Hershey's Kisses

by Cikaria

And to think all this came about because I wanted some chocolate.

A/N: Shout out to the last couple of favs and follows that reminded me that I really needed to edit this. Keep in mind that there aren't any major edits, just minor things that screamed "EDIT"

`.`.`.`.`.`.`

I look at my closet, pause, then check my watch.

7:30 AM

I sigh, I never take too long to pick something out, but today it was Monday, which meant I had to set the trend for whatever I was wearing for the rest of the week, it's kind of a thing we girls do at Konoha High, we wear one thing on Monday, which lets people in on what we might wear for the rest of the week, I don't know who started it and it's stupid and I really wouldn't do it but Ino insisted that I do it too.

But really, it was like I didn't have anything to wear. I finally decided on an oversized hoodie that belonged to Naruto,—I stole it a year back and honestly, I'm pretty sure it doesn't belong to him anyways because it's black, which, by default, means it wasn't his. Which also maybe explains why he didn't mind when I took it from him in the first place—a red tank top, black skinny jeans, converse, I'm good to go.

"Asami!" My mother calls.

"Yeah?"

"Are you walking to school?"

"Yeah!"

"Okay, close the door behind you and keep the key-"

I laugh, "I know mom!"

"Alright," I can hear her smile, "Stay safe!"

And the front door closes behind her.

I pull on my clothes hastily, take my messenger bag, eat half the breakfast mom left for me, and leave by the time it's 7:45 AM.

I think it's quite an achievement.

"Asami!"

I turn, there is the bright ball of sunshine jogging up to me, "Hey Sunshine."

"I'm a man now!" He exclaims indignantly.

"No you're not, you're seventeen!" I retort as he reaches me, it's not that he hates the nickname, he just thinks it's too 'feminine'.

To this, I say neigh because he thought it was fine up until he got rejected by Sakura, then two months later started developing a crush for Hinata which he hasn't admitted, yet.

Keyword: Yet.

He huffs indignantly, then perks up, "How's Hinata?"

"I haven't seen her since Friday." Then I smirk, "Why are you asking?"

He blushes, "...N-No reason! Why would you ask?"

"Oh nothing," I say innocently.

"Jeez, you're worse than Teme."

I laugh as we hike up the steps to the front doors of the school.

And by hike I mean we get heart palpitations on the way up.

It isn't very healthy.

Sunshine and I separate when we go inside, mainly because I don't know many people in there and he went to that guy with the Duck-Ass hair whose name I've already forgotten and it's also 7:51 AM which means classes start soon and I don't like being late.

"Asami!" Ino says happily, hugging me quickly (and tightly), "Have you seen Sai?"

"He was heading towards homeroom," I reply, "I think."

"Mind if I join you?" She asks.

She doesn't give me a chance to say no.

Ino rambles about the latest drama, I pick up a few pieces like how Sasu-something is rumored to have been in a relationship, and how Kiba might possibly be gay which I think is bullshit because he was flirting with some girl in the corner and looked like he could—and would—end the day making out with her, and how Tsunade might have gotten another Botox shot and how Sakura might have gotten an opperation to make her tits bigger.

Mundane things.

When we get to our destination, I scope out the room and zero in on my buddy, the one I always sit next to, he also shares all my classes with me, so yeah.

"Hey Chouji." I say, dropping myself into the seat beside him.

"Hi Asami." He says through a mouthful of chips, he pauses, then offers me some, I take one.

"Is Asuma here yet?" Sunshine asks as he walks into the room with Duck-ass beside him.

I shit you not, almost instantaneously, all girls swoon over the Uchiha. That's his last name. I'm extra sure.

"No," Shino says from the opposite of the room. "He is late."

"Obviously."

"Don't be a bitch, Kiba." Ino says from the front.

Kiba isn't a bad person, he just tends to be really mean without trying to, Shino doesn't mind because that's just how he is.

"Asami, when's Asuma coming?" Sakura asks.

I look at her incredulously, "How am I supposed to know?"

"Don't you guys live next to each other?"

"Are you stupid? He lives like five or six blocks away from me."

"So?"

Well, she can't be perfect, but the fact that even Ino facepalms is kind of sad.

"Hello you ray of sunshines." Asuma says cheerfully, walking in like he owns the place.

"Someone got laid," Kiba mutters under his breath, resulting in Sunshine's outburst of laughter, a giggle from Ino and Sakura, and me trying my damn hardest to not even smile.

"Hello Asuma-sensei." We all greet simultaneously, well most of us grunt.

"Okay, is everyone here?" He asks, mentally counting us. "Where's Hyūga?"

"I'm right here," Neji grunts from the back.

"No, the other Hyūga."

And just then, the door bursts open with a red-faced Hinata, who sees us all looking at her, then returns into the meek little thing she is and basically tries to disappear into the walls as she makes her way to the only seat available.

Right beside Sunshine.

I swear he's practically glowing when she says hello to him.

Homeroom lasts six minutes.

Math isn't fun. Not at all. I can't understand squat which is why Chouji is my go-to, he's smart as heck and also really patient with my one million questions. So, overall, it's quite easy. Not that anyone should trust my words.

Biology class gives me a migraine because I'm paired with Sakura, who specializes in Biology but doesn't even explain what she's doing so I have to explain to Orochimaru—he knows exactly what she's doing, he only wants me to suffer—what she's doing when I barely even understand half of it.

Art class is fantastic, drawing is a hobby of mine, but mainly I love it because Kurenai is such a laid back teacher, I ended up drawing a bright Sunshine and a blushing Hinata. I showed it to Ino who insisted on having it printed and framed for her to have, she also asked if I could draw her and Sai sometime, I kind of maybe agreed.

English is even better, Kakashi is like Godsend, and he lets us do whatever the hell we want which is prime time for me to take a nap and take a couple of chips from Chouji. I borrowed a horror story from Shino and read in my free time, talked to Ino who was renewing her manicure, and also got to tease Sunshine about Hinata, he's such an easy target.

By the time lunch comes around, I am in a happy mood.

It's a good day indeed when they serve lemon sherbet at lunch.

"You always eat lemon sherbet." Ino says with distaste. "It's so sour I don't understand how you can like it."

"It relieves people of their headaches," I tell her, "It's a double purpose."

"I ate sherbet once and it didn't do anything," TenTen says absently while she types away on her phone.

"Everyone is different I suppose." I shrug, Kiba comes out of nowhere.

"Do you guys want a kiss?"

"What?" Ino asks, asking what was on our minds.

He unearths a Hershey's Kisses bag.

"Oh my God, yes!" Ino exclaims happily, taking a couple.

"That's such a good fallback plan." I say after a bit. "Like if someone rejects you then you could just be like, 'I don't want your retarded kiss, you want this kiss though?'"

Kiba grins and I get the nagging feeling that he already knew that.

The bell rings a few minutes later and I almost am shocked to realize that it's already been half an hour.

Chemistry is fun, I swear when Chouji dropped his chips into the glass, it exploded in his face, it didn't do any damage, just so much soot, who knew Salt & Vinegar could cause so much crap. I sat there laughing my ass off while Chouji wiped his face with his sooty hand, which didn't really do much except cover him in soot. I helped him after I wiped the tears and drool from my face.

History is somewhat interesting because we go in depth about Egypt, nothing really happened because we all had major respect for Iruka, he made history fun if it got boring.

"I need some coffee," I say as the final bell echoed behind me. "Wanna get some?"

I don't know why I was asking, Monday's and Friday's, and maybe sometimes Wednesday's, I'd go to Starbucks for coffee, I guess I wanted some company.

Sunshine looks over at me, picking up his books and putting them in his bag, sheepishly, he scratches his head, "I can't. I promised Hinata I'd walk her home."

I wave my face dramatically, pretending to be crying, masking my minuscule disappointment, "I can't believe my baby...he's growing up..asking girls out and trying to get some."

His face flushes, "'Sami!"

I laugh, hefting my messenger bag over my shoulder, "It's cool, dude. Tell me how it goes afterwards."

He seems relieved I didn't accuse him of abandoning me, I walk out the door, running into Ino.

"Asami, thank goodness, have you seen Sai? He said he'd drive me home but I can't find him!"

"Oh, I saw him five seconds ago, he was walking to Art, something about turning in the project from last week to Kurenai?"

"Thank you! See ya later!"

"Bye." I wave, I skip down the steps that give me heart palpitations every morning, my phone rings as I leave the school grounds, "Hello?"

"Asami, you need a ride home?" Mom's voice asks as I cross the road.

"I'm going to Starbucks, remember?"

"Oh yeah," She laughs softly. "Sorry, I keep forgetting."

"It's okay, mom."

"I'll see you when you get home, I assume?"

"Yeah, bye mom."

"Bye Asami."

My mom has trouble remembering things, I've been going to Konoha High for three years, I'm seventeen now, its junior year, and she still forgets that I walk home every day, she forgets that I go to school sometimes and sometimes she forgets me.

The doctor told me that it was just something that has been happening for long before I was born, if I don't remind her for long periods of time, she'll permanently forget.

She forgets.

Simple as that.

Sometimes it lasts for a while and I have to remind her every hour who I am and how I got where I was and sometimes she'd cry because she couldn't believe that she forgot her only child. Sometimes it's last for a few minutes, like just now, and she'd remember again, it happens at random, I can't ever anticipate when, or how, or why, it just does.

My mom had me when she was fourteen, I was the result of a one nightstand, my dad left after I was born by a couple of years to fight some war, he never came back, this is what she told me, and this is what I tell her when she forgets.

I push the glass door open, doing a scan of who's inside and where I should sit, there's a couple occupying my usual seat in the corner, there's the Duck-ass dude sitting by himself across from the window, which is kind of tactical, because he can look out the window and people won't be able to see him immediately when they look inside unless they're actually searching for him, there's a group of people beside the window, another couple directly opposite Duck-ass.

"The usual." I tell Yoshiro, the cashier, smiling and inhaling the scent of coffee. "How are you? I came around last week and actually had to explain my order to someone new, they said you were sick?"

He laughs, it's the contagious laugh that makes you want to laugh too, "Yeah, I had the flu."

"I better not catch it." I grin.

He smiles, setting my black coffee in front of me.

"Thanks, Yoshi."

He narrows his eyes, "Would it kill you to just say my name?"

"Yes, yes it would." I smile, taking my coffee and walking to the table in the far corner, then I pause, instead slipping into the seat opposite Duck-ass, he spares me a glance before looking back down at his phone.

"What do you want, Asami?"

How does he even know my name?

"Do I have to want something?" I ask instead, I was going to say his name but I remember that I don't know it.

One could argue that I have inherited my mother's tendency to forget things, but I only forget names and stupid things that anyone could forget, so no, I do not have my mother's tendency.

I have not encountered this boy enough in the past thirteen years to remember his name...But I guess that alone is proof enough.

"Yes." He replies.

I blow my bangs out of my face.

Well, I try to.

"Well maybe I'm being a good Samaritan and instead deciding to make you not look like a fool by sitting with you."

He looks like he wants to say something horribly mean and quite possibly the most offensive thing I'd ever hear but decided to keep his mouth shut, Ino has worn that look so many times.

"You're welcome." I say, it's my natural response to that expression.

