A Party Not So Bad
Sasuke was sitting on the couch with a grim look on his face, staring angrily at anyone who attempted to make conversation. This damn party had not been his idea; it had actually been against his will. His nagging, stubborn idiot of a roommate had been asking him «why, why?» when Sasuke had said there was no way they were having a party. He had been so insistent that in the end Sasuke had given in, just so he wouldn't hear his nagging. As Sasuke had thought, he didn't enjoy the party. What was there to enjoy? His apartment was filled with rowdy, drunken people who seemed to have no respect for another man's property. The apartment was already a mess. It looked like there was a bunch of kindergarteners that were visiting, not grown men and women.
His roommate was happily welcoming new guests that came. It was an hour and a half since the party had started, and Naruto had been standing in the hallway almost all that time while Neji had been in the kitchen, which faced the hallway, giving Naruto and the guests drinks as they came. Lee was in the kitchen with Neji, pretending like he also knew how to make drinks, being loud and starting to chat with every new guest that entered. Neji was calm, but how was it that all his other friends were noisy as hell? Kiba was standing not too far (rather too close) from Sasuke and attempting to make conversation with every hot girl he saw. He was bragging about things Sasuke was sure Kiba had never done.
Shino was unsurprisingly sitting in a corner with his phone, ignoring everyone. To be fair everyone seemed to be ignoring him too. He was Kiba's weird friend. A silent guy who sometimes opened his mouth to spout incomprehensible sentences. He wasn't as bad as the rest of them, but then again Sasuke didn't really know him. There were two of his friends that weren't as rowdy as the rest. True enough, alcohol did make Chouji louder, but he wasn't the all-over-the-place drunk that Kiba became when he drank one too many. Shikamaru was the calmest of the bunch, as he always was.
«Sakura!» Sasuke glanced in the direction of the door. Naruto was currently hugging his long-time crush. Behind her walked Ino. Both of them seemed to have drunk a couple of bottles already. Sasuke caught a glimpse of long, black hair behind Ino.
«Hinata, come on!» Ino dragged the reluctant girl inside. Her face was flushed and she kept her gaze at the floor. Of the girls, Hinata was the one who annoyed him the least. She came across as more intelligent than her two friends. She was quiet, which Sasuke liked. The worst thing in the world was overly chatty women.
«Hey, Hinata!» Kiba suddenly exclaimed. He had just been shut down by Tenten for the tenth time and seemed to have chosen his next prey. «Hey!» he repeated when he approached her and pulled her into a hug. Sasuke could see Hinata's uncomfortable, slightly frightened look. That stupid dog. Couldn't he see she didn't like it?
«K-K-Kiba,» Hinata begged, attempting to get out of his embrace. When he let go, Hinata had tried to push him away, which resulted in her nearly crashing to the floor. Neji had witnessed the whole thing, however, and saved her from hitting her head.
«Kiba, you incompetent ass!» Neji yelled. «Stay away from my cousin!» Neji could come off as a little too protective of his cousin sometimes, but right now Sasuke was glad he was.
«All right, all right,» Kiba said, holding his hands defensively in the air. His eyes shifted from Hinata to the blonde next to her. «Well, hello,» he said with a grin.
«Get over yourself,» Ino scoffed and walked into the kitchen where Lee was attempting to mix drinks. He offered Ino a drink. The substance was a light pink.
«What's this?» Ino asked.
«A love potion,» Lee said with creepy grin.
«Oh, God,» Ino said, immediately putting the drink on the counter. Neji grabbed Hinata's arm and lead her to the sofa where Sasuke sat, basically forcing her to sit down.
«Stay here,» he said. His eyes shifted to Sasuke. «Don't let any creepy guys talk to her.» Sasuke didn't have time to refuse babysitting Hinata before Neji returned to the kitchen.
Since Kiba had been refused by both Hinata and Ino, his eyes landed on Sakura. She eyed him sceptically when he smiled at her. «Yo.»
