I got bored with the other one, so here's this one.
Dickbag is an insult I use all the time and I have been obsessed with it lately.
"Who are you?" a rather rough looking girl shoved her way into the small room. The girl she'd spoken to narrowed her eyes and didn't look away from the bed she was making.
"I assume your roommate," she finally said. "Sakura," she still didn't look at her. The other girl was standing with her hands on her hips. She scoffed and rolled her eyes, moving to the other bed in the small room.
"I'm Tenten. I'm not mad at you, really." Her voice was still hard and she didn't seem very apologetic. "I was supposed to get my own room this year, but I guess they couldn't swing it. Are you a scholarship kid too?"
"Yes," Sakura threw her comforter over the bed.
"Good shit. You're going to be stuck in the dorms until you graduate, too," the older girl made a face and began pulling things out of boxes that she'd stacked on top of the bed earlier. Sakura laid on her made bed. She hadn't brought much with her. Her meager amounts of clothes were already in the closet and her things were put away in the small desk against the wall at the end of her bed. She got out a book to read. "You hungry?"
"Hm? No," she had a good stash of snacks under her bed so she wouldn't have to go down to the dining hall any time soon. She didn't think she could deal with all those people. She could hardly deal with all the people in this dorm building. They were all milling about in the hallways, talking and playing music, trying to introduce themselves to anything that moved. She wasn't that interested in people. She quite liked being left alone.
"Alright then." Tenten grabbed a bag and headed for the door, slamming it shut behind her. Sakura didn't even flinch. Sakura let out a relieved sigh when the girl finally left and turned on her side, putting herself into a more comfortable position to read her book.
She didn't know how long it'd been since Tenten left, but she was three quarters of the way through her book when she slammed the door open again. Sakura didn't flinch at the loud intrusion and didn't even move. She didn't want to. She liked her book and she was far too comfortable to sit up.
"Wow, I would have thought you would have gone out for certain," Tenten said while she went digging in her closet for something. Sakura only shrugged. "You know there are a whole bunch of parties around right now, what with the year starting. Why don't you go out and get a little drunk?" the older girl was trying to be friendly, Sakura knew, but she didn't feel like it.
"I don't like a lot of people," Sakura said quietly. "Anyways, I'm only eighteen."
"Doesn't matter on campus. The guys at the parties aren't going to card you or anything," Tenten shrugged, tossing on some new clothes. She pulled her combat boots back on and went for the door. "Whatever, dude, I'm not going to force you out if you don't want to go." She left after she said her piece. Sakura only shrugged and went back to her book.
Hey, party tonight at the quad near Bridge building. You in? Naruto, arguably her only friend, had texted her. Sakura rolled her eyes at her phone.
Not in the mood.
He didn't text her back. She was glad for it. He had always tried to get her to go out. He tried to get her to be more social and do things far outside her comfort zone. Once in a while, he managed it, but she usually shot him down. He didn't usually have any hard feelings about it, honestly, but every so often he'd pout at her and whine that she should go out with him.
Sakura sighed and pulled out some granola bars from under her bed. She ate them while staring at the ceiling. College was a new start. Nobody, save for Naruto, knew about her past and she could pretend it hadn't happened here. She still had an issue meeting new people and all, but there wouldn't be whispers and quick glances her way anymore. She hoped it would stay that way, at least for a little while. Finishing her last granola bar, she stuffed the wrappers back into the box and turned to face the wall, closing her eyes. Her first class was at nine in the morning tomorrow. She didn't want to miss it.
"I'm Professor Kakashi and this semester I'll be teaching you," he took a moment to look down at his book, "Advanced English language." He sounded confused, like he had never heard of it before. "Uh. Why don't you take out your books?" Sakura heard a scoff from beside her and she looked out of the corner of her eyes at the black haired boy next to her. He was leaning back into his seat, giving the teacher an unimpressed stare.
Sakura ignored him and pulled out her textbook. It was more than slightly beat up and was probably missing a page or two, but she didn't spare a glance at the boy next to her, even when he tossed a new edition of the book on the table, giving her a stare. He thought he was better than her and was trying to show it. She didn't care. She watched the teacher. He didn't seem like he even had a lesson plan. Was he just winging it?" she narrowed her eyes at him.
"Open to page," he flipped through the book and settled on a page at random, "One hundred and eight." The students opened their books. "We will be discussing the structure of Shakespearian plays," he was reading from the book. He seemed like a particularly shit teacher and many of the students were watching him, obviously thinking him dumb.
Sakura didn't think much of him, either, but didn't want to assume anything. She was right not to assume. As the professor got into the lesson, he was more focused and obviously knew what he was talking about. Many of the students, as she observed, quickly became lost as he talked. He didn't ask any questions and she vaguely wondered why. Perhaps he liked to hear himself talk? She followed along in her book, though Shakespeare was relatively boring. She thought it quite overused and overrated, but she would never voice her opinions out loud.
