Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. Unfortunately. And neither do I own Yellowcard and their song "Breathing", no matter how much I wish I did.
WARNING: Extreme OOCness due to drunkenness, fatal randomness and a lot of fluff ahead. (With its usual spice of angst, but GOOD MORNING.)
I remember this one time when Naruto's dad was drinking sake.
(And me and Naruto were completely awed that his dad was so cool, drinking alcohol, while Sasuke acted like it was nothing, but I could see the curiosity in his eyes)
I also remember very clearly that we were begging him to let us try it.
(Because we had gotten over our "let's-just-be-kids" phase and gotten into "I-want-to-be-an-adult" phase of the extremely mature age of 10)
Kushina-san (calling her anything else would result in an immediate and extremely painful death) gave him a warning glance, but Minato-oji-chan just smiled at us.
("You want to try it, huh?")
And kids as we were, we nodded in excitement.
(Only to try it and spray it all over the kitchen table, coughing at the bad taste, while Kushina-san threatened to kill us while wiping off the rejected alcohol)
It's like love, Minato-oji-chan had told us with a wide grin, and Kushina-san had smacked him on the head and called him cheesy.
("Because love is like alcohol. Sometimes it's intense enough to burn your throat, sometimes it's like a small, but steadily growing flame. Sometimes it's sweet, sometimes it's sour, but even though you know you're running the risk to lose your mind because of it, you just can't stop it.")
Then, to Naruto's horror, Sasuke's blank-faced surprise and Kushina-san's and Minato-oji-chan's amusement, I swore an oath.
("If love is like that, then I swear not to fall in love!")
But promises are made to be broken.
o9.
"Ooooh, what a niiight, what a beaaaaautifuuuul niiiiiight –"
Sasuke felt as though his head was going to split to pieces, detonate like an atom bomb and rain brain substance and blood all over the pavement.
"- and we call it BEEEELLLAA NOOOOTTTEEE!"
He didn't quite feel inclined to agree with the lyrics the pinkette was currently (howling) singing into his left ear as he tried to steady the waggling girl, who was swaying dangerously from side to side.
"Dammit, Sakura, how much did you drink?" he instead wondered as he tried to heave her back into a standing position as she was about to slump down onto the ground.
"LOOOK AT THE SKIIES! ALL THE BEAUTIFUL STARS… I MEAN EYES… ALL THE STARS, THEY'VE EYES! ON THIS LOVELY BEEEEEEEELLAAA NOOOOTTTEE!"
"Stop screaming, Sakura."
"I'm SINGING," she shrieked, making him almost deaf, and he could almost hear the expression mark, "not SCREAMING! 'Cause this is THRILLER!" Breaking free from his grasp, she almost knocked him on the head as she started move her arms randomly like an octopus dancing belly-dance, whilst wearing a random strange grimace as she approached him. "THRILLER NIGHT!"
"Say rawr, Sasuke-kun," she said as she put one of her hands forward like a misshapen claw. "RAWR!"
As she leaned forwards in an attempt to be frightening, she instead fell backwards onto her bottom for the fiftieth time the same evening; Sasuke had already gotten accustomed to looking anyplace else but her quite visible underwear (again, he damned the way too short black skirt) when she did so.
And they had barely even reached the end of the street on which Club Leaf was situated.
We'll never get to our actual destination if we keep going like this, he thought miserably as he massaged his temples, ignoring the drunken wailing of 'Rawr! RAWR!' that Sakura kept making.
Heaving a sigh, he turned her back to her as he crouched down into an almost sitting position. "Get on my back, Sakura."
She gasped audibly as she got up, standing as steadily as a horse on its hind-legs in 20-inch stilettos. "Sasuke! Not in MJ's memory! That's bad, bad stuff that's not allowed for innocent little kids like MJ to hear!"
He clenched his teeth. Was it even possible to be more annoying than a drunken Sakura? (Yes, a voice that sounded like Kakashi's wisely stated in his mind, try drunken Naruto PLUS drunken Sakura with Kakashi's porn. And a portable stereo. Shut up, he threw back at the mental voice.) "Just. Get. On. My. Fucking. Back."
"You want me to fuck your back?" she asked with innocent confusion. "But that's impossible, Sasuke-kun! Physically I-M-P-O-S-S-I-B-L-E!" Sasuke could hear her giggling, and knew that it was a prelude to – "Da-da-da-DA! Da-da-da-DA! Da-da-da-DA… DA-DA! MISSION IMPOSSIBLE, YEAH!"