He just looks at me like I'm stupid.

"By the way, what's your name?" I ask him.

He looks up from his phone, dumbfounded, "What?"

"I'm asking you what your name is, dumbass."

He looks at me for the longest while.

"Well?"

"Sasuke." He says at last.

Oh.

Oh!

I snap my fingers, "Sasuke Uchiha, right?"

He looks so shocked, "...Yeah..."

People must not forget his name pretty often.

`.`.`.`.`.`.`

Finally, after all that math homework, I can sleep, my head hits the pillow and instantaneously the doorbell rings, once.

Well, at least they're considerate about my mom.

I have to hatch my eyes open with a crowbar.

I check my phone, cussing out the person downstairs.

12:03 AM.

I get up and sprint down the steps to the front door, they might ring it again, which will also wake up mom, it takes a while for her to fall asleep again, I pull the door open.

"What the fuck?" I ask, there, on my doorstep, is a glowing, blushing, grinning Sunshine, my brows furrow as I open the door wider for him. "Dude, you look like you're on crack."

"Hinata is perfect..." He sighs like a schoolgirl, walking in but not totally aware of his surroundings.

I look at him incredulously before remembering that he had offered to walk her home from school today, "It took you nine hours to walk her home?"

He still has his backpack too, "I hung out with her for a little bit."

I grin, he looks almost horrified at what I'll say, "Did you get some?"

"Asami!" He hisses, I cackle. "Shh! Isn't mom asleep?"

I cover my face to muffle it, walking into the kitchen and looking for the food storage.

"Ichiraku's is still open." Sunshine points out. "You wanna go?"

I shrug, "Why the hell not."

I take my hoodie and glad that I had already changed into my sweatpants hours before, I take my phone and shove it into my pocket then the key to the house, I also take my wallet as an afterthought because I seriously doubt Sunshine is treating me to some ramen.

"Should we walk or what?" I ask as I lock the front door.

Sunshine shrugs, "Walking is kinda nice in a weather like this."

Coming from Sunshine?

That's some Shakespearean shit right there.

"You didn't tell me how it went," I tell him, he grins the type of grin that only whipped people wear.

Jesus, they're not even together yet.

"It was fantastic!" He exclaims like he's about to explode from the happiness. "She was soooo nice! And she's pretty too, and she helped me with my homework, she's really smart, 'Sami! But Neji is a pain in the ass so he was hovering over us like a freaking helicopter mom."

"Imagine him watching you guys when you're married." I tell him, laughing my ass off.

"Wh-Who said we're going to get married?" He sputters indignantly, flushed face and all.

I just look at him, smiling so widely my cheeks hurt, "Oh, hun."

"Why are you looking at me like that?"

"What? I can't look at my best friend?"

"You can, but it's that face you make when something is going to happen."

"Good or bad?" I ask as we near Ichiraku's.

He shrugs, "I don't know yet."

Sunshine makes me go bankrupt.

But it was worth it.

My mama once told me, "Men fall in love with a woman in her absence. Women fall in love with a man in his presence."

And all Sunshine needed was time to think about her.

"Hey Asami?" He asks as we're parting ways.

"Yeah?" I turn around, my key in hand.

"I like her."

I smile at him.

"Don't we all?"

`.`.`.`.`.`.`

"Heart palpitations!" Sunshine is chanting.

"Good Lord," I say, clutching the railing.

"What are you two retards doing?"

We look up at the ominous aura coming from Sasuke Uchiha.

We straighten up, "Nothing."

"Oh shit! Homeroom started five minutes ago!"

"What?" I hiss, shoving Sasuke out of my way and sprinting down the halls.

"Asami!" I hear Sunshine say, I pause at the way he said it.

I burst out laughing because he's crawling towards me, I swear I'm not kidding.

He's crawling.

I laugh until my stomach hurts and my eyes are watering.

"We're late."

It takes me a couple of minutes to sober up and power walk to homeroom, I open the door and wait for Sunshine and Sasuke to enter before I go in after them.

And just like yesterday, they swoon over him but this time they glare daggers at me.

Oh shit.

I've stepped in it this time.

"Okay, we're all here?" Asuma says, leaning against the desk that has no purpose.

I hate school.

I don't always hate it.

Like, yesterday, it was a really nice day, school was fun, minus the math-inducing headache, I got to go to Starbucks, Sunshine admitted his crush for Hinata, it was nice.

But, boy, do I hate it today.

The Sasuke Slags glare at me even when he's not even in the same room as me, I mean there are girls minus Sakura that I've never even met before, how they even know Sasuke is beyond me. They decide to make my life a living hell when they try to trip me like six or seven times, then buy all the lemon sherbet so I have to resort to frozen yogurt. Then very conveniently decide to take up all the tables.

But unfortunately, for them, they leave Sunshine and Sasuke's table untouched, I don't even bother asking, I just take my froyo, sit next to Sunshine and completely ignore all the glares that make me regret my decision by the second.

"Your slags won't leave me alone," I tell Sasuke. "Seriously dude, they took my sherbet."

Sunshine shrugs, slurping his ramen, "Ignore them."

"It's kind of hard to when they're trying to kill you."

Sasuke just looks at me with disbelief.

"They tried to trip me down the stairs. Twice." I glare at the nearest slag until she cowers into the other hoe next to her. "I am not making this up. I couldn't have made it up."

Hinata comes over, graceful as ever, I have to switch my seats so I'm next to Sasuke so she can sit with Sunshine.

I can't believe there are only four seats at the damn table.

I watch Sunshine and Hinata talk because I'm totally not a stalker.

They're so cute I might throw up, it makes me want to reconsider forgiving Hinata for making me switch seats.

The rest of the day is hell because of Hinata.

Why couldn't she sit next to Sasuke?

Everyone knows she loves Sunshine, she wouldn't be in any danger.

They try to trip me another four times. They shove me around, and also confiscate my messenger bag.

I already know who has it.

"Give me back my bag." I say to her after Math is over.

"I don't know what you're talking about," Sakura says in a deceivingly sweet tone.

"Listen here, I hang out with Sunshine regularly, it's only natural I'd bump into Sasuke, right?"

"You're trying to steal Sasuke!"

I sigh, "Just give me my bag, please."

"I don't-"

"Look, I saw you take my bag during History, okay? I may be stupid enough to hang around that dumbass and get myself in trouble but I'm not that stupid."

"Did you just call Sasuke a-"

"Dumbass. I will call him whatever I want to call him. Now give me my bag."

She glares at me, "Look, you abomination, stay away from Sasuke!"

"If you don't give me my bag in point two seconds, I will find him and make sure you never see him again."

It's open for interpretation, Sakura could take it two ways, I could either find him and date him, which is bullshit, I'm also really extra sure that he wouldn't be open to the idea of dating because he's the gay one. Or she could take it the second way, I will find him, then kill him, then burn his body so they never see him again, which is probably easier than trying to date him.

Sakura took it the first way, "Sasuke wouldn't ever-"

"Give me my fucking bag before I tattle to Tsunade about the time you stole the student records. I also have the security video here, if you want."

She glares at me with such hatred as she unearths my bag and throws it at me like its poison.

"Thank you for your cooperation." I say as I walk out the door.

She's such an idiot.

My phone was in my bag, which has the security video, which I hacked from the school system.

Well, I never pretended to be an angel.

I decide to steer clear of Sasuke, Sunshine is hanging with Hinata so I go to Ino.

"Ino!" I say happily, hugging her tightly before letting go. "How's my favorite friend doing?"

"Stop kissing my ass. What's up?"

I laugh, "Are you doing anything after school today? I'm kinda bored."

"I'm going shopping, wanna come?"

Oh yeah, it's a Tuesday.

Just my luck.

"Yeah, I'll tag along."

Shopping is fun.

Especially when you have a friend who is hellbent on paying for everything.

"Do you think it's true?" She asks after a while.

"What?"

"Sasuke, remember? They said he might have been in a relationship."

I snort, "Who would want to be with him?"

Ino sends me a look, "I said might have been."

"If it's true, he probably dumped her." I shrug. "But, Sasuke doesn't seem like the type to be in relationship to begin with."

Ino tilts her head, deep in thought, before shrugging, "Maybe." She pulls out a purple blouse. "Sai and I are going on a date. Semi-fancy dinner. Thoughts?"

"With skinny jeans and flats, you'll be the bomb."

`.`.`.`.`.`.`

I open the chocolate-chip Pop-Tart box, ready to watch T.V and eat, it's Thursday night and I am ready to stay up until six in the morning.

But no.

Sunshine had other plans.

"Hey mom!" He shouts after he barrels into my home.

"Hey Naruto!" Mom yells from upstairs.

My mom forgets me.

It's simple.

It's something that happens and she doesn't mean for it to happen, it just does.

But she never forgets is unforgettable in the sense that you can never really forget the first time you sprained your ankle or the time you lost your virginity.

He's unforgettable and to forget him is like forgetting the two examples I have just put.

It's impossible unless:

A) You sprain your ankle all the time.

Or

B) You are a whore with amnesia. Or you simply have amnesia...or you're just a whore.

"Hey Asami," Sunshine grins.

"Hey Sunshine."

"There's a party at Sakura's house." He says, stealing my precious Pop-Tart from my hand.

I look over at him, "Yeah?"

"Yep. Wanna come with?"

I sigh, throwing away the wrapper he so graciously left me with, "Yeah, okay."

"Hinata is coming," Sunshine grins at me as I smooth out the dark red sweater, pulling up the sleeves 'til my elbows.

"Why didn't you ask her to go with ya?" I ask him, slipping into some flats.

He sighs, "I don't know, I was going to ask her but then she just smiled and...God, 'Sami, when she smiles..."

I smile, "You're so whipped, and it's just, I honestly can't wait until you guys go out...My little brother is finally going to get some."

"'Sami!"

I cackle as I pull on some bracelets, "Let's go."

Sunshine might as well be my brother.

He's been in my life for so long I honestly can't imagine it without his constant yelling and ramen at two in the morning because he 'has to feed his ramen obsession before it consumes him.'

I shit you not, he said it in third person too.

Sunshine's mom died when he was four years old, some like to say that it was a birth complication that never went away, but sometimes he remembers bits and pieces of her and sometimes he tells me, but he only thinks about her when he's truly miserable, and those moments are rare and few and far in between, which is why I treasure them.

My mom somewhat adopted him before he moved out when he was sixteen and filed for legal emancipation. His dad died in the military along with mine before he was born, so yes, I guess you could say, we are siblings.

Technically, he's about a month older than I am, since he was born on October 10th and I was born on November 21st...I still like to think he's my younger brother because sometimes he's such a child.

"Do you think she likes me back?" Sunshine asks after a while.

"Um, yes."

"But why would she like a dork like me? She's just so perfect and everything, she'd probably like someone like Sasuke, right?"

"No! Sasuke is a dick, sure, he has money and he's kind of maybe just a little pretty to look at and sure he has great grades, but no. Hinata would never like a dick like him—just don't tell him I said that. But she'd like someone like you cause you're funny without even trying and you're such a good person and- You're a great person, Sunshine. Don't ever let anyone tell you otherwise."