«No,» she said and turned to walk away, but Kiba grabbed her arm. «Hey, what's the rush? You didn't seem to mind the last time.»
Sakura's face flushed. «Th-that was…»
Kiba closed in on her. «Actually you seemed to like it.»
«Kiba, don't harass her,» Naruto said, his cheeks pink with jealousy.
«Ah, mind your own business, Naruto,» Kiba said. Sakura kicked Kiba's leg. «So should you!» Lee entered the hallway with the pink drink in his hand. «Sakura, I brought this for you.»
She reluctantly accepted the drink. «Eh, thanks.»
«I made it especially for you,» Lee said. Sakura had just taken a sip, when he added, «It's a love potion.» Sakura sputtered the drink all over Kiba, who exclaimed a few imaginative curse words. In addition to his bruised leg, his shirt was now also soaked.
«Fantastic,» Kiba mumbled.
«Sorry,» Sakura said sheepishly before chewing Lee off for being a creep.
«Well,» Kiba said with a grin, «I could just take it off.» Naruto looked in horror as Sakura's eyes stayed glued to Kiba's chest as he unbuttoned his shirt.
«Th-that's inappropriate!» Naruto stuttered.
Kiba rolled his eyes. «It's a party. We're supposed to be appropriate?»
Lee ended up drinking the love potion himself. Seeing as he became significantly drunker, Sakura was glad she hadn't drunk it. She could see how it could be called a love potion. It would definitely screw up your inhibitions and better judgement. «L-Look, Sakuraaa, I can take off my shirt too!»
Ino exited the kitchen and lightly slapped Lee over the head. «Don't be a creep.»
Lee didn't take his shirt off, but grabbed Sakura's arm despite Naruto's protests. «Let's kiss! Let's celebrate our blooming youth!» Sakura slapped Lee with her free hand, which made him let go off her, but he still walked towards her. Naruto tightly grabbed Lee's shoulder. His right eye was twitching in anger.
«I suggest both of you let Sakura go,» Naruto said, referring to both Kiba and Lee. Ino entwined her arm with Sakura's and led her into the living room. «Let's get away from those freaks.» Sakura was happy to be saved.
«Dude, it might be time for you to let go too,» Kiba said to Naruto. «And I'm not referring to your death grip on Lee's shoulder.»
«Mind your own business!» Naruto growled. He didn't like when people, especially Kiba, would point out that he didn't stand a chance with Sakura.
«I'm just telling you to spare your feelings. Forget her and move on.»
«Like you care about my feelings,» Naruto said. He had let go off Lee, who had joined Neji in the kitchen again.
«I'm just telling you since she's obviously in love with me.»
Naruto scoffed. «As if! If there's anyone she's in love with, it's Sasuke.»
«Nah, she has forgotten about him. A make-out session with me made that happen.»
Sasuke, who was still sitting on the couch next to Hinata, glanced in the direction of the hallway as Naruto and Kiba had started fighting. He sighed. Those idiots. Hinata looked worried. They heard a loud crash. Now the idiots were wrestling on the floor. Damn, they really were annoying. People were starting to gather around the two idiots, yelling, «Fight! Fight!»
«Shouldn't we stop them?» Hinata squeaked. Sasuke stiffened. She rarely spoke to him. He knew she found him intimidating. He wasn't like Naruto or Kiba, who loudly spoke their feelings. To Hinata he was probably lacking emotion. Sasuke didn't. He just wasn't as stupid and brash as the two idiots who were still rolling around on the floor. To show his feelings wasn't something that came easy to him. And yet, when he sat next to her, he wanted to.
«It's fine, they are always like this.»
«But…» Hinata glanced at Sasuke with a frightened look. It was obvious she disagreed with him, but she was too scared to speak her mind. It was weird having this power over her without even really knowing each other. Sasuke had no doubt she wanted to stand up and do something about Naruto and Kiba's fight, but her fear of him made her stay seated. Hinata was playing with the hem of her dress that ended right over her knees.