"So what'd you think of that?" the black haired boy asked when the class was let out. Sakura was surprised he even talked to her. He was obviously rich and knew she wasn't. He wanted to rub it in her face earlier, so why all nice now? She didn't look at him for a long moment while she was stowing her book back in her bag.
"He knows what he's talking about," she finally said after realizing the boy wasn't going away without hearing her voice. "Maybe he doesn't know how to structure lessons or something, but he gets his point across." The professor had assigned them an essay about picking apart Hamlet, but he didn't seem to care much about it. Sakura got the feeling the man didn't care about much. The boy made a grunt.
Sakura pulled her bag on her shoulder and went for the door. When she emerged into the hallway, she was surprised the boy was following her.
"Did you need something else?" her voice wasn't the nicest, she knew, but she didn't understand why he was walking beside her. He shrugged.
"Aren't you Naruto's friend?" he asked blatantly. She faltered in her step and nearly tripped. He watched her, an amused glint in his eye, as she pulled herself back up gracefully and continued on. She didn't answer for another moment after her awkwardness subsided.
"How do you know Naruto?" she finally asked. She hadn't really thought of Naruto having other friends. Yes, she knew he did, but they didn't seem real until this moment. Naruto had never pushed her into hanging out with his friends and when they went out it was just the two of them. He had a heart of gold and would never put her into situations she felt uncomfortable. She definitely felt uncomfortable now.
"I've known him for years," the boy shrugged. "He kind of shoved himself on me when he first moved. He made me be his friend," there was a shred of annoyance in the boy's voice, but Sakura suspected he didn't really mind all that much. "I've known he's had a friend with pink hair for years, but I never met her. I thought that friend would be you. Not many people have pink hair."
"Well, you've found the one person on earth that both knows Naruto and has natural pink hair, congratulations," she was sassing him. He stared at her with a look of surprise in his eyes. "What, do you think I should feel gratuitous to you that you're talking to me? You're obviously high above my social status," she shot at him, stopping outside her classroom door. Who did he think he was, anyways? She was a stranger. He didn't know if she wanted to talk to him or not and she definitely didn't want to.
"I only talked to you because you're Naruto's friend," the boy shot back at her. "There's no reason for such hostility." He was angered by her words. So what, he was well off? He didn't talk to her because he pitied her. He had heard stories from Naruto through the years and was naturally very curious. He just wanted to see what Naruto thought was so great about her.
"I'm Naruto's friend so you have to be my friend, too?" she asked heatedly, sharp green eyes watching him. He sighed and rolled his eyes to the ceiling.
"Look. Naruto's the type of guy that thinks anyone that's your friend is his friend. He thinks I should do it that way too." His voice was hard, toneless. Naruto had obviously wrangled him into this; she could hear it in his voice. It was the voice she used when Naruto managed to wrangle her into something too. "Here." He shoved a piece of paper at her shoulder while he left. "In case you want to stop being an asshole," he said as he walked away. She looked down. A phone number was scrawled underneath a name. Sasuke. She gave him an appraising glance as he walked away and then ducked into her classroom.
"I swear, why don't you ever eat?" Tenten was standing over her, watching her type the essay for her English class. Sakura just shrugged.
"I don't eat at the same time you do. My classes are at nine in the morning. Yours are at noon," she was dodging the question. She didn't want Tenten to think she could be her friend now, too. It was just the first day into the semester and she wasn't trying to make friends, these people were just everywhere.
"Why do you have to be up so early?" the girl asked, groaning and flopping down on her bed. "You're in college; you should be out late partying it up!" Sakura didn't know why Tenten wanted to stay in this tiny room and criticize her on her life choices. Shouldn't she be with that boy? Kevin, Sakura thought his name was. He had shown up at some point looking for her.
"I'm not the partying type," she said tonelessly, deleting a few words she didn't need in her writing. Kakashi had wanted two thousand words and she had gone well over the limit. She was now deleting some of it that was impertinent. "You should go out partying, if that's what you want." What, did the girl think she was her charity case? She rolled her eyes at her screen.
"You could meet someone for once. Have you met anyone here?" Tenten demanded. She just was not giving up. Sakura shrugged.
"There was a black haired boy in my English class that wouldn't leave me alone," she held up the piece of paper with his number on it. "Does that qualify as 'meeting someone?'" She didn't look at the other girl's face.
"Yes, that would qualify. So, are you going to text him? Go out on a date with him?" Why was she so interested? Sakura narrowed her eyes. She just wanted to be left alone, for fuck's sake. The only reason she hadn't flipped out on Tenten yet was because she had to share a room with her. She didn't want the drama that would ensue if she made her angry.
"Wasn't planning on it. He's not bad looking if you want a go at him," Sakura shrugged. There was a banging on the door. "Naruto, you don't have to break my door down to talk to me," she raised her voice. Tenten looked to the door, dumbfounded as the blond walked in looking rather sheepish.