"But Sakura-"

"Don't compare them. Sakura and Hinata are two very different people. Just, risk it, ya know? You can only win big if you bet big, it's the only way to play the game."

"Life is a game now?"

"Wasn't it always?"

`.`.`.`.`.`.`

I toss a pretzel into my mouth, watching the party unfold in front of me, Sunshine hung around a bit until he saw Hinata, then disappeared and I haven't seen him or her since.

"Do you know where Hinata is?"

I look over at the source of the voice, Neji.

"Yeah, she's hanging out with Sunshine, I think. I don't know where they are though."

I offer him the bowl of pretzels and he hesitates for point two seconds before he's sitting next to me and joining me do nothing but watch people embarrass themselves and eat.

"Do you think that Naruto is good for Hinata?"

The question takes me by surprise, and it takes me a second or two to recollect my thoughts.

"Yeah." I say after a bit. "Hinata has liked him for a long, long time, we all know that. Now he likes her back and, honestly, I don't know if they'll work out if they do get together, because sometimes even when you like someone, it still doesn't work. But they know the other is worth it. And I guess that's all that matters in the end."

I feel like a guru as Neji mulls over my words, before taking another pretzel.

Sasuke appears in two minutes at the party and its kind of hard not to notice him when you're angled so that the party is literally like a T.V screen and you can see everything, he appears in a flurry of black and fan girls, Neji and I pretend not to notice him because we're just awesome like that and honestly we don't need him hammering our self-esteem into the ground.

"How's TenTen?"

At this, Neji pauses, almost like he's weighing the pros and cons of something before finally answering, "We had a fight."

"Oh." I look at him for just a second before my eyes are on Kiba and that Hershey's kisses bag in his hand, deciding that this conversation has taken a swan dive too quickly, I decide to holler, "Kiba!"

"What?!"

"Give me some kisses!"

To any normal person, this would seem like a conversation between a demanding horny girlfriend and an innocent neglected boyfriend.

But to Konoha High students, this is a girl asking for chocolate.

Kiba comes to me with a bowl of Hershey's kisses with him, well, at least he's considerate to make me not look like an animal because I guarantee you, I would have taken a lot of those.

He hands me the bowl and I take it, "Thanks, Kiba- Have you seen Hinata and Sunshine?"

"I saw them like twenty minutes ago, they were outside, talking."

I nod, "Thanks."

He nods, walking off.

I toss a Hershey's into my mouth, not really knowing what to say to the boy beside me.

"Do you want to know?"

I pause, turning my head to look at him, "Do you want to tell me?"

A pause.

A very long pause.

And then, finally, "I didn't mean for it to turn out that way."

I'm the person you talk to when you have problems you don't want anyone else to know.

Why, you ask?

Because, most likely, I'll forget what you talked about come morning because honestly it probably wasn't even that interesting, but if it is interesting, and really embarrassing and could majorly fuck you over, you can bet your dumbass I will remember it.

"It was just- I don't even know how it happened."

Ino is the girl you go to for advice, cause she's a popular girl who's been through a lot and knows shit that normal high schoolers don't know, but alas, we weren't ever normal in the first place, and honestly everyone automatically thinks that just because she's a blonde she's an idiot. The only warning I can give is this:

Warning: Ino Yamanaka ahead, proceed with caution.

"One second we were great and then the next second we're arguing about Hinata," Neji says like he can't even believe it himself.

When you need comfort you go to Hinata, because Hinata will cry with you before she even knows why you're crying, she will listen to you weep about that boy that rejected you as she silently builds up an arsenal of all those dirty secrets you have and can and will use them against you in ways that only Hinata can do without achieving 'Bitch' status like Ino has and I once did.

"She was saying that I was too protective of Hinata and that I was forgetting her but I wasn't! I spent hours with TenTen every day!"

In a sense, we are triplets, you can't get one without getting the other.

You vent to me when you're angry or when you want to complain or when you have that embarrassing problem that you think I will forget come morning.

And then you go to Hinata for comfort and if you want her to join your pity party, she will.

And then you go to Ino for advice on that problem that you have but you have to be really sneaky if you don't want her to use it against you.

Triplets.

"I don't know what to do."

Neji is smarter than to go to Ino with his problems and he sure as hell won't go to Hinata, which honestly is the safest bet because we draw the line at family.

"I think what she meant by all that is even when you spend a lot of time with her, you're still worrying about Hinata." I say at last.

He shrugs.

"Have you talked?" I ask him.

"Sure-"

"Really talked?"

He's silent.

"My diagnoses is you two should talk it out."

"So it's my fault?"

"It's her fault too. She should have brought it up earlier in the relationship because as I understand it, you two have been together for quite some time."

"Do you think she'll forgive me?"

"If you give a sincere, heartfelt apology, at best, she will, at worst, she'll consider it."

He nods, it's his way of saying thanks, "I'm gonna go find her."

"Good luck." I say to him as I toss another Hershey's into my mouth.

The sad thing is that I would have written all the embarrassing secrets I have on everyone down on my phone, but they could hack my phone and find them and then I'd permanently be labeled a 'Bitch' like Ino and honestly that status isn't very flattering and then the people would all flock to Hinata.

People know that because Ino is labeled a 'Bitch' you have to indirectly ask for advice.

But for me and Hinata, they don't indirectly do it, they come, they vent and need comfort and advice, then run wild while we calculate when we can use the embarrassing secret so we can get some extra cash and food.

It's a very promising pass time.

I run out of kisses three minutes later and I set out on a grand journey to get more from Kiba, with my trusty pretzels by my side, I'm good to go.

"Hey, Shino!" I shout, trying to get this attention, he turns to me but I can't tell if he's looking at me because of the glasses. "Where's Kiba?"

"He went upstairs."

With a chick, most likely.

I head down the hall, leaving the music and food behind me, it takes a while mainly because I stopped at the kitchen and found a lot of fudge cake, and, well I guess you could say I took a minor break, I hadn't been to Sakura's house much. I walk up the stairs and walk into every room I can find before heading into the last one and-

Holy shit!

I pause, after my psychological trauma wore off, I could think properly.

This is golden.

I lean against the door and knock on it to alert them of my presence.

Kiba has a nice back peels himself away from the guy he was making out with.

"I didn't know you were gay." I say, my voice dripping with amusement, I fight to keep the smile off my face.

"A-Asami, I can explain-" Kiba begins, pulling his shirt back on.

I roll my eyes, "Chill, dude, I'm not your girlfriend, now where are the kisses?"

Footsteps.

All three of us pause, then I shove the third guy into the closet and slam the door in his face, turn to Kiba and wrap my arms around his neck, pulling him so damn close, at first, he is shocked, before he gets the hint and places his hands on my hips, and just as the footsteps get nearer and more audible, I turn us so his back is to the door.

"Woah!"

I look over Kiba's shoulder and find, of all people, Sakura.

This day just gets better and better.

"Sakura, close the door, this is a private show." I say to her as Kiba turns his head.

"I-" Sakura's brain is working overtime, trying to process what the hell is going on. "Um. Okay."

And then the door is shut and I back away from Kiba and open the door Sakura just closed, making sure she's out of range before closing it again and opening the closet door for the poor soul locked in, "Coast is clear." I turn to Kiba. "Where are the kisses?"

"Thanks...?" Kiba says uncertainly as he hands me the bag, he looks at me confusedly. "Why did you...?"

I shrug, tossing a Hershey's into my mouth, "Spur of the moment type of thing. Besides, you don't want anyone knowing about your little secret, do you?"

"Well, no..."

"I suggest you lock the door and bring a beard, next time." I tell him as I walk out, closing the door behind me.

Kiba is after me before I even reach the stairs, "Asami, you can't tell-"

"Anyone. Especially Sunshine, got it." I nod as I walk down the stairs. "Be careful, Kiba."

And to think all of this came about because I wanted some chocolate.

`.`.`.`.`.`.`

The rumors being spread about are hilarious and I've laughed every single one of them off, not knowing if I should confirm or deny them.

Ino looks at me at lunch, "I didn't think Kiba was your type."

I flash her a smile, "We learn new things every day."

The Sasuke Slags no longer bother me, they don't glare or try to trip me or confiscate my bag, hell, Sakura even apologized for being a bitch to me the day before yesterday, saying she just 'needed to protect Sasuke-kun.'

Right.

I don't know what's going to happen but apparently, I'm another flame on Kiba's long list of girls.

Not when Kiba appears, nope.

Apparently, I'm Kiba's 'one true love.'

Bullshit.

Kiba kisses my temple when he appears out of nowhere during lunch with a bag of Hershey's Kisses, "For you." He grins that wolffish grin and if I hadn't walked in on him yesterday I would have believed it, I decide to play along because something tells me that saying, 'Dude, what the hell, are you drunk?' Wouldn't make him look all that good.

I giggle, hugging him for a quick second, "You're so cheesy."

A kiss on top of my head, "Only for you."

Jesus, if he preferred drains to cranes, he would have gotten laid every night.

Kiba is a very sweet individual.

I don't complain because he showers me with chocolate and doesn't give an explanation at all for why he's pretending but it's pretty obvious that I'm his beard.

"So," I say after school is over. "What's up?"

He shrugs, "Don't know."

I make sure no one is around before I question it, "So are you like, homo or what?"

He rolls his eyes but I can tell that he's smiling...on the inside, "Bi."

"Oh." I laugh, he looks at me, confused. "Sorry, it's just, I thought people with different sexual orientations would be a bit more jumpy and nervous about sharing things like that."

"T.V clichés?"

"Maybe."

"Soooo..." He begins, not knowing what to say. "Do you wanna go somewhere, or something?"

I check my watch.

3:09 PM.

"Yeah, okay."

And that, my friend, is how we ended up at Steakhouse.

Kiba talks.

A lot.

But it's funny because most of the things he says are hilariously ridiculous and he doesn't ever try to make small talk because he doesn't need to, he just has that charismatic trait that makes him so easy to talk to, like Ino.

"One time I walked out of the bathroom with toilet paper in my pants." He confesses.

I laugh until there are tears in my eyes, "It- It was in third grade, right?"

"Yep. And if I remember correctly you were the first one to laugh. Bitch."

I continue laughing, "I'm sorry, it's just that I never thought I'd actually see it happen. It was on my bucket list and everything."

"You have a bucket list?"

"Doesn't everyone?"

"Well, not anyone that I've met...Whats on it?"

"Oh, you know, the normal stuff, like skydiving and shit," I shrug, "Say, if you had a bucket list, what would you put on it?"

"...I don't actually know. Maybe hug the hottest person alive, or something. I bet you have that down."

"You know me so well." I smile, dipping a fry into some ketchup, it's silent for a bit and it doesn't take a genius to know that we're both thinking about last night. "Who was he?"

He shrugs, "A guy I met at the supermarket."

"You don't waste any time, do you?"

"To my credit, we've been hanging out for a couple of months. I don't just make out with anyone." He rests his chin on his palm. "What about you? Any special people in your life?"

"Nah. Everyone is either out of my league or beneath my league."

"Beneath your league hmm?"

"I have standards."

"Doesn't every girl?"

"No. Take The Sasuke Slags for example, they don't have standards at all."

"Sasuke Slags?"

"His fan girls."