- another song. And dammit, he had been right. Can somebody press the mute button on her, please? he thought sarcastically (and half-hopefully).
"I'm going to CARRY you home, idiot," he snapped exasperatedly.
"You look like a froggie frog when you sit like that, Sasuke-kun! Are you gonna do the poopie-poo, too?" she intelligently answered.
"JUST GET ON MY BACK, HARUNO."
"Aww, you're no fun, Sasuke-kun." He knew she was pouting, but he merely rolled his eyes as she unceremoniously climbed onto his back (and almost quite literally kicking his ass in the process) as they finally, finally started walking, when she suddenly gasped;
"OH MY GOD, SASUKE-KUN! LOOK, LOOK! There's a SHOOTING STAR!" Pointing upwards at the sky, she hit him (quite hard) with her elbow in the process.
"Where?" he wanted to know as he followed her finger. Why am I looking? he inwardly grumbled.
She slapped his (poor, victimized, about to split apart) head with quite a force as she giggled loudly. "HERE, you idiot! Sasuke-baka-kun! Baka-kun! Baka-baka-BAKA-kun! Because Baka-baka-baka-BAKA's kun head is as big as ze moon in ze nait-o skai-o. And it's a beautiful niiight, because… OOOOH WHAT A NIIIIGHT! WHAT A BEAAAAUTIFUUUL NIIIGHT!"
I will never, he decided as he tried to concentrate on breathing and not throw her off in the canal they were passing by, ever let her go near alcohol again.
Or easier, I will never, ever go near her again.
It was promise he knew was impossible to keep, but at the moment, he had other things to think about (thankfully). "Sakura, you're not making sense."
"Yes, because ZE MOON –" At this, she poked his head quite roughly, " - is IN MY HEAD! Get it? ZE MOON! YOUR HEAD! IS IN FRONT OF ME! SO IT'S IN MY HEAD!" The pinkette laughed at the top of her lungs, and would've killed his eardrums had they not already been bleeding due to the way she had been shrieking the last half-hour.
Half-hour? he mentally demanded. Don't you mean an eternity?
"…"
"You know what, Sasuke-kun?" asked Sakura innocently as her (loud, freaking I-want-to-kill-your-already-dying-head loud) laughter had died down.
"What?"
"From behind, your hair looks like a chicken's ass," she said with an important and curious tone, as though she had just made an amazing discovery.
"…"
"It's dashing, really. I mean, seriously – imagine that. The next 'in' hairstyle… A CHICKEN'S ASS." Deepening her voice to a lower, more baritone man's voice, she proceeded dead-seriously; "Good evening, ladies and gentlemen, I'm here to tell you a piece of shocking news! All over the world, we've received reports that people have started to change their hairstyles into CHICKEN'S ASSES! Old ladies from Alaska to Thailand have been fainting at the quite inappropriate sight. It is said to be inspired by a certain Uchiha Sasuke –"
"Have I told you that you're annoying?" he retorted tiredly (and without a doubt, quite annoyed).
"You're such a meanie, Sasuke-kun! Now I forgot my very important reportage! WHAT ABOUT THE WORLD, SASUKE-KUN? YOU'VE ROBBED THEM OF MY IMPORTANT REPORTAGE! HOW WILL THE CHICKENS IN BEVERLY HILLS SURVIVE? HOW DARE YOU DO THIS TO THE OVERLY CONSUMING 90210 WANNABES? ARE YOU TRYING TO STEAL THEIR LOUIS VUITTON PURSES?! I NEVER THOUGHT YOU'D SINK SO LOW, SASUKE-KUN!"
"…"
"You know what, Sasuke-kun?" she spoke up as angelically as before.
"What?" he inquired, irritated, as he tried to focus on walking ahead (slightly grateful for the fact that Konoha's streets were abandoned by night on weekdays) and his surroundings instead of the quite distracting manner she kept breathing on his neck (and also, her excessive, annoying talk).
"I CAN TURN MY BRA INSIDE OUT WITHOUT TAKING IT OFF! YOU WANNA SEE?"
"… No."
