Author's note: Thanks for the reviews, everyone! It's so good to see that you like my story!

Chapter 4 is here, hope you guys enjoy it!

My beta-reader is too busy studying to get her master's degree (you're doing amazing, sweetie!) so this one was not revised. Feel free to point out any mistakes.

It took a while for Naruto to recognize the place where he'd woken up. The ceiling was too white, nothing like his bedroom's - which was light blue and full of sketches and pictures of the sky. He stretched his hand to the whiteness so he could touch it, but it was beyond his reach. Moving felt weird.

Shit.

He was hungover.

As soon as he turned his head to examine the other side of the room - he could see a single bed with some folded clothes on it, a study table, a bookshelf containing books and... dumbbells - he felt the bubbly sensation he got during a migraine. It was like his brain was underwater, but in a bad way. His stomach wasn't that good either - he felt it burn the second he thought about eating something.

Darn it.

He picked up his phone from underneath the pillow where he was laying - could he call it his pillow? - to see what time it was. He wasn't late for class. Actually, he woke up earlier than he had planned. What was the name of his roommate again? He wasn't one to forget a name so easily, specially the name of such a nice guy.

What was it?

"Hey, Naruto! Are you awake?" The joyful boy tilted his head to try and get a better view of Naruto's face. "Good morning! Did you sleep well?"

Naruto looked at the doorway and there was his roommate, nothing but a towel covering the lower half of his body. A white towel with soft green stripes. His black hair was damp and glued to his forehead, which made him look younger than he probably was. A toothy smile stood proudly on his face like it belonged there.

"Good morning!", Naruto heard himself say, more hoarsely than he had planned. Oh, the alcohol. "I'm not at my best but, yeah, I guess the sleep was fine. Lee... right?"

"Yup! Rock Lee, at your service." The boy at the doorway flickered his hand and made a small bow.

Naruto chuckled. "Thanks, man!" He rubbed his eyes with the back of his right hand. "Do you have any pain killers? I'm having this terrible headache."

Lee locked puzzled for a second. "Actually, I don't. I usually treat headache with loads of water and chamomile tea! Do you want some tea? I just made some."

"Yeah, of course!" Naruto sat on his bed and smiled, scratching his head. His scalp felt itchy, it was time to wash his hair. "I guess anything will do."

"Okay, then, just a second!" Lee got out of the room in a flash.

Sitting down like that suddenly didn't feel like a good idea. Naruto's head was spinning painfully. He shouldn't have drinked that much the night before. His phone vibrated. His alarm was finally ringing, so he had about one hour until the beginning of his first class of that day. He got up of the bed, stretched his arms out and proceeded to the corner of the room where he'd left his unpacked travel case, in order to fetch some clothes.

Naruto was browsing through his underwear when his phone rang loudly again. It should be his second alarm. Lee had just barged through the door, holding a mug of steaming tea on his hand. "Here!", he said cheerfully, and placed the mug on Naruto's nightstand.

"Thanks, Lee! Oh. Could you please turn off my alarm? My cellphone is on my bed."

"Sure!"

That noise was driving him mad. Naruto watched anxiously as Lee grabbed his phone and made a funny face. The noise didn't stop.

"Um... Naruto. It's not an alarm, someone's calling you."

"This early in the morning? They probably got the number wrong."

"It says 'hubbie'. I- I think it's your husband." He stretched his arm out to show Naruto the screen.

"Oh." Naruto smiled unconsciously. He accepted the phone from Lee's hand. "Thanks again, Lee!"

Lee was blushing lightly when he answered: "no problem! I-I'll give you some privacy!" But Naruto was too busy still smiling at his phone to notice. Lee picked up the folded clothes on his bed and got out of the room, closing the door behind him softly.

"Hello, baby", Naruto greeted when he finally picked up the phone.

"Morning, handsome. Are you okay?"

"Yup!" He chuckled, pleased to hear Gaara's voice. "I knew you'd miss me, but not so much that you'd be calling me first thing in the morning like this. Not that you ever sleep or anything."

"Actually", Naruto could feel the smile in his voice, "you sent me some... funny audio messages yesterday. You asked me to call you in order to wake you up."

Naruto froze. "Did I?"

"Yes."