The dress looked nice on her. It had a nice shade of red, which suited her skin tone. It also showed some of her cleavage, which Sasuke was currently having trouble not staring at. Especially since her arms was pressing them more together as she played with the hem of her dress. A straight guy had to be blind not to notice her body. It was surprising that a girl that looked that good didn't know it or take advantage of it. She could've twisted every guy she knew around her little finger if she wanted to.
Sasuke wanted to move closer to her, but his pride wouldn't let him. To his annoyance a certain pink-haired female decided to slump down next to Hinata with a loud sigh. «Aaah! Those morons never stop, do they?» she said, gesturing towards the big commotion in the hallway. «Looks like Kiba won.» Sasuke glanced in their direction. Naruto looked more pissed than before if possible. Kiba had a content smirk on his face.
«Gosh, why does Ino always find someone?» Sakura said in a, according to Sasuke, whiny voice. Ino was currently running her hand up and down some guy's chest. «And then I'm left to myself. I wish I could talk to boys as freely as her.» Sasuke wanted to scoff. She certainly didn't have any trouble talking to him for many years. It had been horrible always having her around him. She would never stop talking, and it would all be superficial and shallow talk. Why Kiba had begun liking her, he couldn't comprehend. Then again, Kiba wasn't the sharpest tool in the shed. As long as they were somewhat attractive, he would be all over them. In that respect, they suited each other.
Kiba was currently making his way towards the couch, swinging his shoulders back and forth in an arrogant matter, clearly pleased that he won the fight. Sasuke cursed inwardly as Kiba strode up to them.
«Hi, Sakura.»
Sakura glared at him. «What do you want?»
«I assume you saw how I kicked Naruto's ass?»
«Th-that's not kind,» Hinata stuttered. Sasuke smirked at how perplexed Kiba looked. It wasn't often Hinata spoke her mind. She wasn't as weak as people assumed. She was quiet, but she often had a stubborn look in her eyes.
«Uh, well, he started it!» Kiba sounded like a bad child explaining himself to his mother.
«I don't understand what you guys fight about. Who's the lamest?» Sakura suggested. Kiba didn't seem pleased by the comment. He crossed his arms over his chest. «I don't want any comments from you about being lame.»
«Sorry for telling you the truth.» Sakura had unconsciously imitated Kiba and crossed her arms.
«If we're going to talk about truth, I guess you can tell me the truth about the kiss you gave me.»
Sakura gaped. «You kissed me.»
«No, I'm pretty sure it was your tongue that was down my throat.»
«That's absurd!» Sakura spluttered, her cheeks coloured pink.
«Just admit it, you like me!»
«I don—»
«Could you take your lovers' spat somewhere else?» Sasuke growled impatiently. Sakura and Kiba both started stuttering as he was giving them a death glare.
«I-I don't want to be where Kiba is anyway!» Sakura said and rose from her seat.
«Fine by me!» Kiba growled and walked away. Sasuke rolled his eyes as he saw Sakura walk in the same direction.
«Immature brats,» Sasuke mumbled.
«P-please don't say th-that about them,» Hinata said, though looking like she immediately regretted it. Her cheeks were lit on fire and her gaze was even more fixated on her dress than before.
Sasuke decided to push her buttons. «Yeah? That's no more than the truth, though. Selfish pricks describes them well too.»
Hinata shifted her gaze from her lap to Sasuke's neck. It didn't seem they dared to travel further up. «Th-they're not perfect, but they're not bad people either.» Sasuke couldn't help smiling. It was so typical of her to defend people. She didn't want to think badly of anyone. That made him think…
«What about me?»
«Huh?» she said, her startled eyes now staring into his eyes.
«Am I a bad person?»