"ARE YOU TRYING TO SAY YOU DON'T WANNA LOOK AT MY BREASTS? ARE YOU TRYING TO SAY THAT MY BREASTS AREN'T GOOD-LOOKING ENOUGH FOR YOU? ARE YOU?!" she bellowed at the top of her lungs.
He could feel his cheeks heat up slightly at the quite uncomfortable topic, with good reason. "Don't be ridiculous, Sakura."
"So my breasts ARE good-looking, then?" she wanted to know cheerily.
"……."
"You know what, Sasuke-kun?" said Sakura with the same, curious childish voice like that of the purest angel.
"What?" he snarled impatiently.
"This feels like old times."
His face expression softened, as his frown dissipated. "… Aa."
"Sasuke-kun?"
"What now?" he sighed.
"I love you."
Something I've been keeping
Locked away behind my lips
I can feel it breaking free…
Although patience is considered to be a virtue, Naruto had never quite agreed.
Especially not when he was bored and alone in Club Leaf on a Wednesday night (only Ino would come up with the idea to go clubbing after an 15-hour-flight and with P.E with Gai-sensei the next morning, he thought), and Shikamaru had promised him that he'd be back soon, after having hurriedly disappeared after catching sight of something, or someone, whatever it was.
But it had now been – Naruto shot a glance at his cell-phone screen in front of him – 15 minutes, and he still wasn't back.
"Naruto-kun," a voice purred in his ear as a pair of hands started roaming on his chest. "Have you missed me?"
"Er…" Naruto looked, somewhat uncomfortably, across his shoulder, coming face to face with a blue-eyed blonde who looked very much like a failed Ino-clone (complete with Ino's signature perfume, Paris Hilton's Can Can); brightening up somewhat, he realized that he actually recognized this person. "Sumiko, right?"
"That's right," said Sumiko with a seductive smile as she pulled him closer – and was she rubbing her breasts against his back? – and breathed an unmistakable scent of alcohol onto his face, making him squint in disgust. "I'm so glad you recognize me, Naruto-kun."
She swished with her blonde hair, tickling his nostrils. Feeling sorely tempted to sneeze, he said in one breath, "Yeah, you're Ami's group partner, aren't you? For Iruka-sensei's assignment?"
The fact that he recognized her due to Ami's non-stop whining about how brain-dead Sumiko was at the top of her lungs every time they were supposed to work on the assignment in class, he preferred not to mention.
"... Ami?" She looked slightly confused. "Oh, yeah, Ami-senpai! Yeah. She hates you, you know. But I don't." (Okay, she was definitely rubbing her breasts against his back.) "I like you, Naruto-kun…"
"Okay, uh, I'll go and get some drinks," Naruto hurriedly withdrew from her, almost making her fall butt-first onto the floor; the fact that they were already at the bar seemed to have escaped him as he quickly fled towards the crowded dancefloor.
Where is everyone? he wanted to yell, as he looked around frantically for at least somebody he knew. Sasuke had strangely enough disappeared from the VIP lounge where he had been perched all night, and he hadn't seen any of the girls since they were at the bar… he had lost sight of Neji and Tenten a long time ago, and now Shikamaru, too –
A wave of relief hit him as he recognized one face in the dancing crowd. Hinata. She was swaying her hips from side to side quite off-beat, but at least it was her, and she seemed to be with-
Halting abruptly, he stared at her in shock and in utter disbelief. Hyuuga Hinata, the heiress of Hyuuga Corp., one of the most influential companies in Asia, as well as the extremely shy, nice girl who always stuttered, was grinding with some random guy.
Or rather, he was grinding a half-conscious Hinata who could barely stand straight on wobbly legs, eyelids fluttering and cheeks flushed, one thing was obvious – she was drunk.
And the guy was struggling in frustration to feel her up – or rather, feel her down as his hand could not get inside the tight material hugging her breasts.
What the hell? he thought, wondering where the flying pigs were. Or if he'd landed himself into an alternate dimension where Sasuke wasn't emo, Kakashi was as pure as a monk, and Hinata – apparently – did things as dry-hump strangers.
But at least one thing was sure – it didn't seem like something Hinata would do, and it'd most likely not end well if he didn't intervene. Therefore, before Naruto was even aware of what he was doing, he had approached the dancing (or having sex with clothes on was more the correct label) couple. "Hey!"
"Whaddya want?" the guy inquired sluggishly; the whites of his eyes were red, and by the distant look in his eyes, it was obvious that he was either stoned or drunk. Or both.