"Sorry, Sak, you know I can't help it," he flopped on her bed. "Oh, hey, roommate, what's your name?" he smiled easily. "I'm Naruto, this one's best friend," he stuck his thumb out at Sakura. Sakura rolled her eyes again and saved her essay. She'd have to print it in the morning before class. She got to writing another essay for a history class she was taking.
"Tenten. So, can you tell me why she doesn't do normal college person things?" she asked. Naruto shrugged.
"Sakura's never done 'normal person things,' I guess," he laughed loudly. "I've known her for fourtteen years and she still confuses me!"
"Why are you here, Naruto?" there was barely veiled annoyance in her words.
"Get your coat." There was a quiet command in his words and she sighed. She saved her progress on her essay and stood, rifling through her closet for a jacket. Naruto grinned at her and she grimaced back. What did he have planned?
"Oh? Where are you two off to?" Tenten asked, eyeing them. Sakura glared and she looked away. She didn't like when others butt in on her personal business.
"I'm just getting Sakura some fresh air," Naruto remedied the situation and ushered her out the door. She went easily enough. "Your roommates really interested in everything about you, huh?" he laughed as they walked towards the elevator. Sakura shrugged.
"So where are you dragging me off to?"
Naruto gave her a skeptical look. "I know you haven't eaten anything really since you got here." Sakura bristled, but he seemed to be expecting it because he grinned. "I know you, Sak, you wouldn't ask for food when I brought you over to my house all those times. I wonder what you'd do if you didn't have me around," he grinned at her and she only grimaced.
"You still haven't answered my question," she said flatly, giving him a pointed look.
"Geez, Sakura, you don't beat around the bush, huh?" Naruto laughed. "There's a good restaurant a few minutes away from campus. We're meeting some people down there." Sakura glared at him. He grinned sheepishly. "It isn't anyone scary, Sak. You met Sasuke earlier and his brother and his cousin are coming. Then there's Hinata and her cousin and her friend, Ino. You've met Hinata."
"Just because she's your girlfriend doesn't mean I have to talk to her," she grumbled, climbing into the passenger seat of his car. Naruto only laughed and turned on the car, throwing it into gear. He sped out of the parking lot.
"Well, don't talk then. I'll pay for you just so you can't complain," he laughed and she rolled her eyes. Oh well, she had known she'd have to deal with a situation like this eventually anyways.
"Do they know how we met?"She hadn't been around his friends much, but didn't care. She didn't want him to tell them anything about her past or how they knew each other. That was very important to her.
"They don't know who you are or that you're even coming," Naruto shrugged. "Why? You don't want to tell them we met in foster care?" Sakura glared at the windshield, at her own reflection. She shook her head. "I'll keep my mouth shut, Sak, no problem. Nothing about foster care, promise."
"Nothing about how I ended up there, either," she said sharply, eyes narrowed.
"Alright, alright," Naruto sighed. "Why all the secrecy?" he had never understood why she didn't tell people about herself. She kept it at a need to know basis and probably wasn't even happy he knew. She couldn't do anything about that, though. He'd known her for so long and was in the same foster care family for a few years before he was adopted. There wasn't any secret of hers he didn't know.
"What if I don't want them to look at me with pity in their eyes, like everyone else in my life always has?" she asked softly, staring out the window. Naruto parked. He didn't get out yet and Sakura didn't, either.
"I'll listen to ya, Sak, but you have to learn to trust someone every now and then," Naruto gave her a smile and she shrugged.
"I don't need to trust anyone. I just need myself," she sounded like she was pouting and he wanted to laugh, but knew he really shouldn't. Sakura would just hit him upside the head.
"Well, you have me, too," he grinned again. "Come on, they're probably waiting for us," he gave her a little shove and she rolled her eyes, shoving open the door. He pulled himself out of the car as well and walked with her to the restaurant, watching her to make sure she didn't try to run. She gave him a look that said she wasn't even thinking about it and he just laughed nervously.
Sakura wasn't happy to see the large table of six people already there. They seemed happy to see Naruto, but didn't really know how to react to the pink haired girl with him. Sasuke gave her a glance and raised two fingers in acknowledgement. She nodded her head imperceptibly at him.
Naruto sat next to Hinata and Sakura pulled up a chair, but didn't quite know where to sit. There wasn't room next to Naruto and that was the only person she was comfortable being next to. She stood in indecision for a few moments until someone noticed her standing there.
"Here," the man had black hair and eye, smiling openly at her. He must be one of Sasuke's kin. He shoved himself over and patted the place. She shoved her chair into the space and sat, feeling completely uncomfortable. She was between the black haired man and a boy with long brown hair and pail eyes, which she figured must be Hinata's cousin. "So what's your name?" he was talking to her now and she didn't want to.
"Sakura," she finally said after a few long moments.
