, it happened almost every year.
…
"We should play a drinking game!" Ino squealed. Sakura frowned in response.
"What?"
"Yes!"
"No."
But Ino had already turned around pointing a finger at Shikamaru, Sakura shrugged, clearly Ino had something planned.
"This is payback for last time." She declared. Shikamaru just rolled his eyes upwards sighing.
"Whatev-…"
"Temari! You're helping me right?" This made Shikamaru alert and Sakura, who was standing and observing it all, had to put a hand to her mouth to hide her giggle. Ino's plan was now quite obvious.
The two blond girls had some kind of nonverbal communication because Temari didn't answer but just she sat down at the table as Ino started to shuffle a deck of cards. Sakura could easily see the strategy of Ino and wouldn't be surprised if Shikamaru saw it as well, but she didn't interfere.
"Hey! What are we playing?" Came Kiba's joyful voice. Sakura chuckled as he sat down to join as well; he was always ready for any games, especially when it didn't involve Hinata beating the crap out of hi at table football. More of the others joined in while the rest played another game at the football table. Lee, who never drank alcohol, skipped the game to get a hold of his girlfriend who was also studying abroad.
"Is there anything I can be of service of?" Sakura jumped surprised around. Sai was standing right behind her with a smile on his face seemingly unknown of his lack of boundaries. Sakura coughed.
"Sai! Don't scare me like that."
"I'm sorry. I just wanted to know if I could help out with anything. I noticed how you and Ino are taking care of things and wanted to be of service to you." Still a hand on her chest, Sakura felt her heartbeat soften and smiled back to her awkward classmate.
"Uhm. Sure…" she looked around. "You could help collect empty bottles?" Sai nodded and went to the kitchen after the garbage bag they used for bottles. Sakura looked at him and smiled. He wasn't so bad. Then a loud squeal turned her attention to the table with the drinking game.
"HA! Ahahaha! You have to drink now, Shikamaru!" Ino mocked, doing a little happy dance in her seat. Sakura walked over to them.
"Soo who's winning?" she joked but Naruto's answer surprised her as he growled.
"Shikamaru…" he pouted. "I don't get it, we are four against him but we have already had more shots than him…"
"Four..?" she asked confused and was answered by Kiba as he nodded pointing at himself, Naruto, Ino and Temari.
"It's allowed to team up. The odds get better but if you lose - you lose big." He grinned. Sakura's eyes turned to the others and noticed how Temari was observing Shikamaru with narrow eyes.
"He's cheating." She said as he choose a new card from the pile, making him sigh in the characteristically Shikamaru way.
"How can I be cheating if there aren't any rules? It's just a made up game." But Temari didn't fall for that answer.
"Tsk, you are still playing it." then her eyes widened and she looked triumphantly at him. "HA! I knew it! You're counting cards!"
Snarling Shikamaru got up so suddenly he almost tipped the table. He grabbed Temari's wrist and dragged her toward the balcony. Everyone jumped surprised back in their seats. Temari tried to unhook Shikamaru's fingers from her but didn't really put up much of a fight. She kinda looked too startled. Naruto and Kiba hooted at them but Shikamaru ignored them as he slammed the door behind them. The windows were too thick for any sound to come through but they could see that he was pissed!
That was probably more shocking than his action in itself. Shikamaru was the embodiment of relaxation and calmness… But it didn't stop the others aka everyone from laughing at his outburst. Even Hinata was holding her hands up to cover her face as she giggled uncontrollably. Sakura raised an eyebrow at Ino, who knew him better.
"Sooo? What was that about?" Ino just shrugged with a smirk on her face.
"Not sure…" she tried to walk over to the windows but Chouji got in her way.
"Leave them alone." He said.
"But…"
"Leave them alone." He then proceeded to close the curtains. Ino sighed resignedly.
"Whatever… Don't care what happened anyway." A tap on her shoulder stole her attention from pouting.
"Should we play another game at the football table?" Sai said smilingly. Sakura could have kissed him. It somehow eased the tension away from the room as Naruto joined in yelling.
"UH! Me too. Come Hinata; let's show them how awesome we are!" Hinata let him drag her along but she sent Sakura a knowing look.