"Get off her," Naruto demanded as he closed the distance further with a frown.
"What, you her boyfriend or something?" the guy half-snorted, half-laughed; his hands didn't cease to try to get into her tight, navy dress, and as Naruto's gaze traveled towards them (and not her breasts, because he was looking at anything else but her breasts) he pushed him off her with a disgusted grimace.
The guy swayed to the side, and swiveling around, he found another half-drunk girl who he immediately grinded. Naruto's brow furrowed further, and he felt inclined to pull her away as well – Kiba had labeled it his 'hero complex', as Naruto always felt the urge to go and save the day – but he was distracted when Hinata suddenly seemed to realize the change in partners (and lack of grinding) as she flung her arms around his neck, knocking the air out of him. "NARUTO-KUN!"
Patting her back awkwardly as he tried to breathe (she had quite a surprising strength for somebody who seemed so frail), "Um, hi."
"Neji-onii-san is going to be maaa-aaad," she giggled in a singsong voice as she withdrew, poking his nose with her finger repeatedly. "You know why?"
"Er… why?"
She lowered her voice into a whisper. "'Cause I'm drunk." She laughed nasally as her tries to catch her breath made her sound like a pig, and then she dramatically put a finger to her lips. "Shhhhhh!"
"Hinata, how much did you dr-"
She pushed the finger to her lips as she wrinkled her forehead, obviously annoyed by Naruto's response as she leaned closer to him. "Shhhhhh!"
"Okay, shhh!" he played along with a distressed grin as he imitated her gesture, causing her to burst into a fit of giggles again. As she was about to fall, he caught hold of her waist and pulled her upwards, guiding her towards the exit of the club. "What the hell is Neji doing? I get that he's trying to apologize to Tenten, but –"
"NARUTO-KUN!" cried Hinata suddenly at an excessive volume as she put her hand to her forehead, leaning her head back with a swishing, dramatic movement as her other hand pressed roughly against his lips.
"Whuot?" was all he managed to blurt out with the palm of her hand clamped against his mouth as he struggled to get rid of her grasp.
"I NEED A DR. PHIL!" she wailed, flailing with her arms as she almost karate-chopped his teeth as he tried to speak. "I've all this pent up emo-ness inside of me… you see," Hinata whimpered with large, teary eyes, "I'm afraid… I'm afraid of becoming Neji-onii-san."
"… O… okay," was Naruto's well-thought response as he felt slightly frightened of this drunken Hinata – she was reminiscent of a more dramatic, more violent, more everything Ino.
He shuddered.
"You see," she spoke up in a trembling voice, "I've already got the hair, and we look so much alike. Once, when I went out shopping with him, they even asked me if we were twins…oh, the horror… then maybe, since I'm so like Neji-onii-san, I'll need a genital transplantation so that I can become a guy –"
Naruto looked simply mortified at the topic. "Um –"
"- I MEAN, IT'LL BE YOUR FAULT!" Instantly changing her attitude, she glared at him accusingly as she shook him by his shoulders as though she was trying to shake an unconscious person awake. "IT'S ALL YOUR FAULT ANYWAY, NARUTO-KUN!"
Although Naruto had always loved being in the spotlight and the center of all attention, he was sort of glad that they were almost by the exit in the club, and that the few people who passed by – mostly on their way out – were far too absorbed in their own drunkenness to notice the screaming Hinata, whose alabaster orbs were bulging dangerously and who was causing quite the scene.
"M-my fault?" the poor blonde stammered, blinking in confusion.
"YES, BECAUSE YOU MADE NEJI-ONII-SAN EMO. IT WAS BAD ENOUGH THAT SASUKE-SAN WAS THE KING OF ALL THAT IS EMO, BUT YOU MADE NEJI-ONII-SAN JOIN HIM IN EMO PARADISE. Whereas I… I…" Hinata broke out into a violent fit of sobbing. "I NEED A DR. PHIL!"
"Y-yeah, okay…" Looking around frantically for someone, anyone, without finding the slightest comfort for his victimized (and now traumatized) soul, he fumbled after his cell-phone, only to notice its blackened screen.
Great timing, he sarcastically thought as Hinata's speech began once more. "THEREFORE, I MUST LOOK FOR KAKASHI-SAN!"
"Kakashi-sensei?" he repeated, astonished.