Fucking booze. I'm such an idiot. "What else, ah, what else did I say?" He forced a laugh to try and sound more casual, but it came out weird.

"You asked me to marry you."

Naruto gasped and coughed, "WHA-"

"Just kidding." Gaara chuckled softly, amused. "You were just singing some pop songs and yelling a lot."

"HA! HA. HA. Not funny, you jerk."

"I apologise", Gaara said. Naruto could taste the smile in his voice.

"You're not even sorry."

"Nope."

Naruto sighed. "I'm glad you called."

"Me too. You were right, before."

"About what?"

"I already miss you a lot."

Naruto's stomach turned in a familiar way. "I miss you more." He smiled to himself. "No one here uses as much eyeliner as you do. There's no one to contrast my bright style."

"No one here yells as much as you do", he paused for a moment, "I feel like I'm engulfed by silence."

He sounded sad. Did something happen? "Yeah. But don't worry! We'll be together again soon. When will you come and visit me?"

"As soon as mom gets a little better. She's not so well right now."

That was it then.

Gaara's mother was fighting depression ever since they were little. She had bad days and good days, but there were times when things would be unbearable for her. This was probably the case this time. It happened a few times since Naruto and Gaara met, and every time it happened Naruto would make himself more present at his friend's house. The three of them would watch Disney movies together. This time, though, he wouldn't be able to do it. Right before he left their town, he had had a bad feeling about her health state. She didn't hug him when he stopped by to say his goodbyes. When she was feeling well, she was very tender. She'd hug him a lot and ruffle his hair every now and then. She was a very sweet person.

Of all her children, Gaara was the one that resembled her the most. Not physically, though - physically, except for his bright red hair, he was almost a carbon copy of his father - but his temper. Gaara was very sad - and very sweet. People would often think of him as a cold person, but he wasn't. He was usually very quiet, but he would open up to the people he loved and knew well. Naruto felt very lucky for being one of these people.

Naruto could remember the moment where he realized how much Gaara cherished him. It was a rainy day and the thunders were loud and clear. Naruto was almost asleep on a mattress next to Gaara's bed. "Are you asleep?", Gaara had asked, touching his shoulder. "Yes", he had replied. Usually an answer like that would be enough to make Gaara leave him be, but, instead of doing so, Gaara had said "Naruto, I'm afraid of thunder." After hearing this, Naruto looked up and saw his frightened face. "Okay", he had said, and climbed up to Gaara's bed. They slept holding each other that night. They were only fourteen.

"Maybe I'm the one who should visit you... We could cook for her, watch some movies."

"... Yeah. It would be nice. But you have your education to take care of, and it's your dream university. Don't let anything get in the way of your dreams."

Gaara went from casually chatting to seriously advising in a heartbeat.

Naruto chuckled. "All right, captain. Then I'll be waiting for your visit! I have to shower now and I probably should wash my hair... it kind of stinks."

"Have a nice shower, then. Don't forget to eat something. Good morning, Naruto. Goodbye."

"Bye, sweetie."

Naruto found himself alone again. "All right", he said out loud. He grabbed the clothes he had picked, got up, clapped once and proceeded to take a shower.

With his palms on his warm cheeks, Sasuke opened his eyes. He had this terrible headache going on. Sleep privation at its finest. He pressed the bridge of his nose, frustrated, and took a moment to breathe deeply, in order to properly wake up.

As he did every morning, he got up, stretched lazily and then began his yoga routine.

He was just finishing it when Sakura woke up.

"Morning", she mumbled, resting on her elbows to check what he was doing.

"Morning", he replied, as he breathed out for the last time.

"I'm going to take a shower, can I use your bathroom?"

"Yeah, I'll use the one downstairs."

"Okay."

He was fetching himself some clothes when she yelled from inside the bathroom: "Sasuke!"

"Yeah?"

"Can you bring me a towel?"

"Okay."

He grabbed his clothes and a clean towel and went to the bathroom's door. He knocked.

She opened a small branch to get the towel. "Thanks", she said quickly.

"No problem."