She looked speechless for a moment, her eyes looking into his as if to see if he was serious. Then they fell back to her lap. «I don't know you very well, b-but you don't seem like a bad person.»
Sasuke was no longer smiling, but stared at her intently with serious eyes. «I am, though.»
Hinata looked carefully at Sasuke again. «That's not tru—» Her breath was caught in her throat as a pair of lips landed on hers. She tried to back away, but Sasuke had one hand on the back of her neck, refraining her from moving. Hinata had no idea what to do. She had always wanted to be kissed, but she barely knew this guy. Besides she had no idea how to kiss or what to do with her hands that were currently on Sasuke's chest, trying to push him away.
His hand on her neck loosened and she was able to push him away. Her breath was uneven and she could feel heat rise to her cheeks. She was surely even redder now than before. Confusion was what she felt at the moment. Why Sasuke had decided to kiss her wasn't something she was able to rationalise. They hadn't spoken a lot and he always seemed a bit angry or irritated.
«See?» Sasuke said, as if he had proven a point. Hinata had become so warm she had started to sweat. She couldn't move a muscle without great effort. It felt like she was glued to her seat now more than before.
Sasuke almost became worried. She sat there like a statue. Her hair covered her face, which made it hard to decipher exactly what she was feeling. He guessed she was more frightened of him now than before. Ah. He should have restrained himself, but it was difficult when she sat right next to him with innocent eyes and rosy cheeks.
He ran a hand through his hair and sighed. «I'm sorry.» Hinata didn't respond, but kept sitting there like a statue. Sighing again, Sasuke stood up. He should probably leave. She must feel really uncomfortable, as she was completely unresponsive. Sasuke was about to go when Hinata's body started tilting to the right.
«Hinata!» he called as her body fell down on the couch. She had fainted. He shook her slightly to see if she would respond.
«Man, she must have gotten completely trashed!» some drunken fool exclaimed, seeing as Hinata had yet to respond.
Sasuke gave him a deathly glare, which shut him up.
«Oh, my God!» someone yelled. Sasuke closed his eyes and sighed. Of course Neji had to come at this exact moment. «Sasuke! What the hell happened to her?» he asked in a panicked and slightly angry voice as he approached the couch.
Not wanting to tell him the real reason, Sasuke replied, «She…drank too much.»
«WHAT?» Neji screeched. «How the hell could you let her drink to the point of fainting?» He looked at Sasuke with accusing eyes, and Sasuke thought that maybe telling the truth wouldn't have been that much worse.
«She didn't drink much,» Sasuke said, thinking it was too late to tell the truth now. «I didn't know her tolerance was that low.» Neji started looking around to see if there were any beverages around, as if to check whether Sasuke was telling the truth. Luckily for him, who hadn't thought as far as to check whether his lie would actually be plausible, his unfinished beer from before was at the table. Neji grabbed the 'culprit' and looked at it like he would have fought the bottle if he could.
«Damn it!» Neji said. «She has no alcohol tolerance at all!» No tolerance for physical contact either, Sasuke thought.
Neji had laid her properly down on the couch. Hinata emitted a soft moan before she blinked a few times, finally revealing her pale eyes.
«Neji?» she said weakly.
Neji grabbed her hand, which made Sasuke roll his eyes. He definitely had a cousin complex, and the way he acted was overly dramatic. «Don't worry, you just had a little too much to drink.»
«To drink?» Hinata asked confused. Sasuke could feel he started to slightly panic. Damn. She wouldn't tell what had actually happened, right?
Then her eyes fell on him, and in half a second her eyes widened and a huge blush adorned her face. «Hinata?» Neji asked concerned. He glanced at Sasuke and back at Hinata. «Is everything okay? Sasuke told me you passed out after drinking. I don't really understand why you would drink at all, you hate alcohol.»
Sasuke gave Hinata a pleading look. Hinata seemed to understand, because she replied, «Y-yeah…sorry about that.»