"...How do they not have standards, that guy is a stud, he has great grades and to top it all off, he has money."

"He treats them like shit and they still love him."

"I think that's true love."

"I think it's bullshit because if they aren't even together yet, how will he treat her when they are?"

Kiba is silent for a bit, I cross my arms and lean back in my seat.

"That's deep."

I can't help the smile that comes to my lips.

`.`.`.`.`.`.`

"Asami," A recognizable voice says in a sing-song tone. "Wake up."

I pull the blanket over my head, "Go away, mama."

"Sweetheart, I'm not your mama."

"Go away, Sunshine."

"I'm not him either."

That wakes me up and I pull the blanket away from my face to see, of all people, Kiba standing over me.

"Dude, its Saturday, what are you doing?"

"Um, I'm here to pick up my girlfriend so we can go grab some lunch?"

"What are you talking about? It's like seven in the morning or something."

"Are you drunk? It's twelve..."

"What?" I ask, confused, "But it's- Are you sure?"

He pulls out his phone and shows it to me.

Granted, I have to push it away a bit and squint because it's too bright for my eyes.

12:23 PM.

"Oh, shit," I say, then pause and address a serious question. "How did you even get in here?"

"Your darling mother was as kind to open the door for me."

"How do you even know where I live?"

"I walked you home yesterday?"

"Oh! Yeah." I exclaim, before burying my face back into my pillow. "I'm gonna go back to sleep now."

"No, you're not."

"Yes, I am." I pull the blanket over my head. "It's my lazy day."

"Every day is your lazy day."

"Puhlease."

"Asami." He whines, poking my blanket covered head. "Come on."

I grumble incoherent things as I brush my teeth and wash my face.

"Hate you." I mumble as I leave the house.

He grins, "Love you too."

I glare at him as he drags me to McDonalds.

I decide to make him bankrupt.

He doesn't say a word.

"I'm wasting all of your money," I say in a sing-song voice.

"You've barely wasted a total of fifty bucks."

"Excuse me, I'm an expensive person."

"With cheap taste."

I shove a spoon of Oreo ice cream into my mouth, "I don't have cheap taste. I look expensive."

"Right."

"Don't doubt me."

"I'm not doubting you, sweetheart."

"Yes you are, I can basically see the doubt in the air."

"Okay."

"Jackass."

He only laughs.

"Say, Asami, what do you think about meeting my family?"

I shove another spoon into my mouth, "Right now?"

"...Yeah."

"No."

"Why?"

"Have you seen what I'm wearing? Look at me. I wearing sweatpants and a hoodie that doesn't even belong to me, I didn't brush my hair, I look disgusting."

He waves it off, "You look fine."

"Unless your family looks worse on a daily basis, I'm not going like this."

`.`.`.`.`.`.`

Kiba looks so bored he might actually die as I pull out a blouse from my closet and look at it for a second, before shaking my head and putting it back.

"What are they like?" I ask him, hoping that maybe I'd be able to pick something out based on that.

"Loud. Brash. Funny. Casual." He says the last one as I pull out a formal blouse.

Hm.

I glare at my closet for the longest while before deciding on a dark red knitted sweater, black leggings and UGGs, my nude watch and red stud earrings.

I grin at Kiba, who is currently face-down on my bed, "Look!"

It takes twenty years for him to turn around so he can look at me, "You look great."

"Thank you. Now let's go it's like 3:02 or something."

"I honestly don't know why you had to change, we could've been there by now."

"I can't meet people looking that gross."

"Are you saying that I'm not a person?"

"I'm saying that I've seen you every single day since preschool, which mind you, was like thirteen years ago. So if Shino were to pop up at any minute, I wouldn't mind greeting him like that because I've worn shit like that for a couple years now."

Kiba rolls his eyes, "Girls."

I roll my eyes at him, "Boys."

"Are you a cat person or a dog person?" he asks after a couple of minutes.

I look at him, confused. "I don't know, I've never owned any pets, but I'm kinda scared of dogs, though."

He looks at me weirdly, "Scared of dogs?"

"My mom is scared of dogs too, and to make sure I wouldn't ever get one, she scared the tar out of me, so I'm scared of dogs."

A mischievous smirk comes onto his face.

It was my turn to look at him weirdly, "What?"

"Nothing."

`.`.`.`.`.`.`

The Inuzuka family is a very weird bunch.

The mother is a strict person with such an odd sense of humor.

The sister reminds me of Shikamaru in the sense that she is as laid back as he is, she's a very nice person though.

Overall, they scare the shit out of me.

And if you asked why, I wouldn't be able to tell you because I don't even know, they just scare me.

They're nice people, they can make you laugh until you're crying, and they can make you smile until your cheeks hurt.

Yet, they still scare me.

After lunch, Kiba took me out for a walk.

"What do you think?" He asks.

"They're nice people," I say as I kick a pebble, I hear barks and I instantly recoil and hide behind Kiba. "The hell was that?"

"Chill, there's someone I want you to meet." He says, leading me to the place where the barks are coming from.

"K-Kiba, we don't really need to do this."

"He won't bite."

I turn tail and run.

He catches me before I've even made it to the pebble I kicked, laughing, he wraps his arm around my waist so I can't run again, "I'm serious, he's alright."

"There is a dog out there with that someone and it is still going to bite me. And I'm going to die. And no one will be left to take care of my mom and- Jesus fucking Christ it's a dog! Kiba! It's coming! What- What are you doing? We're running away from the dog not going to it!"

Kiba laughs and it doesn't make me smile, only more terrified, I let out a shaky breath.

"Can we not?" I squeak. "Please?"

"Nope. You're not leaving this place until you're phobia is dealt with. Akamaru!"

The white blob of fur comes bolting towards us and I turn and bury my face into Kiba's jacket.

"It's not real," I chant to myself. "It's not real. It's not real. It's not real. It's not real."

A...thing touches my leg and I try to vanish into Kiba's jacket.

It doesn't work.

So, slowly, slowly, with my heart pounding like a drum in my ears and my shaky breathing, I turn, still clutching Kiba's shirt.

It's a dog.

A white dog.

A very cute white dog.

A very, very, very, cute white dog.

I want to touch it but I'm afraid it might bite my hand off.

A chuckle tells me I've said this aloud, my face burns.

"Gimme your hand."

I tentatively place my hand in his.

Jesus, my hand is tiny.

"What are you doing?" I squeak as he very carefully reaches my hand out, I bury my face back into his jacket, my stomach is churning. Nope. It's not real. This is a prank. This isn't happening. Fake. Fake. Fake.

A cold wet thing touches my palm, I squeak.

I unearth my face and look at it.

It's nudging my palm.

It feels weird.

It feels...

Nice.

"Hi." I say quietly to the dog. "I remember you. You bit my leg once in third grade after I called Kiba an idiot." I smile a bit at the memory. "I think you weren't allowed to go back after that."

He licks my palm and where is the fucking sanitizer it feels weird in a good way.

I run my fingers through it his fur, "I guess you're not so bad."

`.`.`.`.`.`.`

I rub my eyes tiredly as I finish up the biology project, this is how I spend my Sundays, I'm seriously thinking about starting a riot because honestly this is like a one day weekend, Sunday is filled with homework and stupid projects and it's ridiculous.

Now, onto the Art project, the Math homework, and the English book review.

I feel the urge to bang my head against the keyboard as I type up a dumbass review about some dumbass book I read about a disco ball serial killer who's obsessed with some girl who just moved into town and she has no redeeming qualities whatsoever and I can't help but wonder why my life isn't like that, she has all the dudes falling at her feet even though most of the time she's the one tripping over her own two feet, except I wouldn't like the disco ball serial killer in my life.

It doesn't sound very promising.

"Asami!"

"Yeah?"

"Someone's at the door, could you get it?"

"Yeah, alright." I say as I get up and almost trip down the stairs, I bet it was that girl, she rubbed off on me, I swing the door open and my eyes bulge out of their sockets at what's in front of me.

"A-Asami..."

"...Hinata?" I just look at her for the longest while before opening the door wider. "Co-Come in."

She looks nice, like she was out somewhere before she came here but she looks messed up and stressed and she looks like she's about to cry. I close the door behind her and my brain is working overtime trying to figure out what the hell is going on here.

"So..." I begin once she's comfortably seated on my bed. "What's...up?"

"I confessed to Naruto."

Oh...

...Oh!

Oh my God!

Yes!

"Really?" I keep my cool, why does she look that way if that's true?

"Y-Yeah, and h-he," Hinata's eyes water. "He wasn't saying anything and he- I thought he liked me."

That dumbass, I feel the urge to bang my head against the wall and pray that if I do so enough times, I'll die.

"He does like you."

"Not the way I like him."

I bite my lip, how do I mend this?

"He's just shocked. I swear he does like you, just give it some time, let him think and-"

The phone rings.

Sunshine

I look up at her apologetically, "It's him."

"P-Pick up."

I obediently answer and put it on speaker, "Hello?"

"...'Sami?"

"Yeah?"

A beat.

"She confessed."

"Hinata?"

"..Yeah, yeah she did."

"That's great."

A deep breath, "No, it's not."

Please say something about how you majorly fucked up, please, Sunshine, please.

"An-And why is that?" I ask.

"I was really shocked, you know? I didn't think she liked me the way I liked her."

Hinata cries, tears stream down her cheeks as she covers her mouth.

"...And I think she thinks that I don't like her and I don't know where she is. I just- I screwed up, ya know?"

I look at her, asking her if she wants to talk to him and she nods, I take it back from speaker and hand her the phone, I close the door behind me as I skip down the stairs.

I scream into a cushion until my voice is raspy and my throat hurts.

Then I do a victory dance.

"Bitch, its happening! Hallelujah, motherfuckers!"

"...What are you...doing?"

I let out a shriek and jump backward, clutching my chest, "The hell, Hinata!"

She's smiling despite the tears and she starts laughing, "He likes me!"

"I know!" I squealed, hugging her tightly, she hugs back just as tight. "And then you two can get married and have little orange-haired lilac-eyed babies! And they'll be all over the place and-" I squeal again. "My babies are finally together!" When I pull back and hold her at arm's length, she is red faced and she opens her mouth to say something but she can't even.

"Y-Y-You're c-crying." She says after a bit.

I am suddenly aware to the fact that my cheeks are wet and hurt from all the smiling.

"Tears of joy, Hinata."

`.`.`.`.`.`.`

News spreads like wildfire about Hinata and Sunshine, mainly because Sunshine is always following her around and it's the cutest thing ever.

And-

"Boo!"

"Shit!" I clutch my chest and turn to look at the offender. "What the fuck, Kiba!"

"Language!" Asuma's voice yells from somewhere but no one pops up.

Ignoring Asuma, he grins and I find myself smiling back at him, "Guess what."

"What?" He holds up a bag of Hershey's Kisses and I completely ignore manners as I savagely take it from him and open it, tossing a kiss into my mouth and instantly dying, "This is Cookies 'n' Cream! Where did you even find it?! I've been searching for years!"

The bell rings, signaling the beginning of Art.

I have to hide the Bag of Heaven in my messenger bag so they don't confiscate it from me, Chouji, my trusty vending machine, has his bag on my seat so no one sits there, he's eating chips as per usual.