"Yes! 'Fore Kakashi-san is the Destroyer of All That Is Evil, Bringer of All That Is Good, and the King of All Pygmy Puffs! He, who hast the Kingdom of Broccoli and Falafel in his possession, shall surely defeat He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named!" She pumped her fist into the air determinedly. "Because the Pygmy Puffs shalt eat He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named alive with ramen broth and Versace perfume!"
"Voldemort?" Naruto wanted to know. "But… he's got Death Eaters!"
"BUT KAKASHI-SAN WEARS LEATHER PANTS! AND THAT," she breathed dramatically, her eye muscles stretching as she gave him a Look that dared him to prove otherwise, "means that ultimately, YOU, Naruto-kun, are my Dr. Phil in leather pants!"
"But I'm not –"
"HUSH, HUSH, YOU STUPID REINDEER! THOU SHALT WEAR LEATHER PANTS, BECAUSE GOD CREATED LEATHER PANTS FOR US WOMEN TO DROOL OVER WHEN MEN WEAR THEM."
Naruto watched, horrified, as she gave him another Look, followed by a meaningful wink. "Al… right…"
"So will you?" She leaned closer as he tried to inch away, to no avail, as her hands clenched his shoulders tightly; her pearly orbs filled to the brim with tears. "Will you be my Dr. Phil, Naruto-kun?"
The blonde blinked at her, slightly dazed, as her breath ghosted his lips. "Err… sure."
"Then, my first confession is…" She took a deep breath, but immediately retaliated as she choked a little and coughed slightly, before she grinned in a manner not too different from the Cheshire Cat in Alice in Wonderland. "… I need to pee."
I don't know if I should stay
Or turn around and run
Neji had always considered himself a person with rational thinking and who never acted foolishly due to impulses
(which Naruto and Kiba would've translated to, "being an inhuman robot")
and therefore never had to condescend to visible irritation or tantrums. If there was anything he wished to speak aloud, he'd do so, without a moment's hesitation – be it an insult or a compliment. And also, he had learned from his father that icy politeness could prove itself to be a quite powerful weapon in verbal battles.
But that was when he actually was given a chance to speak at all.
"Ten -," he tried for the umpteenth time the same night, but the bun-haired Chinese evasively escaped
(he grudgingly had to admit that he was impressed by her speed, but then again, she wasn't a Hyuuga bodyguard for nothing)
him, again, with smooth, dancing movements. A chocolate-haired boy who was doing something that could've been either the robot dance or a shockingly accurate imitation of an elderly man trying to karate-chop invisible, rapid flies, caught her eye as she immediately danced up to him and started grinding against him. Responding eagerly, he circled his arms around her waist and returned the gesture enthusiastically.
Least to say, Neji was on the verge of screaming bloody murder, tearing his hair out and tackling the boy with a fearsome, throaty roar and claw his eyes out.
(But of course, that was very un-Neji-like behavior, so what he did was instead grit his teeth and send the boy The Glare, but he was either too stupid or too drunk, because he didn't seem to care)
He approached them again with a brisk stride. "Tenten –"
"Don't disturb me, Neji," she cut across him irritably, and he hid his slight astonishment that she had spoken to him at all – five and a half hours had passed since their arrival, and it was the first time he had heard her voice. "I'm in the middle of something here."
To apparently make her point clearer, she pressed her body up against the boy (who couldn't believe his luck) even more. Panting, the boy spoke up, "We sure are…" He lowered his voice in an attempt to be seductive as he grinned wolfishly, "We could get in the middle of something in my bedroom, too. I don't live far away from here –"
Neji's fist clenched tightly, but before he could even raise it, the boy had fallen bum-first onto the floor, arising on unsteady legs as he stared in obvious disapproval at the girl who had just pushed him (quite hard, too). "Come on –"
"Get lost, you freak," she retorted as she arched one of her hazel eyebrows, surveying him with something a little less mild than outright disgust. Neji couldn't help but smirk.
"Aww, don't be such a spoilsport –"
His hand was nearing Tenten's body (or more specifically, her ass) again, but he wisely stopped when Neji gave him a Look
(the capital L to be noted)
that could've encased the Sahara desert in ice and sent Hannibal Lecter running away screaming as a 3-year-old girl.