"Shisui," he stuck out his hand, smiling again. She looked at his hand as though it repulsed her and he slowly lowered it. She was certainly a prickly one, huh? She darted her eyes around and fidgeted quite a lot. She was obviously very nervous. "So how do you know Naruto?"
"We were childhood friends," Naruto yelled down the table, grinning. "We met way back in preschool, but she moved pretty soon after." She sighed in relief. He'd probably thought that answer through pretty well. She was glad he interrupted Shisui's attempt at being friendly, too.
"Hm. We've never heard of you," Shisui looked at her closely, "and Sasuke's been Naruto's friend for a long time too." Sakura wanted to smack him. She glared at the table and clenched her hands tightly together in her lap. She was tense and didn't want to deal with this.
"Shisui," another black haired man spoke up, "Stop." Shisui sighed.
"Fine, fine, cousin, but you know it's weird."
"She probably didn't want to meet you. She already has to deal with Naruto, why would she want to deal with you?" the man glanced at Sakura and she realized there was amusement in his eyes. He was definitely teasing Shisui, but also trying to keep his attention off her. She gave him a grateful glance.
"I take that as offensive, Itachi!" Shisui stood and shoved his finger in his face. "I'm nowhere near as annoying as Naruto!"
"I am sitting right here, asshole!" Naruto was on his feet now too, shoving his finger in Shisui's face. "I don't think I'm nearly as annoying as you are!"
"Will you sit down, Naruto?!" Sakura glared at him. Naruto, looking sheepish, slowly lowered himself back down into his seat.
"Sorry Sak," he looked perfectly contrite. Everyone was slightly surprised she could shut Naruto up so easily. Their silence was complete and slightly awkward until the waiter showed up to take their order. Sakura was still fuming and hadn't even looked at the menu.
"What are you getting, miss?" the waiter was staring at her, slightly annoyed and waiting. Sakura had checked out and was staring at the table. She looked up at him, but still didn't know what to say.
"She'll get the baked ziti," Naruto said suddenly. The waiter nodded, writing it down and Sakura nodded once in Naruto's direction to show her thanks. He wasn't really worried too much about her, but she definitely was shutting down. She'd stay, at least, even if she wasn't enjoying herself. Hinata patted his hand and he leaned his ear close to her mouth so he could hear her.
"Is she alright?" Hinata had only met Sakura once or twice, but she knew a lot about her from Naruto. She didn't like large groups of people and didn't like it when strangers tried to talk to her. She'd been watching the pink haired girl the entire time and could see she was rather agitated.
"She'll be fine, Hinata. She's just a little grumpy. She's always grumpy," Naruto laughed. Sakura was now picking at her food, not really eating much.
"Come on, Sakura, it smells good," Shisui was saying, staring down at her with a smile on his face. Hinata's cousin had yet to speak and she was glad for that. Shisui was the only one being annoying as all goddamn hell. At his words, though, she lost it. She couldn't do this.
"I need to go," she stood and dropped her fork on the table. Naruto watched her go, concern in his eyes, but Shisui stood.
"Don't worry, I'll walk her home, Naruto," he smiled easily. "It's probably my fault she left," he grabbed his jacket and trotted after her. Naruto was only slightly happy he didn't have to run after her. He knew he should, but he really didn't want to leave Hinata. It'd been a few days since he'd seen her. Whatever Sakura threw at him, he knew Shisui could deal with it.
"Hey, wait up!" Sakura heard the words, but didn't turn around. She kept her eyes on the ground and continued walking quickly. She didn't want to deal with him. She didn't want to deal with anyone. She wanted to be left alone to do her history essay. That's all she wanted to do. "Jesus, you walk quickly."
"Leave me alone." She wasn't going to try and be nice to him. Not at all. She hugged herself tighter. It had been getting colder at night with summer over and she hadn't thought to bring a jacket. She hadn't thought she'd be walking home. She felt something fall on her shoulders. A jacket, probably Shisui's. She shrugged it off. "I'm fine."
"Oh, hush, just let me be a gentleman," he put it back on her shoulders. She gritted her teeth and dealt with it. "Where's your dorm?" he was walking easily, completely laid back. He seemed like a cheery laid back person, easy to get along with, but she didn't want to get along with him.
"On the campus, where else would it be?" she asked flatly. She kept her eyes trained on the ground. She didn't want to look at him. She didn't really feel like it. She quickened her pace, wanting to get this walk over with.
"Jesus, will you slow down? What's your problem with me anyways?" he had tried to not take her actions offensively, but it was getting harder and harder. She certainly wasn't giving him anything. He was used to being able to use his charm to get through to anyone, but she seemed rather immune to charm.
"I don't have a problem with you, not really," she said, voice hard. "I have a problem with people in general. I just want to be left alone." He was surprised by her words and stopped momentarily, but he came back to his senses. He caught up with her easily enough.
"Well I like you, so you're stuck with me!" he announced. She faltered in her quick pace and looked up at him, eyes narrowed.