I don't understand why they let him get away with eating everything.

"Today's class assignment is drawing anything, you can pair up if you want," Optional objective, extra credits. "And if you don't want to, that's okay. You have until the end of of this class to turn it in."

I turn to Chouji, "What are we going to do?"

Chouji isn't bad at drawing, he is particularly gifted in sketching so we do a collab of a window with rain drops on it and the forest behind it.

Mainly him sketching the things and me drawing the outline so he doesn't cross it.

It's like a coloring sheet of sorts.

"Here you go," I hand Kurenai the sheet of paper with Chouji beside me.

"Wow, you two did a great job."

Cue the smiles from the two of us.

We go back to our seats and I rest my head in my arms and shut my eyes.

The bell rings nine minutes later.

One could argue that Kakashi is a slacker and he barely ever does anything, but to this I say neigh because what he doesn't do in class, he makes up for in homework and projects. I shit you not he gives us homework for things we've never even heard of before and we can't cheat or else he'll know because he didn't teach us in the first place.

Overall, he's a piece of shit.

Lunch is boring and as I take my tray to go sit with Ino and TenTen, I hear a shout.

"Asami!"

I crane my head and everyone in the cafeteria is staring at me and I'd like to dig a hole in the ground and bury my face into it like an ostrich, I finally find the piece of shit who called my name and it's none other than Kiba, I raise a brow.

He just opens his arms for me like I'm going to understand what the hell he wants but I look at TenTen and Ino, tilting my head in his direction, they shrug before nodding, getting up and following me to his table where he sits with Sunshine, who is only there because of Hinata, Sasuke, who is only there because he doesn't want to sit alone, Shino, who is there because it's his table, and Neji who is only there because- I don't actually know, he just sits with them all the time.

I sit down beside Kiba and he pouts.

"The hell do you want I'm right here."

"You're so far away."

"I'm sitting right next to you, dumbass."

Sunshine laughs at him and I haven't heard his laugh for so long that I just smile as I eat my sherbet.

Kiba unexpectedly pulls me closer, it's kind of weird because I didn't think we could even get that close but here I am with his arm around my waist as I shift and make myself comfortable while simultaneously trying to reach into my bag for a kiss.

The things I do to keep this damn fake relationship up.

He swipes my kiss from my hand.

I just look at him as if he's committed a crime of a highest offense, "Why would you do that?"

He just smiles at me and I have to reach again into my bag and basically get arm cramps because he's a piece of shit even though I really shouldn't be complaining because he got it for me in the first place.

This time I turn my torso, which is a big fucking achievement, mind you, towards Neji and hide behind him as I toss it into my mouth then turn back around.

"I've never seen someone do that much of an exercise just because of chocolate." Kiba says, his voice dripping with amusement.

"It's not just chocolate. It's Heaven in a Bag and people like you who think chocolate is just chocolate are the bane of my existence."

He just shakes his head and rolls his eyes as if I'm too stupid to even comprehend with Sunshine's cackling and Hinata's soft giggles in the background.

"Neji is the only one here that understands me," I say, scowling. "He's my best friend and you're a traitor." I say to Sunshine.

Neji hates Cookies 'n' Cream, it's like he'd rather eat his own shit than have to eat them, and it's not just the Kisses, nope, it's the flavor itself.

I don't understand how he's still alive.

The bell rings and Operation Gym is a go.

Gym happens every other day, most of the time we skip it because it's useless and we don't need it but this time Lee insists on us going so we do, we just listen to him because he rarely ever says anything.

We have to change in the bathrooms and I only have to change my shoes because God bless I'm wearing tight sweatpants that are pitch black and basically you wouldn't be blamed for thinking they're skinny jeans.

"I don't think wearing your hoodie would be wise." TenTen says to me.

She's arguably the most athletic one amongst us.

"I know, it'd probably smack me with its zipper." I say, taking it off and revealing a dark blue tank top that reaches my thighs, I shove put the hoodie into my bag, stretching for a bit because the girls are still changing. "I'm not ready for running."

"I'm not either, I got leg cramps this morning when I was gonna go on my jog." TenTen says, sighing.

"I got brain cramps at English." Ino says, and we laugh.

"Okay, Hinata, are you ready?"

"Yeah, yeah let's go." She says.

I pick up my bag and we walk out the door to the gymnasium.

The Gym is obviously the biggest part of the whole school, when you enter, at the very end of it, there is a floor-to-ceiling semi-circle window which allows us to see the outside greenery and an exit at the far right and left in case we're running in the tracks or if there's a fire or something.

Gai says a lot of nonsense about the Springtime of Youth, but I learned to translate it into normal English.

"Today, we're going to use this radio," Gai explains while making several retarded hand motions towards the radio, "We're going to be running laps inside the Gym and you'll have an appropriate time length to run from one end to the other. If by the time the radio says, for example, 'Two' and you're still running, you're out. Any questions?"

I raise my hand.

"Asami?"

All eyes turn to me.

"How long are we going to run?"

"Forty laps."

Mother of Sin.

"Any more questions? No? Okay." He turns the radio on. "Line up."

I find myself in between Sasuke and Neji, I tie my hair up into a tight bun.

"Go." The robotic voice says and all of us bolt.

I don't pay attention to who gets kicked out.

`.`.`.`.`.`.`

"39." The robotic voice says.

"Asami! You're out!"

I place my hands on my knees and bend over, sucking in the air, I was so close to the wall.

Sasuke is the only one left running.

I walk over to the flock of my classmates and almost laugh at Sunshine, who got kicked out on the 37th lap, he's pouring water onto his face.

"You dumbass..you're getting your..shirt wet." I say to him, dropping myself onto the cold hard floor beside him, I rest my back against the wall.

"I don't even care." He says. "God, I can't even breathe properly."

"That's cause..you're trying to..breathe with your nose you..dumbass." I say in between pants.

"No, I'm trying to breathe in through my mouth and out through my nose, dumbass."

I can only laugh, "Do you still have that cold water?"

He hands me his water bottle and I swear Heaven is near when I pour enough onto my face that it doesn't get into my top.

Sasuke comes crawling towards us at the end of it.

"Congrats," I say to him when he sits beside me, we have enough strength to high five, except, we're tired as fuck, so we miss each other's hand and end up resting on the others lap, we don't even care enough to move as our heads rest against each other

instead of on our shoulders because we don't want our hair smelling like shit which it probably already does.

"You guys have ten minutes until the bell rings," Gai tells us.

"Jesus." Comes from the flock to the right, I think it was Shikamaru and I smile.

"How are we going to get to Chemistry?" Ino asks.

I don't know where she is, "I'm staying here, thank you very much."

"Kiba can carry you."

"Right. Do you know what she eats? Bricks-"

"Screw you." I say, but I'm laughing.

"Not just bricks," Sunshine says. "Elephants."

"I thought you were on my side."

A nervous ass-kissing grin is carved onto his face when he turns his head to look at me, Hinata giggles.

"Naruto, you really stepped in it this time."

`.`.`.`.`.`.`

"We're having a sleep-over!" Ino giggles excitedly.

"What?" I ask her, "Why? Did you already forget the near forty laps I ran today?"

She completely ignores my statement, "We're gonna hang out 'cause we haven't in a while."

"Who else is coming?" I ask, resigned to my fate.

"Sakura, TenTen, Hinata, me, now you!"

"Okay." I sigh, picking up my bag. "When?"

"Right now, school is over, dummy!"

Warning: Ino Yamanaka has gone into full dumbass schoolgirl mode.

She drags me to her white convertible where the rest of the girls are waiting.

"Don't we have to get a change of clothes?"

"Nope! You're sharing with me!"

I look at the wall longingly, I could bang my head against it if I tried hard enough to get out of her iron grip.

Ino's house is big, her room is especially big.

I shit you not, it could fit an entire goddamn elephant.

"Hey Mom and Dad!" We sing as we enter the house.

"Hello girls!"

I follow Ino up the steps with the rest of the girls behind me.

"I call first pick on the clothes!" I yell as I run to her closet, I am not kidding Sakura tries to rip my hair out and Ino almost rips my clothes.

Finally, with a few bruises, missing hair, cuts and a bite mark on my hand, I reemerge from the cat fight with a purple pair of pants and a t-shirt, I run into the bathroom and hope to take a quick shower before they notice.

"Asami! Get out of the fucking bathroom, people are dying and you're still taking a shower!" Ino exclaims, banging on the door.

"I just fucking got in you whore!" I shout.

"Fuck outta here, bitch!" A distant voice screams.

Was that...Hinata?

"Did you just call me a bitch, you lilac-eyed whore?!"

...Sakura?

"She was talking to me you stupid pink bint!"

TenTen.

"Stop! Your fucking ugly pink hair is landing on my ten thousand dollar carpet I fucking had that shipped from America you bitches!"

Ino. No doubt about it.

I get out of the bathroom a few minutes later and run down the stairs to escape the warzone.

"What on earth is going on up there?" Inoichi asks, too amused for a situation like this.

"Just a little girl-time."

"Listen you stupid fucking blond! Those are my clothes! Stop ripping at it!"

I grin at Inoichi.

`.`.`.`.`.`.`

Hinata is wiping the tears from her eyes as Sakura hands her a tissue box, rubbing her back.

I hate The Titanic, I shove Oreo ice cream into my mouth.

"Jack! Jack, come back!"

Ino sobs as she takes my ice cream and eats basically half of it in one scoop.

Bitch.

TenTen is eating my Hershey's, she looks just as apathetic and bored as I feel.

"How are you and Neji?" I ask after a bit.

She shrugs, "He apologized."

"...And?"

"And I said okay."

I raise a brow at her.

"In short, I said if he made another mistake, we'd be over."

The corners of my lips quirk upwards, "And how many mistakes has he made?"

She gives me a half smile, "Ninety-two. But he doesn't need to know that."

"No, he does not."

`.`.`.`.`.`.`

"How's Kiba?" Ino asks after the movie is over and we're all just lounging around with nothing to do, unlike Ino who has found a friend in buffering her nails.

"Hm?"

"You two have been together for almost a week, spill."

I swear Hinata doesn't look, but her ears perk up.

My eyes go back to Ino, "It's been almost a week, there isn't anything to spill."

Ino rolls her eyes, "You're so boring."

"If I'm a boring for the truth, then okay."

She immediately turns her attention to Hinata, grinning at her.

Hinata sighs, "Naruto is nice to me."

I snort, "Nice? That boy follows you around like a puppy."

"Am I the only one that finds it weird that Hinata has liked Naruto for way longer than he has liked her but he's more whipped than she is?" Sakura asks.

"It's common knowledge that guys are more whipped than girls."

"Unless you're that chick from that book I wrote a review about." I say.

"Unless you're that chick from that book Asami wrote a review about." Ino nods.

"Do you think Kiba can be whipped?"

I roll my eyes at TenTen's question.

"He's already whipped, dumbo."

"No, he's not," I laugh.

"He buys you chocolate everyday-" Ino begins.

They don't know that's his way of bribing me.

"-And did you see how tight he held you at lunch today?"

Tight enough to remind me about the unfinished business we have between us.

I shrug, "Maybe he is whipped."

"Not to mention you're the only girl he's dated for more than one night."

