sticks and stones
vi. because when they did,

Days turned into weeks, and weeks into months. Before any of them knew it, it was nearing mid-November, and over two months of their first year of college had passed.

"Dear God," Naruto said sarcastically, throwing his hands in the air as they had their lunch together, "I think my friends Sasuke-teme and Sakura-chan have major party-phobia. Please save them. Amen."

Sakura snorted, and she was sure she caught Sasuke rolling his eyes slightly.

They didn't have major party-phobia. They weren't scared. They just didn't like them much.

Across from her, Ino bit into her green apple. Ever since her break-up with Kiba (that she had recovered considerably well from), she had been on a strict diet, due to having consumed an (direct quote) "entire shitload" of lipids.

Sakura's phone buzzed in her pocket, and she debated on whether or not she should check it. Finally sighing, she eased it out and checked the new text message.

Sakura-san, would you like to meet on the first Saturday of our winter break? You can bring your friends; I'd be more than glad to see them.

Her heart jumped to her throat at the thought of seeing Lee again. Was it a good kind of anxiety, or bad? Bad, she finally decided. She didn't really want to see him—it would probably be awkward. But she supposed she couldn't do anything about it.

"You guys, we're meeting up with Lee on the first Saturday of our winter break," she announced, quickly texting him back.

Naruto and Ino immediately burst out with complaints. "Why?"

"Just go yourself, Forehead!"

She didn't think she'd be able to stand being with him alone. "I'll pitch in for those earrings you've wanted for a while."

Ino perked up right away. "I'm in."

Naruto grumbled. "I suppose I'll go, too, then."

She turned towards the boy sitting beside her. "Sasuke?" Something in her wanted him to come; her group of friends just wasn't really the same without him and his occasional dry comments. He glanced at her with his look that resolutely said no. She frowned and jutted out her bottom lip into a pout, hoping that it'd work. "Please?"

He stared at her for a long time, and she fought to hold it. Then, he turned his head away and finished his apple juice.

"Fine."

She smiled, and bumped into him gently as a little sign of affection. "Thanks."

"Hn."

Well, at least now their little get-together would be bearable, at least. Maybe even enjoyable. Just a little.

Naruto grunted when Ino elbowed him roughly in the gut. "What?"

His blonde friend held up a small bottle. It looked like water—but, knowing her, it was anything but that.

"My secret ingredient."

"What does it do?"

The grin on her lips widened. "Just one drop in a diluted solution gets the consumer intoxicated. I'm sure Forehead will go down with that. Sasuke might need two or three, though."

He frowned. "It won't kill anyone, right?"

"What do you take me for? Obviously not!" she retorted indignantly. "Anyway, I'll buy them drinks tonight after dinner. Coffee, maybe. They're going to need it." She paused, and the silence stretched out in a way he loved. "Sakura's going to need a bunch of dark chocolate in hers; it releases chemicals in the brain that causes feelings of love, apparently."

"Shouldn't teme be the one having that?"

"Sasuke needs more of this stuff." She held up the bottle, winking. "Sakura needs the sugar. In the end, they're both going to loosen up, so it doesn't matter too much which drink they get."

Naruto cocked an eyebrow, clearly confused and too busy staring at her and wondering how she could be so smart. "What?"

She sighed huffily. "So basically, it all evens out. Sakura's got more dark chocolate, and Sasuke's got more of my secret ingredient." She flicked his forehead, giggling slightly. "You ready for this?"

He grinned. "You bet."

"Two coffees!" Ino announced as she closed the door behind her. Sakura, who was lying on her stomach on her bed, looked up from her MacBook, and reluctantly accepted the coffee she handed her. Sasuke sat with his back against her bed, glancing up.

"Why do we need coffee?"

Her best friend's grin didn't ease her thoughts the way it normally did. "Because Naruto and I have this huge History exam to study for."

She frowned. "It's Friday."

"Well, we'll be studying today, tomorrow, and Sunday. You guys are going to help us. Here, Sasuke. Yours." Sakura watched with slight humor as Sasuke stared at the cup she held out to him like it was filled with venom.

"I don't drink coffee."

"Oh, c'mon, one isn't going to stunt your growth!" He stared. She stared. And then finally, he accepted it and took a sip, frowning.

"It's too sweet."

Sakura drank from hers, and cringed. "Ino-pig, did you mix these up? Mine's too bitter!" It tasted like someone melted extra dark chocolate and poured it in.