He went downstairs, took a cold shower, got inside his clean clothes and proceeded to the kitchen. As usual, Itachi had already left - he always woke up too early for someone who barely slept. Sasuke went around the kitchen assembling some stuff for breakfast. He ended up with almond milk and corn flakes for himself and peanut butter, jelly, bread and orange juice for Sakura.

A minute later he could hear her footsteps coming downstairs.

"Sasuke, I used your shampoo, okay? My hair smelled of smoke."

He didn't answer, she knew she could use anything of his but his underwear, his favorite leather jacket and his socks.

She sat down and began to make her sandwiches. Behind his bowl of almond milk and corn flakes, Sasuke eyed his friend. She looked okay, no sign of crying-in-the-shower or anything.

"Are you okay?", he asked softly.

She nodded once.

He nodded too, in response.

"Hey! Sakura!", Ino shouted, waving a hand in the air. She was standing near The Tree, together with a bunch of people. New flesh?

Sakura looked at Sasuke and he rolled his eyes. They were at the parking lot.

"Will you come with me?", she asked, embarrassed.

He thought of awful, terrible things to say. Instead, he said: "Sure. Unlike a certain someone, I'm your friend."

She took his hand and mouthed a voiceless "thank you".

Ino was definitely in her element. She was gesticulating a lot, a thousand faces per second, every giggle was like music to the students listening to her. Sasuke thought they looked too young and stupid. Or maybe it's just the effect she has on people .

"Hey, guys! I was just introducing these ones to our Uni!" She turned to face the freshmen before her. "So... I guess that's all, folks. You're all prepared to wander the campus. And don't forget to..."

"Never use the bathroom at the Business building!", they said in unison.

"Exactly! Bye bye!" She walked towards Sasuke and Sakura, which were waiting for her, and put her arms around their shoulders, turning them in the process. "Oh, can we walk this way? I need to get some things in my car." She started to walk, making them walk with her. "So... Sasuke, my boy..."

"I'm not your boy", he mumbled.

Ino ignored him. "I heard some rumors about your crush. The sunny boy."

"I already told you he's not m-"

"My boy, I was so surprised! I didn't know you had a thing for married dudes..."

"What", Sakura said, no inflection of a question in her voice. "Ino, are you making stuff up?"

"No! You know I would never! You see, I was at The Tree this morning and I saw Rock Lee walking really fast towards God knows where. He had this look on his face - like that one time when we found out he had a crush on Neji, remember? So! I called him and asked 'are you okay?' and he was like 'I'm not sure' and I was like 'what happened, Lee?' and he went like 'oh, I have this new roommate and whatever blablabla and his phone rang and it was his husband! and I was so embarrassed'. You see, the husband thing was what got my attention! So I asked 'WHAT. WHO.' and he said 'Naruto, the one with the yellow shiny hair!' Then I yelled 'holy shit! Sasuke's crush?'"

"You. yelled. what.", Sasuke said.

Ino cleared her throat. "I yelled HOLY SHIT, SASUKE'S CRUSH?", she yelled.

Sasuke's face flushed red as some heads turned to look at them. He grabbed a cigarette in the speed of light and lit it up, making as much smoke as he could to try and cover his face.

"I swear to God, Ino, someday I'm gonna kill you", he said between his teeth.

"Is this a threat? Are you threatening a soon-to-be-lawyer, Sasuke, my dear?"

"Go fuck yourself, Ino." He got rid of her grasp. "Sakura, do you mind if I go?", he asked.

"Not at all", Sakura replied.

"See you later, then."

The girls watched intently as he walked away.

"Gosh, Ino, what was the point of that?"

"I was just playing with him."

"It wasn't funny, you know. You don't have to be so mean."

"He deserves it. He's too cool. I want to shake his coolness."

"Ino!"

"What?"

"Just leave him be!"

She sighed. "Okay, fine, I may have gotten a little too far with the whole thing."

"A little?"

"Yeah. Won't happen again. Shit, I guess I never pissed him off like that. He even went away from us."

"You. He went away from you. He kindly asked me if I was okay with him going. Unlike a certain someone, I'm his friend."

"Okay, okay. But, hey! Don't you think it means we were right?"

"About what?"

"About the crush thing. Maybe he really looks at this guy and thinks 'holy shit, I need to kiss him' and stuff."