"One could say that's called a one night stand." I correct Sakura, rolling my eyes. "What does it matter if he's whipped or not?"

"It matters a metric fuck ton."

"Okay, freaking fine, he is whipped. Jesus, I came here to have fun, not to have myself cross examined."

Hinata sighs, "It's all we do these days."

"Cross examine each other?" TenTen asks, to which she gets a nod of confirmation from Hinata.

I snort, "Didn't we always do that?"

"Don't all girls do that?" Sakura asks.

"No," Ino says. "We've especially been doing it since we became the It-Girls."

"It-Girls?" I repeat in disbelief.

"Don't you hear what they're saying about us?"

"I never pay attention, you know that." Hinata says for the both of us.

It's so weird how she's a completely different person around us.

"Well, remember when we first started doing this?"

"Doing what?" I ask.

"This, Vent, Advice, Comfort hobby thing."

"Oh, Jesus, that was when we were like, twelve or something."

"Yeah well, now it started when we were fifteen."

"What started when you guys were fifteen?" Sakura asks.

"They started putting labels on us, like how Kiba was always the guy that flirted with girls and how Naruto was always that dumbass and how Sasuke was always the popular guy, you know? They labeled Hinata as the girl to go to when you need comfort, and how Asami was the girl to go to when you wanna vent about that bitch, and how I was the one you go to when you need advice."

"Did they label me as an actual vent?"

"No. They called the three of us It-Girls."

"That sounds like the type of name you call a notorious whore."

"Isn't that kind of what you guys are?"

"Fuck you, TenTen."

"No, listen, we're It-Girls because everyone in school knows who we are."

"I googled it and this is what it says about It-Girl. It-Girl is a term used to describe a stylish young beautiful woman who possesses sex appeal without flaunting her sexuality. U-Um, that i-isn't me...?"

"Google definitions and real life definitions are two very different things." Sakura says to Hinata.

"I feel like a dumbass whore with a stick shoved up my ass."

TenTen does a spit-take, laughing her ass off, "Why?!"

"It-Girl. Need I say anymore?"

"Now you know what Kiba feels like."

"A dumbass whore with a stick shoved up his ass?" I ask in disbelief.

"Isn't that how the girls who fuck him feel like?" Sakura asks.

"Dumbass whores with sticks shoved up their asses?" I repeat, confused. "Why?"

"Because they realize that he never loved them."

I almost slap her, "That's not how he works."

"You're not allowed to talk because you're his girlfriend, it's obvious you're going to favor him."

"Yeah, and you're not allowed to talk about Sasuke if I call him an asshole, it's obvious you're going to favor him." I say back.

She glares at me but doesn't make a move, "Sasuke isn't an asshole."

"Kiba doesn't sleep with people he doesn't care about."

"Yes, he does."

"And Sasuke is a motherfucking asshole."

"As if you would know!"

"You hypocrite! You don't know Kiba at all!"

"Yes I do!"

"Yeah, and I have conversations with Sasuke every other day compared to you!"

"Sasuke isn't an asshole you stupid bint!"

"And Kiba isn't a whore you dumb bitch!"

"You've only been together for a week, watch him dump you by tomorrow!"

"Fuck you! I've known him for thirteen years!"

"And I've known Sasuke for thirteen years!"

"I've had actual conversations with Kiba, unlike you, who hasn't ever spoken to Sasuke unless you're going to confess, which might I remind you, you get turned down every time!"

"I've talked to Sasuke!"

"Right. So he can walk all over you and then still love him? Where's your fucking standards you stupid doormat?!"

Sakura lets out a shriek akin to a battle cry and lunges at me.

The rest is history.

If history were to be filled with bloody skin under manicured nails and tearing hair out.

"Get off of each other!" Ino screams angrily, trying to pry my vice grip on Sakura's hair off as Sakura digs her nails into my arm and it fucking hurts!

I shove Sakura off of me but her nails basically leave a trail of red on my arm and holy shit I tore out a lot of hair.

She glares at me, "Sasuke isn't an asshole."

"Kiba isn't a whore." I spit back.

`.`.`.`.`.`.`

"What the heck happened to you?" Kiba asks at homeroom the next day, the minor cut on my face, the ugly bruise on my arm, the battle scars Sakura left on me yesterday, the bite mark on my hand, he can't see the missing glob of hair on my head because I tied my hair into a ponytail.

I grin at him, piece of shit doesn't know what I did for him, "Just a minor argument with the girls."

His eyebrows shoot skywards as Sunshine interrogates Hinata about why she has that heinous slap-mark on her cheek and why she has that hideous bruise on her neck and about that ugly missing spot of hair on her head, Sai asks Ino, why does she have those suspicious marks on her arm, and the similar missing glob of hair that is slightly visible.

"It looks like someone hacked at your arm with a rusty axe." Shikamaru throws in quickly before going back to his nap, so Ino won't kill him.

Neji is very concerned as to why TenTen has a similar spot of missing hair on her head and why she has almost hand prints on her neck, and why the hell does she have a bloody nose.

"What the hell happened?" The guys turn to Ino and I because apparently Ino and I are the ones to blame, not Sakura who is smirking like the grinch or Hinata who is very subtly smiling or TenTen who is casting us amused glances.

"Just a minor argument." We sing simultaneously.

The verdict was that we wouldn't be able to have any more sleepovers.

`.`.`.`.`.`.`

I rest my hand on my cheek then wince because of the sting of the cut and I have to switch.

Kiba just looks at me, "What kind of argument leaves that?" He's gesturing to the almost invisible bite mark on my hand and the healing battle scars on my arm.

"A very minor argument about a very serious subject."

"What serious subject was this?"

"It's not important," I wave it off, taking a cinnamon roll from Hinata and eating it, she in turn takes a bite of my pizza.

Apparently Hinata is too innocent and hurt to be interrogated by Sunshine.

Bitch, please, her battle wounds are invisible compared to mine.

But of course I can't say this lest I face the wrath of a whipped Sunshine.

Sunshine drags me aside, "What really happened?"

"It was just a minor argument."

"Asami."

I just look at him, "It was a minor argument."

"Why won't you tell me?"

"Why do you want to know?" I ask him, almost angry, my brows furrowing. "I'm pretty sure if it was just me, TenTen, Sakura and Ino you would just laugh at me. And I get that you care about your girlfriend and I don't mind that you spend time with her more than you spend time with me. Really, I don't mind. But this-" My throat begins to hurt, stupid lumps. "This just takes the fucking cake."

I turn and walk away before he can say or do anything, I take my messenger bag and continue on the day like we didn't even talk.

"You want me to walk you home?" Kiba asks after the final bell rings.

I shrug, "If you want."

"What's up?" He asks after we're somewhat near my house.

I spare him a sideways glance, "What?"

"You and Naruto."

"What about it?"

"What happened?"

I shrug, "It's the beginning of their relationship and the end of ours."

"How can you say that?"

"How can I not? He cares about her more than he cares about me."

"Sweetheart, that's what best friends do when they become boyfriends."

"I know that's what they do, but when he asks me instead of her because she's just too 'fragile' or whatever the fuck he thinks, when he wouldn't care if it was just me showing up with this," I gesture to myself, "It's not fair!"

Kiba throws his arm over my shoulders, as if it doesn't really matter, "He's just scared."

"Of what?"

He shrugs, "This is his first relationship, yeah?"

I hesitantly nod.

"Okay then, he's afraid of messing up."

"You're a piece of crap, you know that right?"

"Why is that?"

I playfully shove him, "Because your cheap dumbass wisdom is right."

"Pass me a child, I have wisdom to pass on."

"No one wants your dumb wisdom-"

"That actually is right, approved by the bitch herself."

"I'm not a bitch!"

"Could've fooled me."

I laugh.

`.`.`.`.`.`.`

I see Sunshine walking into the Math classroom, I pull my hood over my head and pretend to be sleeping until the bell rings, so we can get this over with.

Why am I pretending to be sleeping, you ask?

Yes, I admit, I've been...avoiding Sunshine...

...For the past week since Kiba gave me his cheap dumbass wisdom on Tuesday.

Math goes by in a blur of advanced Algebra and quizzes and a lot of damn homework.

I hate Ibiki.

It's like he specializes in torturing us or something.

"Asami."

I pause, take a deep breath because the door is right there and outright running won't help in my situation.

"Sunshine." I throw in a deceiving sweet smile that I know he knows is fake the second it comes onto my face. "What's up?"

I swear I hear Kiba snort as he walks out the door.

Jackass.

"...Can we talk?"

No.

"Alright."

I wait for him to say something because we're outside of the school and we're standing next to that stupid tree that we used to sit under and I don't know what to say to him.

I don't want to apologize.

But I don't want us to break either.

So I'm gonna swallow my pride because Sunshine is worth it, he was always worth it.

Wasn't he?

"I'm sorry."

I pause.

Did he just apologize?

Hold the fucking phone, stop the presses, Sunshine just apologized!

I look up at him, Sunshine never apologizes.

What do I say?

It's okay but you're still a piece of shit and I hate you?

It's okay that you pay more attention to her than you do to me?

That's not fair.

I know it's not fair to hold it against him, because he's just starting his first relationship and he doesn't know what to do and what not to do, and he just apologized to me, and that means I matter to him more than I originally thought I did.

.

Jesus, Asami.

When did you become such an attention whore?

.

.

.

When?

.

.

.

"It's okay." I shrug. "I was in a shitty mood and...I'm sorry too."

And he smiles.

And I haven't seen him smile for so freaking long that I just laugh and hug him really, really tight.

And he doesn't mind.

And I don't either.

`.`.`.`.`.`.`

I yawn, finishing up the essay on Konoha's founding.

I hate writing stuff like this.

But since I know it's a shotgun to an A+ because of all the cold hard facts I got from the Archives, I'm good to go.

I get a text from Sunshine.

A selfie of him and Hinata at the carnival on the other side of town.

I smile at how happy they are, at how happy she makes him.

It's been two weeks since he apologized and while not much has changed except he's always blowing up my phone with pictures and texts, asking me how he should do this, or if girls actually like roses or if that's just some stupid myth and if Hinata likes lavenders or not and what type of chocolate she likes and what the hell is the difference between cinnamon rolls and cinnamon buns.

I told him the only difference was that Hinata likes rolls, which is why he should get rolls.

Plus, what the hell was he doing in a supermarket at two in the morning?

What kind of supermarket is even open at two in the morning?

My supermarket closes at eleven!

Eleven.

...

I don't think you understand what I'm trying to say here.

"Hello there."

I tilt my head as a bag of Hershey's kisses is dropped onto the keyboard of my laptop.

"Where do you even come from?" I ask as I save the essay document and toss a kiss into my mouth, he just drops himself onto my bed and I have to move a bit. "By the way, what are you writing for that history essay?"

"The rivalry between Hashirama and Madara."

"Jesus."

"I know. But Hinata is writing about the shit prior to the founding. Shino was writing about Tobirama's reign. You?"

"The founding."

"Christ."

I nod.

"I think Tobirama's reign is pretty damn hard. Like, the Archives don't have that much info, and people don't really know all that much about it." I pause. "Why would he choose it?"