"No. Leave me alone." Shisui just shook his head.
"Nope! You're Naruto's friend and now you're mine. You're stuck with me, you asshole," he grinned at her.
"Ah, yes, the best idea when making a new friend is to call them an asshole," she rolled her eyes and continued on her way. He couldn't help the laugh that was ripped from him and he caught up with her.
"Well, you are an asshole, you know."
"I just want to be left alone." She'd always been alone. Why couldn't she just be left alone? They finally got back to campus and she turned in the direction of her dorm. To her dismay, Shisui followed her. He was seriously glued to her side.
"It's not good to be alone all the time, you know," he said easily. "You need to have some company sometimes."
"I have a roommate and she's company enough," Sakura said flatly. Shisui laughed. She obviously didn't like her roommate very much, but then she didn't seem to like many people very much.
"Ah, well, you're stuck with me, yet again. I know where you live now," they'd gotten to her building. "Give me your phone." She narrowed her eyes at him, hand on the doorknob, and she shook her head once. "Then I'll follow you to your room and I won't leave until you give me your phone." He grinned at her, challenging her, and she sighed.
"Fine." She handed him her phone. He punched in his number and saved it.
"You better text me after this you know. If I don't get a text within the next day and a half, I'll ask Naruto what room is yours and I'll annoy the hell out of you," he promised, winking. She huffed and turned around. He almost spoke again, wanting to let her know she still had his jacket, but he let her go. Let her keep it. It would give him a reason to annoy her. He turned around and walked away.
"Who was that?" Tenten had seen her walking up to the building. It wasn't hard to miss her with the shock of pink hair. She had seen her with some tall guy, but couldn't see him well enough to see whether he was handsome or not.
"Shisui. Naruto's friend. He decided he needed to be my friend," Sakura spat, throwing her phone on the bed. She didn't like being someone's charity case. She pulled off her jacket and stopped. This wasn't her jacket. Fuck. She threw it on her chair. She wasn't going to say anything to Shisui about it.
"Is he cute?" Tenten was sitting on her bed, her eyes bright.
"I don't know. Maybe?" Sakura shrugged. "I don't really think anyone's 'cute,' honestly." She had never had a boyfriend and honestly wasn't really looking for one, especially not someone like Shisui. Tenten looked a little let down, but Sakura didn't really care. She got out her computer to finish writing her essay.
"Say, when are those essays due anyways?"
"A week from today," Sakura said blankly. "I don't like waiting on them." She'd never really been one to procrastinate anything except for social gatherings. Tenten sighed.
"You're a much better student than I am." Sakura looked at the clock. She had to get to bed soon if she wanted to be awake for her classes tomorrow. She only had an applied mathematics class and a graphic arts class in the morning, but she had to go to work afterwards. She needed her sleep. She shook her head and went back to her essay. She was almost done. This one was shorter than the English one had to be. Tenten sighed again. "Well, since you're busy studying, I'll be off." She got up and began changing her clothes.
"Bye," Sakura said tonelessly. After Tenten left, the only sound in the room was her rhythmic typing. She finished her essay rather quickly and shut her laptop. She plugged in her phone and saw that she had a text message from Naruto.
Hey. You okay?
Fine. Sorry I left earlier.
It's k. I'll see ya tomorrow.
k. night.
Sakura threw her phone on the desk after she set her alarm and fell into bed. She was so tired. Screw today. Screw Naruto. Screw Shisui. Screw everything at this point. Sighing, she stretched and settled beneath the covers to sleep.
"How'd you get into a junior level class?" It was right before her graphics arts class and someone was already annoying her. She looked up to see the one person she wasn't too keen on seeing. Shisui stood next to her and he was already pulling out the chair to sit down. She couldn't say anything as he settled in next to her. "Are you going to answer?"
"Perhaps I took a college level art course last year so I could be allowed to take it," she said flatly, not looking at him. He sighed. When was she going to stop being an asshole?
"You're a good artist then, huh?" he smiled. "Say, you haven't texted me yet. You only have a day left, you know." She scoffed.
"Threatening me to text you?" she narrowed her eyes at him. "I'm pretty sure I should call the police for harassment." Shisui laughed. He couldn't help it. The level of her sass was off the charts and pretty much everything she said was hilarious.
"Now, now, I think that's going a little too far," he laughed. She looked away from him and was so glad when the professor finally walked in. She didn't have to answer him and he didn't try to say anything else.
He did have something to say, however, when the class was over. "So, you want to grab lunch with me?" he asked, an easy smile on his face. Sakura shook her head while she gathered up all her belongings.
"I have to get to work," she said. She already had her uniform in her bag and it was a fifteen minute walk to the small coffee shop she worked at. Shisui nodded and began following her as she walked out the door. "Go away."