"'Dunno. He looked pretty pissed when I left them alone with each other last night. He was rude to the guy and left him alone afterwards."

"That's such a huge sign! Sakura. He's a prick but he's a cool prick. He's usually uncomfortable around people, but he never bails. Then he sees this guy twice and suddenly he's... blushing? Like, what the fuck, he's Sasuke. What does it mean when he blushes and freaks out when I mention some guy?"

"Maybe he's through with you?"

"No one's ever through with me. But, Sakura, you're missing the point."

"The point being?"

"I can help him! We can help him. It's the first really possible crush since who? That guy Juugo on eleventh grade?"

"Ino. Come on."

"What?"

"You won't play Cupid with Sasuke, okay."

"Was that a question?"

"It was a statement. I won't take part in this."

"I'll be subtle."

"Ino."

"Trust me."

"Fine." They had gotten to Ino's car, Sakura stopped walking. "Do whatever you want but please don't put him into weird situations, okay?"

"All right."

"Don't make him embarrassed. Please! He's already too freaked out to function."

"Okay."

"I'll get going then, see you around."

"Don't you have any classes today?"

"I do, but I'm really hungover, so I'll be going home."

"Oh! I was just thinking about doing the same, actually. I got this migraine and. So… Don't you want me to drive you home? I-", she looked down, "I wanna make amends for last night."

"There's no need to-"

"I know you are mad at me. Please. Let me drive you home."

"Ino." Sakura closed her eyes. "I'm tired of this... thing. I don't want you to make amends for anything, I want you to-" Fuck, she would say it. "I want you to stop fucking me up."

"Sakura, I'm-"

"Don't say that you're sorry, I don't believe it anymore." Sakura felt something snap inside of her. "Just. Treat me right. And-", she breathed out, frowning, "stop rubbing every single one of your hookups on my face. I don't give a shit about who you kiss or fuck, but it's fucking messed up when it's clear that there are things you do just to push me away. It's not like I will force myself on you…" She forced herself to open her eyes. "You know how I. Feel about you. And you know I am your friend since we were seven. So just… Tell me about the most important ones… Tell me-" The words felt weird on her mouth. "... When you fall in love with someone. I promise you that I won't be a jerk then. I'll listen to you, I'll be nice to you… Ino, I'm your friend. I just want you to be my friend back. You don't have to be a jerk to push me away. Do you understand?"

Ino's mouth was curled, she had a weird look on her face. She nodded once. "Yes", she said softly.

"Okay. I'll get going then. See you around." Sakura turned on her heels and walked away, hoping that whatever got into her that day knew what it was doing. As Ino's car got past her in the parking lot, she mouthed a voiceless "fuck me" and proceeded to walk faster.

Sasuke was sitting comfortably on his chair, waiting for the teacher to arrive. He was looking forward to this class, this teacher was the reason why he chose this university after all.

He was lost in thoughts when suddenly a moron bumped a hip into his shoulder. He bumped into his desk in turn, out of balance. His notebook and pencil fell from his desk, making a thud on the floor. He looked up to kill said moron with his glare.

What a fucking surprise.

Life had a way to get on his nerves.

He opened his mouth once but no sound came out.

He opened his mouth for a second time.

Was he a fucking fish?

"Ah", his mouth said.

"Sorry", said the blond looking back at him.

They stood there staring at each other.

The blond suddenly looked around, like an idiot.

Sasuke swallowed the urge to yell something stupid, like "hey, look back at me, I'm still glaring". No one ever looked away from his eyes. He looked around. Not desperately, like the idiot. Coolly. Coolly looked around.

Everyone in the class was silent, staring at them.

He didn't feel cool anymore, his cheeks tingled, mocking him. Fuck no! Not here...

He stood up and walked to the door, bumping into the yellow mess in the process.

He went out the building door, feeling like a madman, breathing like a madman. Exasperated. He was exasperated. What was a freshman, that freshman, doing on his class? Embarrassing him on his first day of his most awaited class. Who the fuck he thought he was?

He lit up a cigarette, feeling his heart pound against his chest. He took some drags and decided he was himself again.

He went back. The teacher was already there. His most awaited teacher was already there.

"Hey!", said the white-haired man. "Are you here for my class?"

"Yes."