Kiba shrugs, staring at the ceiling, "Shino likes going into the uncharted territory."

"Well, I guess we can't really say anything because he always gets straight A's." I huff. "How does he do it?"

"Buzzkill."

"Hm?" I spare him a glance as I write a reflection, extra credits.

"That's how he does it. He becomes boring and dedicates his life to going into the uncharted and getting all the facts." But he says it with a bit of fondness, like how Sasuke calls Sunshine an idiot when he does something smart in his own idiotic way.

"That's kind of...boring, don't you think?"

"It's Shino."

I shrug as my phone gets blown up with texts, annoyed, I check the messages from Sunshine.

ASAMI SHES NOT MOVING

I DONT THINK SHES BREATHING

HINATA FAINTED WHAT DO I DO OH MY GOD ASAMI HELP

HELP ME YOU WHORE

My brows furrow as I dial his number and put the phone between my shoulder and my ear as I continue typing up the reflection.

"Asami!" Sunshine is frantic.

"What happened?"

"I don't know! I mean, her face was all red but she was walking fine and-"

I sigh, tossing a kiss into my mouth, "Did you guys kiss?"

"...Yes..." Sunshine says in a small voice, Kiba just looks at me, a brow raised

"She probably just panicked, nothing serious."

"Do you think she'll still love me?" It's the tiniest voice I've ever heard him use.

"Don't be a dumbass." I tell him. "Of course she will."

"If I take her back to Neji and her dad like this-"

"Keep her."

"What?"

"I said keep her. Let her stay the night with you."

"B-But if Neji-"

"If Neji asks, she was staying at my house. Girl-time gossip and we ended up falling asleep. End of story. Capisce?"

"...Yeah, yeah okay. Thanks Asami, I'll see ya tomorrow?"

"Yeah, bye." I hang up and toss it onto that beanie chair.

"What the heck was that you sounded like a gangster?"

"Hinata fainted and Sunshine was scared that if he took her back to Neji like that he'd castrate him with a blunt rock."

"Why'd she faint?"

"The lovebirds had their first kiss."

He howls with laughter, I kid you not his eyes start to water at some point.

"But you can't tell. Or else Sunshine will kill me."

"Sh-She f-fainted beca-because he kissed her?" Kiba laughs. "I never thought she'd faint again, much less for that reason."

"Shit like that is important to girls."

"Are you implying that you're not a girl?"

"I don't care about first kisses, I'm too busy trying to get into a good college." I huff.

"You know that font size is meant for people with cataracts." He points out once he sees my reflection.

"It takes up a lot of damn space."

"I don't see your point."

"The bigger the font, the more space it takes, which makes the four page requirement useless because in reality, it's two pages long and also don't underestimate the power of double-spacing."

A pause.

"How come I've never thought of that?"

"Because you're an idiot."

"You wanna go for a walk or something?" he asks after a long, long while.

I spare him a glance as I save the document onto my laptop to print later along with the essay, "Yeah, okay."

The cold air feels like a slap across the face when Kiba opens the door as I'm tying my shoe laces, I take my hoodie and zip it up.

"Do you actually think there's such a thing as soulmates?" I ask after a while.

He spares me a sideways glance, "Are you drunk?"

"No, no. But my aunt met her husband as she was going into her college, and my uncle made a U-turn just as she was walking into the gates, and he told me that if he hadn't made that turn he wouldn't have seen her again, it was a matter of a couple of seconds. So I was wondering, is there?"

Kiba shrugs, shoving his hands into his pockets, "Maybe. You're probably gonna die a spinster."

"What makes you think so?"

"It's kinda obvious."

"Are you implying that I'm socially inept and I don't have any male friends?"

"That's exactly what I'm implying."

I pause, then shrug, "Yeah, maybe I will. But you're a male friend, and Chouji is a male friend and Sunshine is a male friend, heck, even Sasuke is a male friend. I have a lot of male friends."

"Ones that you haven't known for thirteen years?"

"...Yoshiro is a male friend."

"Who the heck is that?"

"The cashier at Starbucks."

"That doesn't count, you've probably been going there for years."

"I hate you, it's like my life was fine up until you came along."

"If I remember correctly, it was you who walked in and wanted some chocolate because you couldn't hold your fat ass down until I came back."

"I wanted chocolate."

"You still want chocolate."

"I will always want chocolate." I say back.

Kiba rolls his eyes at me, and I take a wrong step and my ankle comes into contact with the floor before I'm walking normally again except my ankle hurts really fucking bad and my eyes water as Kiba looks at me suspiciously.

"Are you okay?"

"Just a wrong step." I say and it hurts to put weight on my right foot.

"We can go back," He says after noticing the way I'm practically limping, I open my mouth to protest before the next wave of pain hits me like a tsunami and all I can do is nod.

He lets me lean on him until we make it back to the house and we look at the stairs leading up to my room before I hear him curse under his breath, picking me up and walking up the steps before setting me on my bed.

He scratches his head, "Now what?"

I reach into my hoodie's pocket and pull out the phone, "Can you get me the ice pack, please?"

He walks out the door without a word.

"Where is your mom?" Kiba asks after noticing how quiet it is as I place the ice pack on my ankle.

"She's been working nightshifts at the hospital." I say, googling the horrible position I'm in.

It turns out that I have a sprained ankle.

It also says I need crutches.

To this, I say neigh because there is Kiba, completely willing to carry me around the house.

You must be thinking of how I'm such a bitch for making him do this, but might I remind you that he's the reason I'm in this mess and also I don't have crutches lying around the place which is funny because you'd think my mom would have them in case of emergencies because she's a nurse and all but, no, we don't have crutches lying around the house.

But, I don't make Kiba carry me, mainly because I don't have anywhere to go, but I have my phone, my laptop, and my headphones and really great wifi, plus Kiba is eating something he found in the fridge and it looks like macaroni and cheese but I can't be sure as I shovel it into my mouth while watching a hilarious video of cats being assholes.

I choke on my macaroni and cheese a total of three times.

It's quite funny.

`.`.`.`.`.`.`

Yawning, I get up to brush my teeth so I can sleep, Kiba is thoroughly engrossed in some video about dogs and how you're probably treating them wrong, he notices me get up and I wave him off before he can say anything, "I'm going to the bathroom."

"Be careful!"

"Alright, mom!" I say over my shoulder as I hop to the bathroom, I close the door behind me and just as I turn to lock it-

Crash!

Jesus.

Fucking ow.

"Asami?!"

It doesn't hurt as bad as I thought it would, mainly because I didn't land on my sprained ankle which is a miracle, honestly, but it still hurts.

Not that bad though.

"I'm fine." I say, my butt hurts, I manage to get up before he opens the door and bashes my head. "I just tripped."

He peaks his head in and makes sure I haven't broken any bones before he nods and goes back to his dog vids.

Some friend he turned out to be.

My butt hurts more than anything else and I watch a couple of dog vids with Kiba before falling asleep with him still hogging up the good internet.

`.`.`.`.`.`.`

I stretch my sprained ankle, it hurts if I put too much weight on it, if I twist it too far to the right, it hurts, not so much if I turn it to the left, there's no swelling or bruises, which I think is great.

"You're not going to school today." Mom says, looking at my sprained ankle and shaking her head.

"But Mom-"

"Absolutely not. I already called and told them you had to skip today."

"Mom!-"

"Asami." She gives me the stink eye and I shut up instantaneously. "Kiba is going to turn in your homework, so you don't need to worry about that."

I nod obediently, she leaves a little bit later after I repeatedly say I'm not hungry, and I'm stuck watching Buzzfeed videos because I can't do anything else and I'm mostly on Tumblr before Hinata comes barging in hours later.

"I heard you couldn't come to school today," Hinata says, "I made you some cookies, oh, and here's your homework for today."

I smile at her, "Thanks Hinata."

"Kiba couldn't come because he had some stuff to take care of," She explains, I nod.

"That's okay."

A pause.

I really can't help myself so I ask, smiling, "How are you and Sunshine?"

The reaction is almost instant, red cheeks and stuttering, Hinata tries to pull together a sentence that actually means something instead of gibberish.

She finally gives up and covers her cheeks, "W-Well, we- we uh, we kinda maybe just a little bit kissed."

I squeal even though I already know this, "Oh my God, all that's next is the bedroom and-"

"Asami!" Hinata squeaks, horrified, "W-What?!"

I burst out laughing, "You virgins, you've been dating for what, three weeks now?"

"Four."

"A month?" I ask, brows furrowed.

"You and Kiba started dating like two days before us, I thought you would remember something like that."

Jesus, a month already.

I wave it off, "That's Kiba's job."

She giggles, "You have him whipped and you don't even know it yet."

"You had Sunshine whipped before he even confessed." I say back, smiling slightly.

"Naruto is different," she says with a sigh.

When Sunshine loves, he loves with everything he has and everything he can hope to give, he's the special boy that only comes around once in a lifetime, the boy that will stick with you until the very end, until leaving is the only option left because he can't fix it anymore.

He's the brother I never wanted because he can and will wake you up at five in the morning because he can't find the ramen and instead of yelling at him, you only carefully explain and show him the stash because he's half asleep and he doesn't remember where he last put it but he's not that sleepy because he called you because he knows that you know where he put it.

Sunshine was kind of a train wreck when Sakura rejected him because she was his first love and for months he couldn't even look at her without his eyes watering but for some reason I will never be able to explain, he saw Hinata one day, three months ago, laughing with me and Ino and TenTen, I don't know what he saw, I don't know what she did, but he loved her from that second on and I couldn't be happier.

And sure, he neglects me most of the time but I'm being unfair here, Hinata is his first girlfriend and I'd rather be neglected a million times over than have him be with that pink-haired girl that left him broken beyond repair.

He's a piece of shit most of the time, and sometimes he'll wake me up at five in the morning because he can't find his ramen stash, or sometimes because Hinata is all he can think about and he doesn't want to mess up what they have, or sometimes because he doesn't know what she likes and he asks me because I'm the closest thing to her or sometimes because he just wants to talk.

He's a piece of shit, yes, but I'm happy that I have him anyways.

"Yeah, yeah, he is."

`.`.`.`.`.`.`

There's this ominous feeling in the pit of my stomach and it won't go away no matter how many times I tell myself that nothing is wrong.

But nothing is right, either.

The nagging feeling won't go away, and I can't eat anything because my stomach is churning and I feel like I might throw up any second but I don't know why.

"Are you okay?" Chouji asks, concerned. "You seem kinda out of it."

"Yeah, I'm fine," I shrug. "Haven't gotten much sleep."

He nods, but he isn't convinced.

I don't need him to believe me.

I don't need anyone to believe me.

I only need myself to believe me.

But I don't.

"...Right, Asami?" Ino laughs at lunch.

As a natural defense mechanism, I shove a spoon of sherbet into my mouth and make a sound that is halfway between yes and no, and then swallow it and smile.

It's something I've perfected, when I'm not paying attention to her and she says something to me.

She seems satisfied with my answer, and I am once again left with that ominous feeling in my stomach that I can't explain.

I get to thinking of Kiba, and where he is, and where my damn bag of chocolates is but then it's dropped in front of me and a kiss is planted on my cheek and it's so normal for this to happen that I smile instinctively.