Neji smiled as everything seemed to be fine with her. «Just…No more drinking, okay?» He helped her so she sat again.
«Right…» Hinata said with a strained smile. As Neji was about to stand up to leave, she grabbed his shirt. «Um, I'll join you in the kitchen.»
Neji gave her a strange look. «But I'm making beverages?»
«I'm hungry,» she said quickly. It was obvious she didn't want to be left alone with Sasuke, and it honestly pissed him off a little. Sure, he shouldn't have kissed her without her consent, but he wasn't that horrible. And he did intend to apologise.
«Well, sure…» Neji said, but before they had a chance to move, a loud crash was heard from the kitchen and an angry Naruto exited. «NEJI! Come control your friend!»
«What happened?» Neji yelled, but Naruto either couldn't hear what he said or Lee did something again, because he returned to the kitchen without replying.
«Maybe you will be safest with Sasuke for the moment. Wait here,» Neji said and left Hinata to check what idiocy Lee was up to.
Hinata didn't look like she thought she would be safe with Sasuke at all. Her gaze was fixated at Neji's retreating back. After Neji disappeared, they stood there in silence in what felt like forever for both of them.
«I'm sorry,» Sasuke suddenly said. Hinata still stared at where Neji had left.
Sasuke let out a sigh and sat down next to her. «I shouldn't have kissed you like that. It wasn't consensual.» Hinata shifted her gaze to Sasuke, merely staring at him for a couple of seconds.
«Thank you,» she said. Sasuke was confused for a moment what she was thankful for. The kiss? Doubtful. It then hit him that it was the apology she was thanking him for.
«But now you know. I'm not a nice person.»
«You're just weird,» Hinata said, but judging by her facial expression it didn't look like it was meant to be said out loud.
«What?»
«N-nothing…»
«No, now you have to tell me. Weird how?»
Hinata started twiddling her thumbs. She was leaning forward, so her long locks of hair hid her face again. «It was weird of you to kiss me. When you don't even know me.»
«Then it's not me that's weird, it's the fact that I kissed you?» he asked. Hinata nodded.
Feeling weirdly relaxed and comfortable to speak his mind, he said, «I would've kissed you again if I could.»
It was like Hinata's whole body had lit on fire. What? She didn't know what that was supposed to mean. Why? Was he just teasing her? But he seemed to be too serious to tease someone. He had a very stoic face, and even when it was possible to see some sort of expression there, it was so vague and brief that it just felt like a part of her imagination.
«I don't understand,» Hinata answered honestly and meekly.
«I like to kiss you is what I mean.» He was too proud to openly admit he liked her. Hell, this was probably the only time he would admit it to himself too.
She turned her face to look at him. «I-I don't think I'm able to kiss someone if I'm not in love with them.»
Sasuke smirked. «I didn't ask you to kiss me. But fair enough.»
«KIBA! What did you do that for?» Both Sasuke and Hinata looked in the direction of the commotion. Sakura was standing only a couple of metres away soaked to the bone. Kiba was holding an empty bottle of beer in his hand and had a big grin plastered on his face.
«What? You soaked me. I'm just returning the favour. Now, do you want to take off your shirt yourself or do you need some help with that?»
«You idiot! Like I would strip for you!»
«Man, the images that's going through my head…» Kiba said, and chuckled when Sakura gave his arm a slap.
«I'm serious! You must have some sort of issue to do this!» Kiba's facial expression suddenly became a bit more serious.
«I do have an issue! I have an issue with you pretending like this is one-sided. I know you like me. Why won't you just admit it?»
«I have nothing to admit! And what, are you saying you like me or something?»
«Yes!» Kiba yelled angrily. «That's what I've been spending the whole night saying!»
«No, you haven't!» Sakura yelled back. «You've been making sexual suggestions all night!»
«Well, that too!»
«No, you've been doing only that! I haven't heard you say you like me once. I have heard you claim I like you.»