"Nah. It's not safe for a girl such as you to walk alone on campus, even during the day," he smiled at her. Sakura brushed him off and quickened her step. If she had to deal with him, she wasn't going to make it easy on him.
"I might take that as an insult," she said flatly.
"Why? You should be happy you have your own personal guardian," he laughed. "I wouldn't feel right letting you walk God knows where without someone. You're so tiny. There are a lot of people that will take advantage of how tiny you are." Sakura shook her head.
"This is literally a college town. I doubt there are many people out there that want to rape me."
"That doubt is going to get you into a sticky situation, you know." Even if she didn't worry about her wellbeing, he could. She didn't say anything else as they walked and he figured he wouldn't either. He didn't want to add fuel to the fire. "Do you have a jacket?" he asked suddenly. September was certainly cool during the evening, especially this year.
"Don't worry, dickbag, I've brought a jacket," she said flatly. He laughed. And continued laughing. He had to stop her for a moment so he could get the laugh out of his system. "What?" she asked, exasperated. He didn't answer until his laughter subsided and they were on their way again.
"Dickbag, that's a good one," he couldn't help but laugh shortly again. "Remind me to call you if I have to insult someone."
"Noted," she said evenly. She saw the coffee shop come into view and was almost jogging at this point in an effort to get away from him. He kept the pace easily. He had nice long legs for it, at least. She stopped right outside the door. "See you," she said as a goodbye.
"Wait, I'll come walk you home," he said, reaching out for her shoulder before she could slip away. She gave him a harsh glare and he almost took a step back, but he stood his ground. "Or I'll pick you up. I have a car, you know. I don't walk everywhere," he grinned nervously. He sounded desperate. He knew he sounded desperate, but he didn't care.
"You don't have to." She turned into the door. He watched her go and looked at the door for a long moment. They closed at eight. It was ten minutes before one. He figured she was closing if she went in at this time. He shoved his hands in his pockets and turned around, walking away. He'd be back. He didn't want her to walk home in the dark, much less alone.
Sakura was glad to be away from him, even if she now had to deal with the customers. Happily, they were mostly tired college kids that just wanted their coffee so they could continue their half asleep existence. They didn't notice she had a stony face while serving them and didn't say much more than she absolutely had to.
"Sakura, are you almost done?" It was after closing time and she was just tying up the last garbage to take to the dumpster.
"Yeah," she called. The manager was in the office, counting money. She stopped in the office door on her way to the back door with the garbage. "This is the last garbage I've got to take out."
"Alright, clock out and take it with you on your way out."
"Kay, see you on Friday," Sakura went to clock out and collected the garbage, shoving her way out of the door. The door barely worked and she had to literally body check it to get it open. Sighing, she went to the dumpster and threw the bag in. She straightened her bag and began walking through the parking lot.
"Hey." She stopped and turned. Shisui was leaning against a black car she'd thought belonged to her manager. She glared at him.
"Haven't you gotten the idea, yet?" she said sharply. "I don't want you around."
"Too bad. Come on, in the car," he noticed she was wearing his jacket. He wanted to smile, but didn't want to let her know he noticed. He grabbed her bag and pulled it from her amid her various protests, tossing it in the back seat of his car. She wouldn't stop glaring at him and wouldn't move her feet. He rolled his eyes and grinned at her, placing his hand between her shoulders and pushing her towards the car. It wasn't easy to move her, but he managed it. He opened the car door and waited. It took a few minutes, but she finally sat in the seat.
"Are you hungry?" he asked as he turned the car on. She shook her head. She was so livid she didn't have words to say. "Well, I'm hungry," he pushed the car into dear and turned onto the street. There weren't really any fast food places around, but there was a Mcdonald's, so he set his direction that way. He cast a glance at Sakura, who was staring out the window with a grimace on her face.
He ordered in the drive thru and got her a burger and fries, though he didn't tell her. He just handed it to her after it was handed to him. He half thought she was just going to throw it out the window, but to his surprise, she didn't. She began eating the fries.
"So you're not hungry?" he teased her. He didn't know anything about her eating habits, but he remembered the night before when she just pushed her food around her plate. He was glad she was eating what he gave her, at least. Perhaps she was more comfortable around him, he didn't know. He parked in a space close to the dorms and pulled out his own food.
"Thanks," she said throwing her wrappers back into the paper bag. She made no move to get out of the car. She knew he would want to walk her to her door and thought it better to simply wait until he was done. She didn't have to wait long. He was throwing his wrappers in the bag a few minutes later.
He walked her to the door as she thought he was going to. "Glad you ate," he said, smiling. She only nodded, not looking at him. He opened the door for her and she ducked inside without so much as a goodnight. Perhaps she was starting to like him. He smiled at that thought and walked away.
"So is Shisui your brother or your cousin?" Sakura asked when she sat down next to Sasuke the next morning in their English Language class. He had looked slightly surprised when she sat down, not quite understanding why she would do it of her own volition, but got over it pretty quickly.