"Either you disappear out of my sight instantly," he said with a calm that felt like that before a storm – and not a little one, either; "or I shall make you regret it for the rest of your life when you're stuck in a wheelchair."
A scowl appeared on the boy's face, but he still averted his gaze away from the menacing Hyuuga. "Okay, whatever," he muttered sourly as he withdrew. "Freak."
He glared calmly at his retreating back until it was out of sight, and then he turned back to Tenten, grasping her arm before she could walk off again. Shaking it off impatiently, he couldn't help but remark dryly, "You're being utterly ridiculous, Tenten."
Tenten shot him a glare that could've rivaled his own – except that instead of cold, it was more fiery
(if his glare could've made the Sahara desert freeze up, then hers could've scorched – not melted, but burned down – both the North Pole and the South Pole in the matter of seconds)
as she frantically looked around, and grabbing hold of another random guy who was dancing by himself, she tried him as a new (quite willing) grinding victim.
Furrowing his brow as his annoyance became visible, Neji tore them apart with more force than needed. "Dammit, Tenten, I'm talking to you!"
This time around, the guy merely arched an eyebrow and backed off, for which Tenten awarded Neji another Glare. "Why the hell should I listen to anything you've to say?" she demanded hotly.
"Because I apologized for my earlier behavior?" he stated as though he saw her as an idiot.
Putting her hand onto her chest, she looked heavenwards in mock drama. "Wow, Neji, your apology for your earlier behavior really touched my heart. It was so emotional." The glare that resurfaced in her eyes exceeded the previous one by far; if looks could kill, Neji would've instantly been buried six feet underground as nothing but dust. "Haven't you ever seen the Taiwanese version of Meteor Garden, Neji? 'If sorry could change anything, then we wouldn't have the police'!"
His gaze shifted from 'are-you-an-idiot' to a mere 'you're-definitely-psycho' combined with, quite mildly put, 'what the fuck'?
"You know what? Just forget it," she exhaled sharply as she spun on her heel in a fresh attempt of leaving, but once again, his digits closed around her wrist in the matter of seconds.
"What do you want me to do? Go down on one knee and sing an apology for you?" he asked, voice dripping of sarcasm, as she swiveled about to face him again.
"No, that's just stupid. I mean, what the hell, you're not Zac Efron and this isn't Hairspray. Or High School Musical." Her face suddenly lit up as a devilish sparkle glimmered in her hazel orbs. "Hey, that is a good idea."
"… You want me to sing that I'm sorry?" he restated in mere disbelief.
"No, I want you to sing Westlife's 'Hard to Say I'm Sorry'. And ooh, ooh! Then I can sing, it's too late, to apologize… IT'S TOO LATE!" Her eyes glittered with excitement.
"I sincerely hope that you're not being fully serious," rasped Neji in a tone that clearly was waiting for her to prove such.
"Oh, but I am fully serious," Tenten replied with a voice that would've made all villains tremble in fear.
"I don't even know the song," he said in a try to escape his (horrible, humiliating, fatal, cruel, and all possible synonyms in existence) fate.
"How about Akon's 'Lonely'?" she suggested innocently.
If looks could have been put into words (which would've been utterly meaningless because then you might as well have said it out loud, but still), Neji's would've screeched, "HELL TO THE NAW BIATCH, OVER MY DEAD BODY."
With at least a dozen exclamation marks or so. And a bitch-slap, just for good measure.
Throwing up her hands in vexed defeat, she sighed, "Fine, if your fucking pride is more important to you than our friendship…"
To her utter astonishment, he slowly sank down onto one knee with a grimace that made him look as though somebody had just announced that he'd be beheaded on MTV wearing nothing but pink Barbie boxers. She also noticed, to her great glee, that for some strange reason, a part of Neji's precious hair had curled itself on one side.
(Of course, she'd like to believe it was due to her mastermind scheme, but it was most likely due to the extreme heat and dampness in the club)
"Lonely," he mumbled through gritted teeth as a few dancers nearby stopped to stare at the ongoing scene, "I am so lonely. I've nobody –"
"Whaaaat?" Tenten put a hand next to her ear, unable to hide her playful grin as she added in a singsong voice, "I can't hear a word!"