Ino shrugged. "Oh, get over it. You two need some new tastes, anyway."

Sasuke made eye contact with Sakura. After blinking, the both of them said in unison, "Trade." And they switched cups the way close friends would. Sakura took a deep gulp of Sasuke's warm coffee, and sighed in content. "Much better."

It was silent for a moment.

"I dislike coffee." Sasuke wrinkled his nose.

Ino rolled her eyes. "Just get that stick out of your ass and drink it. It's not going to kill you."

He sent what seemed to be a glare her way and continued to drink it with a very bitter expression on his face. Meanwhile, Sakura sipped hers happily while reading a manga she had recently discovered online. It was quite good…Love triangles were lame and clichéd, but she was a sucker for clichéd things.

A slow song began playing on Ino's iPod speakers, and the rustling of papers was heard.

As Ino and Naruto bounced questions off each other, and occasionally her and Sasuke when they weren't sure of something, she finished her coffee, and was soon craving another. She took Sasuke's, which was barely even half empty, and began drinking his.

It wasn't long before her attention began to wander.

Technically, this manga was interesting, but…she just didn't feel like reading it right now. Sighing heavily, she rolled off her bed and sat beside Sasuke, hugging her knees. She began idly humming to the current song playing. For once, she actually knew it.

Was it just her, or was her mind growing foggier?

"I thought coffee sharpened your mind," she said, vaguely surprised to find her speech somewhat slurred.

"It just keeps you from sleeping," Sasuke corrected, pressing a couple of buttons on his phone.

Suddenly, Ino stood up, pulling Naruto with her. "We're going out," she announced. "Need a breather."

Sasuke stared at them. "You haven't even been studying for half an hour." But he was one to talk, Sakura thought. He was so smart; he probably barely studied. Maybe a couple minutes to review, but otherwise, he had an awful lot of free time on his hands.

Naruto shrugged. "Oh, well."

And so they left.

Sakura and Sasuke stared at each other. She blinked. "So…what do we do now?"

He shrugged, and returned to his phone. But she kept staring at him. He had such nice facial features…pale skin, well-shaped nose, high cheekbones, dark eyes, thin lips…

He turned towards her again. "What?"

She shook her head, frowning. "I don't know. I feel funny." Raising a hand, she reached for him, and her fingertips made contact with his nose. "You have an incredibly nice nose."

He rolled his eyes. "It doesn't take a genius to figure out that Ino spiked that coffee."

Pause. Blink. "What?"

A heavy sigh. "She wouldn't have bought us coffee without getting one for herself. Either that, or there would've been a good reason." She continued to watch him curiously, feeling his breath against the palm of her hand. "The reason being to intoxicate us," he explained slowly, as if she wasn't able to understand.

She scoffed. "I know that. But why would she want to intox—intoximate us?"

"Intoxicate, Sakura."

"Shut up."

There was silence for a long moment, and her fingers left his nose. His eyes darted towards her hand, which was sliding down to his lips. "I wonder if anyone's ever complimented your lips before, Sasuke…"

"You're tipsy."

"Am not!"

Something told her this conversation had happened before.

Her hand went up again, and she played with a lock of raven hair between her fingers, not quite being able to comprehend why he wasn't pushing her away. "You have really nice lips. And hair. And…" She paused, looking for the right words. It wasn't often that she lacked vocabulary. "And you're a really good friend. I don't think I'd trade it for the world." Her hand fell to a rest on his shoulder.

Sasuke watched her for a long moment, and she decided that she liked the way he looked at her. She giggled. "I don't get why girls like you," she continued, smiling at the frown that formed on his lips. "I suppose you're kind of cute"—he scowled—"okay, really cute—but…you've got a stick shoved up your ass."

"Pleasant choice of words."

She continued to thread her fingers through his hair. It was so soft. "But once I got to know you…" She blinked sleepily. "I realized, that, maybe, you're not such a bad person after all…"

His eyes never left her, and she began to feel a little flustered—embarrassed, even—under his burning gaze. "Stop looking at me like that…"

He had such pale skin. Almost as if indicating that all of his emotions were harsh and cold. He had such a nice nose. It felt so nice just brushing against the tip of her own. His cheekbones were so prominent; it really balanced him out, with him being a little effeminate and all.

Such dark eyes…she could barely hold his gaze…

Thin lips…Felt so good pressed against her own…

Wrong. Wrong. Wrong.