"How's your ankle?" He asks.

"It's been three days, I'm fine." I reply, I still limp, and it hurts when I twist it a certain way, but I'm good.

I can feel my heart beat rushing in my ears and I can't hear what they're saying so I get up and excuse myself for a few minutes.

I look at myself in the bathroom mirror, looking back down at the sink, I turn on the cold water and make sure I plug the drain.

I pull my hair up into a tight bun and dunk my face into the cold water.

Think, Asami, think.

I pick up my head again about forty seconds later and look at my dripping reflection.

I dunk my face back into the water.

A glare is burning a hole in the back of my head when I sit down beside Kiba, I turn and catch a glimpse of brown hair and a feminine face, before it's gone and I briefly wonder if I've gone mad.

"Poultry is way better than meat," Ino is saying to Kiba when I tune into their conversation. "Tell him, Asami."

Kiba and Ino look at me expectantly, I raise a brow, "I eat both and they're both great but…I prefer meat."

He smugly looks at Ino, who huffs and crosses her arms, muttering under her breath.

Sunshine and Hinata sit down with us.

"Where did you lovebirds run off too, lunch is almost over?" Kiba says, amused.

"Leave them alone, Kiba, they're allowed to make out in a corner." I can't help the smile that comes to my lips as Hinata's face flushes and Sunshine grows a pair and sticks his tongue out at me.

"Unlike you two, who probably do it all the time," TenTen says to us.

"Mind you," I add in quickly to save face. "We've never been caught making out."

"I don't understand how that is possible with Kiba as your boyfriend." Ino says as Sai appears out of nowhere and she kisses his cheek.

"Ahem." Kiba clears his throat. "I'm right here."

I laugh, "It's called privacy. It's really not that hard to use it."

"Are you saying we're a bunch of idiots?" Sunshine asks with mock hurt.

"I'm saying you people don't know how to restrain yourselves."

"In short," Kiba grins, "She's saying you're a bunch of animals."

"That's rich coming from you." Sai says.

"You're not allowed to talk, Sai," I wiggle my finger at him, smiling, "I caught you and Ino doing the dirty before homeroom today. Not to mention that Kiba hasn't been caught with anyone this past month."

When they all fall silent at the facts I have bestowed upon them, I can't help but feel really freaking triumphant.

School passes by in an agonizingly slow pace and the ominous churning of my stomach is mostly all that I can pay attention to, when the final bell rings and History is over, and before I could properly zip my bag, Hinata, Ino and TenTen are dragging me out into the hallway.

"We're gonna go shopping!" Ino giggles, dragging me down the stairs, she looks past me, at something that makes her face contort into pure anger and I don't understand why and I'm about to look before a hiss interrupts me, "Don't look."

"But-"

"Don't look."

Hinata and TenTen look at what I'm not supposed to and TenTen looks, if possible, more angry and Hinata only looks torn.

The second I sit comfortably in the passenger's seat, I look at the rear view mirror and pause at what I see.

I jinxed it.

"...Not to mention that Kiba hasn't been caught with anyone this past month..."

I really did jinx it.

There, Kiba is pushed against the wall with his hands on a short person who has brown hair and a feminine face and is pushing herself against him and I'm just shocked for a full minute before I look at Ino who knows I have seen it.

"Asami-"

"Stop the car."

"But-"

"I said stop the fucking car." Hinata and TenTen don't say anything as I unbuckle my seatbelt and walk as fast as my sprained ankle can carry me.

Because, I get it, you see.

Kiba is labeled a whore in the same way that Ino is labeled a bitch, or that Ino is stupid just because she's a blonde. People think that because you're labeled a whore, it automatically means that if you go up to them and try to fuck them, they will be okay with it because they're a whore.

"...I don't just make out with anyone..."

That is not the case.

"Asami!" Ino's voice calls behind me.

I break into a jog and every single time I land on my sprained ankle it hurts.

But I do it.

For him.

Kiba is a boy with a bad reputation.

That doesn't necessarily make him a bad boy.

It just means that's what people think he is, or that's just what people say he is

And I will admit, I also thought for the longest while that he was whore, and I'm not any different from anyone else in school, I thought he was a whore, there, I said it.

Doesn't mean he is one, though.

Kiba is a sweet boy who buys me chocolate as a form of "bribery".

I like Kiba.

But he has been caught with girls left, right and center.

And every single time I looked at him before this one month, I saw him with his hands on that girls hips, trying to push her away from him, and no one says anything, either because they don't care or they just don't notice.

He doesn't say anything either, hoping that one day, they might get the message that just because he's labeled as a whore, doesn't mean he will fuck them if they are horny.

He never tries to contradict his reputation, or try to prove that he isn't what they say he is.

Why?

Because he doesn't care. He doesn't care enough to try and say 'No, I'm not a whore.'

Because he knows that Hinata and Shino don't believe it, he knows that they know what he really is.

And that's enough for him.

I really, really, really like Kiba.

I ran into the girl with her hands on my boyfriend.

"Don't fucking touch me," Brunette Bitch says, glaring at me.

"Don't fucking touch him you slut," I bark back, pulling him behind me. "Kiba is my fucking boyfriend."

"Oh? Is that why-"

"Listen here you stupid bint, Kiba is mine, fucking touch him again and I'll peel your artificial Botox injected face off."

"You little-"

I pull Kiba along, listening to her insulting me and for a bit, it seems like her voice is too close but then it's silent and Ino, basically, is ready to kill Kiba before I stop her.

"It was a misunderstanding." I say, shaking my head. "He wasn't doing anything wrong."

"But he-"

"Enough." I say firmly. "I'm walking home, I don't want to hear about this again."

I limp take off to my own home but it's not long before I hear distant footsteps and-

"What?" I ask, turning around and leaning on my left leg, Kiba is coming towards me and I just wait for him and shift my bag, my right ankle hurts.

"I-" Kiba pauses, furrowing his brows, not really knowing what to say.

It feels like that night one month ago when I caught him making out with a guy he had been met at the supermarket.

Except I'm not asking for chocolate, and he isn't trying to explain himself, and I don't feel slightly shocked or traumatized or kinda happy that I have blackmail which equals to a large supply of chocolate but God damn I wish it was that simple again.

I'm standing here, tired, angry and confused, with a sprained ankle and a bag full of homework that needs to be done and God I don't even know if this is the right way home.

And Kiba is standing three feet away from me, trying to find something to say because I'm standing here, waiting for him to say something so I can leave and go back home and try to finish this homework by tomorrow but I can't think straight.

"Thanks."

To any normal girl this would be a stupid word that doesn't really mean anything, and poor compensation for her hurting ankle that she jogged with.

He steps forward and kisses my forehead.

To any normal passerby, it looks like a pitying boyfriend trying to end a relationship that isn't really working.

I blink, and he is gone with a statement that barely left his lips.

`.`.`.`.`.`.`

"You know how I feel."

I stare at the ceiling.

And I do know.

Do I feel the same way?

I thought I was a beard.

The doorbell rings and-

"I'll get it!" Mom yells as she barrels down the stairs.

A few minutes later, someone is dropping themselves onto my bed beside me and I don't even have to look to know that it's Sunshine.

"Hey." I manage to say.

"Hey." He replies. "So. You and Kiba, huh?"

My brows furrow, "Weren't you supposed to say this a month ago?"

"You weren't a thing a month ago."

"Yes-"

"Don't lie, Asami."

It kind of terrifies me that he said my name.

A very long pause.

"You knew?" I ask.

"Hinata and I figured it out. Don't worry, no one else has noticed."

Except Sasuke but the fact that a denser-than-a-brick Sunshine figured this out earlier than I did makes me feel really, really stupid.

He's never been so serious.

"Why didn't you say anything?"

"He didn't want me to." From my peripheral vision, I see him spare me a sideways glance. "He told me to let him tell you. To let it take it's time."

"I don't know what's going on." I say a little bit later. "I don't know what to do. Please tell me."

"He's liked you for a while now." He shrugs.

"How come he hasn't said anything?"

"Are you dumb?" He asks me, there's some humor in it and I kind of smile. "Asami Saito, the classiest dumpster in school with a pristine reputation goes for the school's manwhore with a reputation dragged through the mud. What do you think he'd think?"

I rub my forehead tiredly, "Life is so tiring."

"Bet big to win big, 'Sami, it's the only way to play the game."

The nostalgia makes me smile bitterly.

"Life is a game now?"

"Wasn't it always?"

`.`.`.`.`.`.`

Dinner parties at Hinata's house isn't exactly my idea of fun, since its formal as fuck and very classic.

So here I am, decked out in a little black dress and ankle wrap ballet flats and a sparkling silver bracelet with my hair as glossy and pretty as it's ever been and my face as pretty as it can be.

I'm only here because they said Kiba would be here.

I sip Dr. Pepper out of a champagne glass because I'm a classy bitch.

I don't understand why the girls have to dress up and the guys can come in with fucking hoodies and sweatpants and no one will say anything.

Well, no one has actually walked in with sweatpants, just Sasuke with a hoodie and might I say that his fan girls, whichever ones were invited, came swarming and can I also say that he looks damn fine?

"Wipe away your drool, Asami." Sasuke smirks as he drops himself into the seat beside me.

"Excuse me, you're the one that walked all the way over here, one could argue that- you got a little something there," I point to the corner of my mouth, his brows furrow. "Drool."

He chuckles, "Very funny."

"I know right, aren't I just hilarious?" I flash him a smile, running my fingers through my wavy hair. "So, you and Sakura, eh?"

He rolls his eyes, confirmation enough.

"I didn't ever think I'd live to see Sasuke Uchiha, Konoha High's infamous heartthrob, date one of his fan girls."

"We're not dating."

"Yet." I add in excitedly, he rolls his eyes again.

It's something he does a lot when he's near me.

"You should be careful," I say to him, he raises a brow at me. "You shouldn't roll your eyes that much or else it'll permanently roll back."

In response, he rolls his eyes again.

"Who knows," I add humorously, "You might find a brain back there."

He rolls his eyes skyward.

I pat his shoulder as I get up, "Now if you'll excuse me, I have a boyfriend to track down."

"He's out back."

I turn my head, "What?"

"He went out back when I was walking in," Sasuke explains.

"Oh...Thanks, Sasuke." I nod.

The Hyūga house wasn't ever a welcoming one, it reeked of superiority and arrogance, in short, you do not want to fuck with its residents, and the porch out back was ominous looking even though I've been here a million times.

He's sitting on the steps leading to the porch and I sit on the step above his.

"So..." I trail off, my stomach is churning and I don't really know what to say. "...How's Akamaru doing...?"

Hands down, dumbest thing I've ever said.

"He's fine." Kiba shrugs. "How's your ankle?"

"Fine." I reply.

A pause.

A very long awkward pause.

"You wanna ditch the party or something?"

"Yeah, alright."

We end up going to the park a mile away and somewhere along the way we don't need to come up with conversation starters, and we can talk without feeling awkward and- and it's a nice feeling.

"You wanna kiss?" He asks.

I raise a brow, "Excuse me."

A Bag of Heaven is dropped onto my lap.

I smile, resting my head on his shoulder.

"Yeah, I'd like a kiss."

Fin.