"Why do you want to know?" he asked evenly. He set his black eyes on her; they usually intimidated most people, but she didn't see very fazed.
"Well, he's been following me around for the past two days trying to be my friend," she grumbled, almost slamming her book on the table. "It's getting annoying." Sasuke raised his brow. It sounded like his cousin was taking a shining to the little spitfire.
"Ah. He's my cousin. He tends to be…assertive," Sasuke shrugged. "If he wants to be your friend, you're stuck with him. Sorry."
"Sounds like Naruto," she muttered darkly. She didn't need another Naruto, not really. Sasuke actually cracked a smile at her words and shrugged.
"He is quite like Naruto. He can be less obnoxious if you just give up and let him be your friend. He is aggressive when he finds someone he likes." Sakura rolled her eyes. "You still have yet to talk to me outside a classroom, you know," he said flatly. Their teacher was late. Sasuke half wondered when he would show up.
"I don't make it a habit to meet new people," she said sourly. "Naruto dragged me out that night."
"I don't like people either," Sasuke said. His voice sounded quite grumpy and he pulled the first smile he'd ever seen from Sakura. "I only talked to you because of Naruto," he admitted. "He thinks you need more people to talk to."
"I don't even talk to him that often," she said, leaning back in her chair.
"Me neither, so text me once in a while so he'll get off my back," Sasuke said flatly. Sakura smiled again and nodded. She could do that at least.
"Sorry, no calls. I'm not much of a talker."
"Me neither," he sounded relieved that she would never call him. "I don't like people, I'm just less of an asshole about it." Sakura couldn't help but laugh. She decided she liked Sasuke. He was better than Shisui by any means.
"So how do I get Shisui off my back?" she asked, sighing. She leaned her chin in her palm, elbow on the desk. "He doesn't seem to know how to take no as an answer."
"Being an asshole doesn't get him off your back," Sasuke shrugged. "Trust me, I've tries. Multiple times. Have you texted him yet?"
"No. I don't want him to think I like him." Initiating contact with the man seemed like a huge no-no. He'd take it as a good sign and would start annoying her more. She at least had the upper hand when he couldn't contact her.
"He'll leave you alone for a while if he thinks you've accepted him," Sasuke said, eyes trained to the front. "He carries most of the conversation, like Naruto. Has he shown up outside your door yet?" When Shisui wanted someone's attention, he would sit outside their door, either it be a bedroom or a house, and would wait until that person came by.
"No, thank god. I might punch him in the neck if he did. I keep insulting him and he thinks it's the best shit ever. I called him a dickbag and he laughed." She certainly sounded grumpy and irritated. Sasuke wanted to laugh, but didn't. With how much Shisui was distracted by her, he hadn't been bothering anyone else really. It was a nice reprieve.
"Take my advice and reciprocate or he'll never leave you alone," Sasuke said, shrugging. "He doesn't understand insults. He gets along with everyone." Jesus, that man really was a second Naruto. Sakura groaned and held her head in her hands.
"Your brother was right. I never wanted to deal with another Naruto!" she whined. "It's bad enough that I've had to deal with him for so long!"
"How long have you known Naruto?" Sasuke asked, raising a brow. She seemed to know him pretty well to draw the similarities between the two.
"What, like fourteen years now?" she sighed. "We met when we were four." Sasuke looked at her in surprise. She certainly should have come up at some point in conversation. Naruto couldn't keep his mouth shut half the time. He wondered how Naruto could have possibly never talked about her before. It was certainly surprising. "He says I'm his best friend, but I don't know why. I really don't like hanging around him and I'm not very talkative," she sighed.
"Well, if he says you are, you are." Sasuke knew Naruto well enough to understand that. The teacher finally, finally walked in. He turned his skeptical eye to the front and Sakura followed suit. They were quite happy to. Sakura had certainly used all her social motivation for the day.
Shisui was waiting for her after her last class. She glared at him. He grinned and fell in step beside her. "Hungry?" She shook her head. "Too bad," he grabbed her hand and began pulling her through the hallway and out the door.
"What the hell?! What are you doing, dickbag?" she decided his name was henceforth dickbag, and there was nothing anyone could say that would change her mind. He only grinned.
"We're going to get food, buttmunch." She couldn't pull her hand from his; he was holding it way too tightly. She dug her heels into the ground and sat. Yes, she was resorting to toddler based tactics to make him let her go.
"I'm not going with you, ass," she spat at him. "Leave me alone. I just want to go up to my room and do my homework." There was another English essay and she hadn't even gotten to her math homework yet. The math was due the next day and she didn't have time to go trailing after Shisui for half the day and the entire night.
Shisui grinned at her and scooped her up easily in his arms. If she was going to resort to childishness, he could too. "Then we'll get food and we can go back to your room."