"Next time, try not to be late, okay? I do not tolerate lateness." He smiled.

"Yes, teacher."

"All right, then. Let us proceed to the class. I'm Kakashi and I'll be introducing you to the wonders of Drawing II..."

To hell with good first impressions. The teacher thought he was a late loser already. He'd win Kakashi over, he wanted to work with him for God's sake. And he was going to make that idiot fucking blond pay.

Kakashi talked for some time, no one dared to interrupt him, dazed by his eloquence. He was great at his job. It almost made Sasuke forget about his embarrassment.

Almost.

Light and shadows was the subject of the day. The teacher sketched examples and then showed chiaroscuro masterpieces by classical painters. On the second half of his class, he answered questions. Sasuke asked two himself. Finally a teacher that made him feel like he still had something to learn.

"... talent is very important, but discipline is the key to greatness. If you are disciplined, if you treat your work seriously, if you practice everyday, that's where you will thrive. Art is not something you will always happen to stumble upon, art is something you must work hard to achieve. And that's why I will leave you free to work whenever you want, according to your own will. You should make your own rules and follow then strictly. The only assessment I will ask for on my class will be a collab."

Sasuke gasped. People around him seemed to realize what the teacher had just said a second later, and a chattery rose among the students. Hands went up, none of them wanted to do group work, what the fuck was that?

Kakashi was silent, gazing at them with calm eyes.

He lifted up one hand. He waited until the murmurs were no more. When he spoke, his voice was inflectionless and clear: "I think you might have misunderstood my words. I wasn't suggesting, I was informing. This is not up for discussion. The minimum for each team is two. I'm afraid this is not a case of the more the merrier, I will fail anyone who slacks off and let someone else do the work for them. I will fail anyone who forces their will upon their group mates." He narrowed his eyes. "Trust me, I will know." He stopped talking. No one seemed to be breathing. Someone might have sobbed a little. He started again: "You have about ten minutes until the class is over. If you don't want to fall behind your classmates, I suggest you pick your group right away." He smiled.

Sasuke closed his eyes forcibly. Around him, the noise of that maddening situation was ringing. Was this a nightmare? He managed to avoid every single group work up until this therm. Was this karma? Was he such a huge jerk?

Someone tapped him on the shoulder. He opened his eyes and turned, ready to burn whoever it was with his glare.

"Hey", the yellow mess blue eyes nice smell pretty lips said. He didn't look pleased at all. "We're the only ones left. Guess we'll be forced to work together."

Sasuke felt the strangest thing itching inside him. He realized, terrified, it was an urge to laugh. This was too much. This whole situation felt like some teenage movie. He tried to repress the laughter. His eyebrows did something weird. The corner of his mouth twitched nervously.

He should be looking like the madman he was.

Naruto's face twisted angrily. "Gosh! You don't have to look so disgusted, you know? Do it by yourself then, asshole." Naruto stood up and took a step away.

Sasuke's eyes widened. His mouth said: "Wait."

Naruto turned around. "What?"

"I didn't mean to-" He breathed out.

Naruto waited, one of his eyebrows standing en garde.

"I think we should work together", Sasuke said, at last, swallowing his pride. He forced himself to keep a straight face, to look as serious as he could. He would deal with this badly written teenage romance plot. He would impress that teacher, he would get a good grade, he would make a great job, he would work with this… guy.

Naruto's expression softened, but he still looked pissed. "All right, then, let's do this." He offered one hand, the situation too familiar.

Sasuke felt like a total moron.

He would not take chances.

He extended his arm and grabbed Naruto's hand in a tight grasp.

Naruto smiled ironically. "So you are familiar with shaking hands, eh?", he said, looking pretty damn proud of himself. He tightened his grasp before loosening it. "I'll be going now. I want to grab a bite before next class." He pointed at the door with his free thumb.

Sasuke let go of his hand like it was made of fire. Quickly, awkwardly. Naruto didn't seem to mind. "See ya", he said. And Sasuke was left alone with his thoughts.

He looked at his own hand, feeling weird. He watched his fingers flex. His brain organized some synapses, he fought it to no use. He tried to avoid it, but, in the end, his damned grey matter won.

"His hand was so soft", it thought.

"Fuck me", he thought.