"Hey would anyone mind if my sister and a couple of her friends join us?" Kiba yelled suddenly as he looked up from the phone's screen. Sakura had met Kiba's sister a few times and were not overjoyed by the added company, they could get in her way with her matchmaking, but everyone else happily accepted more people, so she couldn't really say anything about it. They were apparently already on their way over there, because not five minutes later Hana showed up along with two other girls. They greeted everyone politely and then joined around the table as they sat next to Kiba, Shino and Chouji. Sakura eyed them. It wasn't exactly suspicious… It was just an interesting choice to join exactly these guys. Especially as Hana had placed herself next to Shino, the girl named Tamaki next to Kiba and Karui, who Sakura had also met before, sat next to Chouji.
She wasn't allowed to inspect the new people further as the door to the balcony slammed open and Temari walked back inside. Despite the loud entrance she acted calm and then went to sit down at the table as if nothing had happened greeting the newcomers heartedly by pouring everyone a shot.
Tenten had apparently left Neji for a little while as she joined Sakura who were trying to make sense of the people in the room.
"They are so doing it." Tenten whispered making Sakura look at her. Tenten nodded to herself. "Totally."
"What? Are you sure? How do you know?" Sakura asked.
"Pfft. It's so obvious. The way they act like they dislike each other… but they can't stay away either… and the way he just reacted… clearly it was about something the rest of us are not enlightened in, some kind of inside joke gone bad or something." Sakura could kinda see where Tenten got this idea from but she had definitely been talking about too many conspiracy theories with Shino…
"I guess…" she said lightly, not sure what else to say. Tenten turned to walk back towards Neji.
"Those two…" she grinned and clicked her tongue. "Definitely!" she said it just as Shikamaru returned back inside clearly fighting to keep his face in the normal calm expression he was known for. That girl must really have done something to him, Sakura thought but she chose to ignore the drama and went to cheer on the football game instead. Some of the matchmaking business could wait.
…
"Hey, hey, slow down." Itachi said as Sasuke reached the car after having hurried across the airport. "We might not make it back to the family at midnight but they are still gonna be overjoyed to see you." He unlocked the car and they got in.
"Yeah… About that… Could you perhaps drop me off at the dorm instead?" Sasuke never pleaded or begged, but this time it was rather close, and his brother could tell. The grin he sent his little brother was too aware.
"Why?" he taunted. But Sasuke was prepared with an answer. He shrugged and said as casually as he could.
"I'm invited to a party with the rest of the gang. Don't wanna miss it just because I'm a couple of hours late.
Itachi eyed him. He knew too well that Sasuke wasn't one to enjoy parties; the situations were too uncontrollable and people were too loud and nosy. Kinda like Itachi was right now, except an older brother never stopped being nosy.
"Someone in particular you're going to meet?" he smirked as he drove out onto the freeway.
"Tsk. No." Sasuke replied looking out the window, luckily it was too dark to see the blush on his cheeks. Itachi let him be for a little while as they continued their way towards the dorm. Sasuke casually noticed that his brother was speeding a little and inwardly thanked him. Perhaps he was going to make it in time…
…
Sakura felt the childish glee when everyone gathered around the television counting down together. Almost New Year!
"10!"
"9!"
She looked around; almost everyone had placed themselves near somebody they could kiss. She smiled triumphantly. Tonight seemed to be a success after all.
"8!"
Tenten had strategically sat herself on Neji's lap. He wasn't going anywhere or kissing anyone else.
"7!"
"6!"
Shikamaru and Temari were standing close-ish to each other, but now that Sakura saw them as a couple-ish, she would bet a lot on them kissing in a few seconds.
"5!"
"4!"
Kiba's sister and her friends had also placed themselves near Sakura's classmates, clearly with some kissing intentions. She smiled. Naruto had wrapped his arms around Hinata. They always looked so cute together…
"3!"
Sakura smiled to Ino as they shouted along with the others. Lee was still on his phone, managing to yell the countdown to his girlfriend, although her time zone was different.
"2!"
"1!"
"HAPPY NEW YEAR!" Both girls screamed hugging each other. Then they immediately looked around. Sakura had been right. Temari had a firm grip on Shikamaru's shirt pulling his face down to hers.