She wondered if his teeth would crack if he kept on gritting them like that. "LONELY," he bellowed, his pale cheeks adapting a lovely color of baby pink. "LONELY. I AM SO LONELY. I HAVE NOBODY. TO CALL MY OOOOOOOOOOWN…"
A tiny crowd had gathered around them as they laughed audibly as he came to an abrupt halt, refusing to meet anybody else's eye as he instead chose to pierce furiously into hers. "Can I get up now?"
Unable to reply due to the fact that she had doubled over with laughter as tears spilled from her eyes, she tried to take a mental photograph of him right then and there – bent on one knee as though he was about to propose, wearing the same grimace he had done as a child when she had forced him to play tea party with her
(under the threat that she would otherwise tell everybody about the fact that he spent more time on his hair than he did on anything else, including martial arts)
cheeks tinted with a flush that was visible even as the disco lights above blared, turning his pale face in a variety of mixed colors, like fantastically blue or banana yellow, and she…
… was roaring with laughter.
Gasping for her breath as she wiped away the mascara trail her tears had left, she managed to choke, "Say, 'Tenten, you're the Queen of All That Is Good, And The Girl That Michael Jackson Always Sings About In His Songs. I'm the Undercover Ninja Who Screws Up Everything. And, oh, oh!" Having seemingly recovered, she grinned widely in glee as the crowd continued to laugh, like the faceless laughter one heard in comedy shows. "'I'm terribly sorry, but that's the way you become when you watch Sailor Moon day and night. My secret wish is actually to become Sailor Mars, because of her long hair.'"
If it had been a cartoon, fume would've poured out from every single cell of Neji's body in the form of venomous, purple smoke. "Tenten –"
"Okay, I get it. If your pride means too much for you –"
"Tenten. You're the queen of all that is good, and the girl that Michael Jackson always sings about in his songs. I'm the undercover ninja who screws up everything. And oh, oh!" he spoke up sarcastically, his eyes shooting poison-dripping daggers at her as he refused to look at the audience who was, akin to Tenten, barely able to stand properly due to their laughter (and drunken state), "I'm terribly sorry, but that's the way you become when you watch Sailor Moon day and night –"
Tenten watched as the curl rose higher and higher with every word, as though an invisible person was pulling it, and unable to take anymore, she cried; "Oh my God! Stop! You're killing me!"
This time, he didn't wait for her approval as he hurriedly arose, still quite pointedly not meeting the eyes of the onlookers. "Are you done yet?" he snapped irritably, his pink deepening to a more dashing crimson.
"Oh my God! You didn't even have to say 'and oh, oh!' That just…" The rest of her speech was drowned in an explosive fit of, in lack of better words; 'PA-hahahahahahaha –'
Spinning around speedily, he growled, "I'm off."
She felt as though she was reliving a déjà-vu as she put her hand on his shoulder, effectively stopping him from leaving, as she tried to ignore the fact that her tears were flowing freely down on her cheeks, messing up her makeup to a point beyond recognition.
But it's worth it, she decided with an inward grin as she gasped, "No, wait. I forgive you."
Slowly turning around again, he smirked – probably the nearest thing he could come to a smile, she mused – as he questioned, "You do?"
"Yeah, I do." She returned the motion with a broad grin. And then, "Oh, God, I can't believe you actually just did that…"
The scowl returned faster to his face than Naruto when he saw (or sensed, as the blonde kept insisting) ramen. "Shut up."
"And your hair is looking really funny," she commented and shrieked out of laughter again as his hands anxiously flew up to aforementioned hair.
When the laughter had finally receded, the crowd had started to ignore them again and Tenten had already prevented Neji from leaving a total of three times, she finally managed to say, "God, I can't wait to tell Hinata. Where is she, by the way?"
"Well, Hinata-sama is supposed to be…" His sentence trailed off as his face expression darkened, as the two (failed) bodyguards surveyed their surroundings without finding even one familiar face, and even less the particular one they were looking for.
And in a moment that'd rewrite History and would be probably, someday, be nominated as one of the Most Unbelievable Moments in Human Memory, the flaky Tenten known for her almost masculine way of speech as well as her random metaphors and remarks, and the ever-so-perfectionist Hyuuga Neji whose dignity only allowed him to use a vocabulary that boasted of academic skill, spoke their thoughts with one mutual word, in perfect synchronization:
"Fuck."
How am I supposed to feel
About the things I've done
"I love you."