"Why won't you leave me alone?" she whined, hitting his chest. She wanted him to let her down, but he wasn't budging. "I keep telling you and telling you that I want to be left alone, but you won't! Why not!" this was certainly a scene and people were certainly staring, but neither Shisui nor Sakura seemed to notice.
"I like you," he said pleasantly. "And anyways, I think part of you likes it," he grinned down at her. She glared back. He only shrugged and managed to open the car door one handed. He placed her gently into the seat and closed the door. He slid into the car and turned it on; heading to a restaurant he knew had takeout and pretty quick service a few streets down from the campus.
When they got there, Sakura wouldn't say a word. She was tense in her seat when he left her to go order and wait. He tapped his keys against his leg, impatiently waiting for what he'd ordered. He was sure if he waited too long Sakura would run away from him again. He couldn't help the sigh of relief when he saw she was still in the car. "Here," he tossed the bag into her lap.
Sakura didn't say anything while he drove back to the dorms. He didn't take her silence as anything bad. If she wasn't talking, she wasn't insulting him. The insults really had begun to weigh him down even though he acted as though it didn't. He parked and looked over at her. She still hadn't moved a centimeter since he'd gotten back in the car. He sighed and pulled himself out of the car, her doing the same.
She didn't spare a glance at him as she led him up to her room and prayed Tenten wasn't around to see him. She knew the questions would never end if she did. Thankfully, she was nowhere to be seen and she shut the door behind her.
"Don't you have to keep it open?" Shisui asked, giving her a curious stare.
"It's a Co-ed dorm, there's no rules like that around here," she shrugged. "Anyways, like I'd let you do anything, dickbag," she threw her jacket and her bag on her bed. "You can sit there," she took her desk chair. Pulling out her laptop, she was surprised when she felt the warmth of a takeout container on her lap. She looked up to see Shisui just as he was pulling away.
"I got it so you could eat, remember?" he smiled at her. Sakura just looked away. She started her English essay, knowing it would be the fastest one to get out of the way. She didn't need to think about English, really, it just kind of came out of her. They were silent to her rhythmic typing and she had nearly finished when Shisui spoke.
"Think you could play some music? I'm getting kind of bored over here," he said, smiling. He had a book open, reading. She blinked and opened her music folder. She didn't care if he didn't like classical music, that's all he was getting. "Mozart, right? This one is…" he listened for another moment, "Piano Concerto in C major?" She blinked.
"How'd you know?"
"I studied music a lot throughout the years," he smiled. He went back to his book and Sakura gave him a long look before turning back to finish her essay. She looked it over and thought it good enough to turn it in and saved it. She went to her math homework next and quickly became frustrated. She wasn't too good at math and this was the easiest course this college offered. The music wasn't helping her focus, either, and she bit her lip. She slammed her hand on the table in her frustration and held her head in her hands.
"Jesus, what's wrong?" Shisui was snapped out of his book.
"Nothing," her voice was strained. She didn't understand this problem. There were five more after this and she was already frustrated with the four before it. She slammed her hand on the desk again.
"Sakura," she stopped when he used her name. He didn't do it often. He stole Tenten's chair and pulled it up beside her. "What's up? Frustrated?" He looked over her shoulder at the worksheet. This was easy. Perhaps she wasn't good with math? There were a lot of eraser marks underneath the fifth problem. He looked at it and immediately understood it. "Want help?"
"No," she muttered, her hand clenched on her pencil. He chuckled.
"Oh, hush," he laughed, "Come here," he brought his chair closer and pressed a hand to the back of her chair and leaned over the desk. He talked her through it, explaining it to her thoroughly. He talked her through the rest of them and she threw her pencil away from her when she was finished. He pulled the takeout container from her lap and put it in front of her. "Eat."
"Thanks," she muttered. She meant for both the food and the help.
"Math doesn't make much sense to you, does it?" he asked leaning on the desk now, watching her eat. She shook her head, staring intently at her food. She was overly aware that he was close to her, so close, and she couldn't get it out of her head. She narrowed her eyes at her food. She wasn't starting to like him. She wasn't starting to accept him hanging around her all the time. She wasn't.
"I can help, if you want. This is super easy to me." He didn't think she would make it easy for him and she was right when she shook her head.
"It's fine. Thanks for tonight, but I don't need it." She didn't like accepting help, she really didn't. Shisui laughed.
"Sorry, you don't have a choice, silly," Shisui smiled at her. Suddenly, she was pressed against his side and his arms were around her. Her eyes widened. A hug? Why would he hug her? Thankfully, he released her quite quickly and she simply went back to eating. Shisui smiled at the back of her head. He stood up, stretched, and went back to her bed. He needed to finish this book.
Sakura finished her meal and looked over at him. He was intently reading the book again and was about three quarters of the way through it. She sighed, throwing her container in the trash, and grabbed a book of her own from the top shelf in the closet. She sat next to him on the bed and began reading herself. Shisui looked over at her and couldn't contain the smile on his face. Was she finally accepting him?