Out of all of the words that Sasuke had learnt in his life, only one could fit this situation: wrong.

He associated a few words with Sakura. One was pink. Another was bright. There was also smart, forehead, and bad morals.

When he saw her tipsy—both last time, and this time—he vaguely connected cute with it.

But, really, the one word that stuck out the most, kind of like a sore thumb, or a thorn in his side—or, maybe, a stick shoved up his ass—was friend. A girl who was a friend who wasn't a girlfriend.

And now, confusion.

Sasuke was rarely confused. Sometimes, he wasn't quite sure of what to say to Naruto when he showed signs of affection and brotherly love, or he was stuck on a particularly feisty school assignment, but he had never been as utterly confused as he was, now.

Of course, not that he was going to show it. But it bugged the hell out of him.

Eyes? Brilliant. Voice? Soft. Laugh? Comforting. Fingers? Fleeting. He could match the words to the things so easily.

But when it came to matching words with emotions—he was lost.

He didn't know. He didn't know why he suddenly felt so compelled to touch her the way she was touching him; he didn't know why her forehead wasn't as obnoxious anymore; he didn't know why he had emotions churning in his stomach, telling him to ruin this rare friendship with a girl that honestly didn't rape him with her eyes every ten seconds.

The word confusion couldn't even begin to describe what was going through his mind right now.

But, then, their mouths met, and he could only find one word in his slightly buzzed mind that fit perfectly with the moment:

Right.

"What's that?" Naruto craned his neck so he could see over her shoulder.

Ino couldn't help but note how close he was to her—it was sort of like a second nature to notice these things—and how warm his cheek was just centimeters from her own. She showed him her phone. "I hooked a camera into our room and connected it."

He let out a low whistle, his breath disturbing a few strands of her hair. "That's pretty nifty. How'd you do it?"

She winked at him. "I have my sources."

They watched the screen of her phone in silence for a short while. Sakura was definitely intoxicated—that much was obvious. She was leaning against Sasuke, lips shaping into words that they couldn't hear. She was feeling him up, she thought wryly, a small smirk of triumph stretching over her lips. Her fingers were just fleeting over his face, and soon twirling a lock of his bangs around a finger.

Naruto laughed lightly, and she leaned comfortable back towards him, enjoying his warmth. He was always warm; body, personality, smile—she couldn't imagine a Naruto who was cold. "Does Sakura-chan like him? I guess I've been outclassed."

She shook her head. "Probably not, but she drank Sasuke's coffee, so she's way drunker than she should be."

"So teme's completely sober."

"Probably."

It was then that her jaw dropped as Sasuke turned his head slightly. Sakura looked incredibly sleepy—it'd be a miracle if she remembered what happened tomorrow—so she sort of had a reason. But Sasuke?

She couldn't tell from this angle, but…

"Wait. Is he kissing her?"

Ino swallowed. "Uh, seems like it."

And she stared, blinked, and stared some more. Sakura's arm that she wasn't sitting on his shoulder was wrapped around his neck as she leaned further into him. And then she thought about Kiba, and how she used to do that to him, and how he used to kiss her like that.

Used to.

And then she was jealous. Why—and of Sakura, for that matter—she had no idea.

"Has Sasuke ever gone out with anyone before?" she asked Naruto, jaw slightly clenched.

She felt him shrug behind her. "Yeah. But I don't think he was emotionally attached, or anything. Just the hot ones to pass the time." He paused. "But I didn't think Sakura-chan was his type…"

She wasn't supposed to care, really. She wanted Sakura to get a boyfriend. (Or laid.) And she didn't even care about Sasuke that way; he was too much of a hard-ass for her.

But for some odd reason, she did care.

She watched Sakura and Sasuke, although she knew she shouldn't. It was kind of creepy, even though they didn't know she was watching. If she had the chance, she would've gone out with Sasuke. Even if it was just for a little while. He was such a good person, even though he didn't seem it. It wasn't even because he was hot—although that was a plus.

And, barely thinking about it, she turned her head, grabbed Naruto's chin, and kissed him.

A/N: From the results of your guys' poll, I've posted this fic's song on YouTube, called Shut Up, Get Up, Run. My YouTube link is on my page. I would love it if you gave me feedback. Either comment on the video, or vote in my new poll as to whether or not I should continue doing this. Thanks a bunch!

And ooh, the drama's starting. ;) (Well, not really.)