«Well, you do!»
«Oh, my God, you're impossible!» Sakura started making her way away from Kiba, but he followed her.
«I just told you I liked you!» Kiba growled. «Did you not hear me yelling 'yes'?» Sakura turned around abruptly, and before Kiba could see it coming, she crashed her lips unto his. It only took a couple of seconds for him to react. He placed both hands on her waist and pulled her closer. One of his hands slid down to her bum, which made Sasuke grimace.
He glanced at Hinata, whom had turned her gaze away. She looked like she had seen something she wasn't supposed to have. Her innocence made Sasuke smile.
«A wise choice to turn away. They are pretty disgusting.»
Hinata's red cheeks got redder. «That's not it!»
«Yeah?»
«Y-yeah! I'm glad they—»
«Are making out?»
«No! Wait, that's not what I meant. I…» Hinata had a defeated look on her face, which made Sasuke smirk.
«I'm joking.»
Hinata looked at him in surprise. «You are?»
«What, I can't joke?» Sasuke said feeling a little annoyed. This girl saw him as a robotic, emotionless monster, didn't she?
«You always look so serious…» Hinata said weakly.
Sasuke sighed. «Sorry I'm not a bubbly, annoying ball of energy like Naruto. Neji's serious. You don't look surprised when he shows some sort of human emotion.»
«I don't find you two to be very alike…» That honestly surprised Sasuke. People always seemed to sort of group the two of them together.
«No?»
«You're both serious, but Neji often shows his emotions. If he's happy, he laughs. If he's angry, he'll start yelling. No matter what you feel, you seem to have the same expression.» After seeing his expressions darken, Hinata quickly added, «I-I mean, you do have different expressions, they're just more vague.»
«Wow, thanks. So I'm a robot.» Hearing it from someone else, he would probably just feel a little annoyed, but it did sting a bit hearing it from her.
She looked like she regretted having said anything. Her eyes were once again fixated on the hem of her dress. «I didn't say it was a bad thing…»
«Careful now, or I'll kiss you.»
«What?» she squeaked, looking at him with mildly horrified eyes.
«I'm joking.»
«Oh…»
«Well, unless you want me to.»
«I'm fine!» she said quickly.
Sasuke looked a bit offended. «No need to shout it in my face.»
«Sorry…»
«It's fine, I'm a patient man.»
«What do you mean?»
«I'll just wait until you have fallen in love with me.»
Hinata didn't seem to be able to construct a proper sentence, but kept sputtering nonsense.
«Seems like you will be able to make up for the emotions I lack.»
For the rest of the party, they sat on the couch. For the most part, they sat there in complete silence, but they did occasionally exchange a few sentences. Usually it ended up with Hinata blushing in embarrassment. Kiba and Sakura had disappeared after their (in Sasuke's words) disgusting make-out session. Naruto had had a mental breakdown when realising they were both gone. Lee, who had been undressing in the kitchen while making out with the fridge, had finally passed out.
Neji, who felt his job as a bartender was done after seeing just how drunk some of the guests had become (including his friend), sometimes gave Sasuke and Hinata suspicious glances. He would sometimes place himself between them and start awkward conversations. Ino, Tenten, Chouji and Shikamaru spent most of the night playing cards.
Shino spent the whole night on his phone, resulting in Chouji regularly asking him why he even bothered coming. All in all the guests at the party were pretty pleased. Unfortunately the host was the only one not really enjoying himself. Sasuke had to hear the sentence «Why, Sasuke, why? Why did I choose to have that stupid party?» the two following weeks. Sasuke, for one, didn't really mind the party after all. Hinata had maybe not fallen in love with him yet, but he was pretty confident it wouldn't take long. A party at Sakura's, where Neji wouldn't be present because he was too busy, therefore seemed like a gift sent from the heavens. Naruto wasn't as thrilled to go.
And that's the end of the weird, short story you hopefully enjoyed.