Tenten had, not surprisingly, turned to kiss Neji and he had, not surprisingly, blushed to a deep red. Though most of the others guys and the new girls had given a peck on the lips to each other, one new couple stood out as Karui was still kissing Chouji. Sakura could see he had a smile on his face and had placed his arms around the smaller woman. Sakura felt glad for him. She really wanted Chouji, a man who always placed friends first, to feel happy.
But Naruto and Hinata were putting everyone to shame as Naruto held Hinata as they kissed the sailor-kiss. Sakura chuckled. Her friend may be drunk as shit, but he sure knew how to sweep a girl of her feet.
"Uhm excuse me." she heard a voice behind her and she took a step to the side looking at the speaker. It was Sai. He walked right past Sakura.
"I'm sorry. I wasn't sure if I should do this or not, but I see everyone else is... So, Happy New Year." That was his 'warning' before placing his lips on Ino's in a deep kiss, not just a peck.
Gawking Sakura was just about to push Sai away and tell him it was actually completely inappropriate to do as he did, when Ino, to Sakura's surprise, circled her arms around his neck deepening the kiss.
Sakura stared with her jaw down. Sooo… Ino and Sai? Huh? Well, on the other hand… Huh?!
She took several steps back from the kissing couple. Not quite what she had expected - as in not at all…
No one else seemed to have noticed what was going on as the others had both started to sing along the New Year hymns, their drunken voices failing many noted but made up for it by volume, and had also started to walk windows or balcony to watch the fireworks. Someone turned down the lights to make it easier to see the colourful explosions. And the room was quickly lit by the crackling lights from the outdoors.
That was when she felt it. She wasn't standing alone anymore. Goose bumps ran over her skin as a familiar presence neared her. She spun around staring right into the eyes of her crush.
"Sas-Sasuke!" She stumbled on the words. He was here! "What are you doing here?" She hadn't even heard the door open, but then again, the others were pretty loud. Sasuke looked out of breath and very apologetic.
"I'm sorry!" He panted. "I'm late. I…" then he shook his head, interrupting himself.
"Happy New Year, Sakura." And then he kissed her. It could have been intended as a peck on her lips, but he lingered. She could smell the fresh air and rain on him as she softly pressed her mouth to his in response. This had better not be a dream, she thought irrationally, but to her disappointment he stopped and her lips felt oddly lonely. Sasuke scratched his head, unsure what to say.
"Sooo…" But she asked instead.
"How did you know where we were?" Happy to answer such an innocent question he replied.
"Hinata invited me, though I don't think she thought I'd show up..." He nodded towards the dark haired girl whose attention was still taken by her blond boyfriend; they probably hadn't even noticed the fireworks had started.
It made it a little awkward for the two now standing in front of each other having a hard time looking into each other's eyes.
"What are you doing here?" she asked. "You didn't come all the way just to kiss me and say 'Happy New Year'…" Though that would have been romantic… Sasuke blushed.
"Well… kinda…"
"Bu-but…" Sakura stumbled on her words. This was not a scenario she had planned for. She inspected him and he seemed almost remorseful when he murmured.
"I'm sorry. I didn't actually think farther than this." Her questioning stare and lack of reply made him continue more frantically. He was definitely not in his element right now.
"You know… when you tried to kiss me… at that party last summer… I panicked… and… when I got invited to this I thought… Maybe-" But Sakura stopped him placing a finger on his lips. Her heart swelled. It seemed like... he was here for her. It also seemed like he had quite the story to go with it, but that didn't interest her right now.
"Let's go watch the fireworks with the others." She suggested. "They will be happy to see you again." She took his hand in hers leading him towards the windows. Sasuke let her. He hated feeling all foolish and reckless, though what he had done today fitted nicely within those two categories, but right now it didn't matter much. Because Sakura had not rejected him! On the contrary. After he had greeted his friends she placed herself right in front of him, putting his arms around her, snuggling into his embrace, seemingly not caring that his clothes were damp from his excursion in the rain from the car to the dorm.
"Sakura?" she looked up at him smilingly as fireworks were reflecting in their eyes. He held her chin as he moved down for another kiss.
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I could write many, many stories about these couples – who am I kidding, I probably will, until then I hope you enjoyed this little one (or you can read my 'All the 45 kisses' with the canon couples). Hope you have a HAPPY NEW YEAR! (^-^)=b