Sasuke froze solid, as his grasp of her two legs slackened, causing her to cling further to his neck, her warm breath caressing his skin as she spoke once more, giggling drunkenly;
"Dun' knooow why it was so hard, really. I love you. I looove you. Ajlubjoo!"
Unable to digest her words and still rigid with shock, Sasuke made no effort to reply. This, however, proved not to be a problem to the pinkette, as she continued her monologue. "It's all Itachi's fault I couldn't say it beeefouuurrr. Damn Itache. Or Itachoo. PIKACHU!"
She slid off his back as she almost fell headfirst onto the pavement, but steadied her legs the last minute as she started hopping around on all fours like a rather misshaped imitation of a rabbit, bellowing "PIKACHU! PIKACHU! PIKACHU!" at the top of her lungs, before collapsing right into a bush.
"Youuuu," she drawled uncertainly as she waggled slowly towards the shell-shocked Uchiha prodigy, a drowsy smile on her lips, "are an idiiiooot. Idiot for leaving me in Konoha while going to Sound while fucking Sound bitches. 'Caaaauuuseee…"
She took a deep breath, before breaking out into a screeching chorus of, "You just wanna fuck bad bitches! All them nights you never had bitches… now all I'm up in that ass BIIIT –"
Her apple-green eyes bulged as she opened her mouth, making a gagging sound; amazed, she kept her mouth open as she realized she was not puking, and giggled as enthusiastically as an ADHD patient would after having had enormous amounts of ecstasy; the giggles erupted into louder and louder laughter, until she bellowed at the top of her lungs… when a sparkling droplet suddenly escaped her left eye.
"How couuuuld youuu, Sasuke-kuuuun," she sobbed as she poked the poor ever-so-astounded boy on his chest roughly, "how could you just leave me like that? You owe me, you know that? You owe me and all of our beautiful, unborn, black-haired children with green eyes! What am I gonna tell 'em when they ask me why I won't watch Flintstones? I can't just say that 'your daddy left me for Michael Jackson's kid with a snake born out of wedlock'…"
Tears streamed down her cheeks like waterfalls as she bawled, "Every fucking Friday, I had to sit with stupid Naruto watching his stupid Flintstones with his stupid miso ramen, and YOU KNOW WHAT? I CAN'T TAKE IT ANYMOOOORE! YOU GOTTA COME BACK FROM SOUND! 'Cause… that dinosaur is the wrong shade of pink," she emphasized in a hissing voice as her finger prodded his well-trained chest with each word;
"And… and… WHAT AM I GONNA SAY TO 'EM, HUH? LITTLE SASUKE JUNIOR AND LITTLE SAKURA JUNIOR? AND SASUKE JUNIOR JUNIOR? 'CAUSE THEY CAN'T WATCH FLINTSTONES ANYMOOORE! AND… AND… WHAT IF SASUKE JUNIOR JUNIOR DYES HIS HAIR THE SAME PINK AS THAT STUPID DINOSAUR? THAT'D BE SO WRONG! HIS HAIR IS BEAUTIFULLY PINK, SASUKE-KUN, BEAAAU –"
And then she graciously puked on his feet.
And even though you're next to me, I still feel so alone
I just can't give you anything to call your own
The rain was falling again.
Sasuke had never liked rain much. Contrary to popular belief, although he was a "broody" person, and he disliked sunshine – it lured too many people out on the streets, and too many fangirls to stalk him – but rain prevented him from taking his daily walks.
And as of right now, he detested the rain that was pouring outside like somebody had just turned on a gigantic shower, the raindrops smattering against the windows loudly, as though to call for everybody's attention.
And because of the rain, he was now stuck in her apartment.
It was the same as always – the same furniture, the same emptiness, the same hanging silence in the air as that after somebody has died. As a child, they had seldom played in Sakura's house during daytime, but they still knew it well. They had kept her company countless nights when she had felt alone, or simply bored
(but mostly the previous)
and made the lifeless atmosphere come to life, even if it was only temporary.
But what had once been precious memories now made him feel quite uncomfortable, like there was an ache in a wound that he had been sure was closed.
"Sasuke…"
He stiffened as he looked across his shoulder; the pinkette was still sleeping soundly in her bed behind him, and he exhaled sharply as he realized such.
I love you, her voice resounded in his mind as an electric current surged through him at the reminder.
Those three words. Those stupid three words he had waited five years to hear, those idiotic three words that he had completely banished from his mind the following three and a half years, and those goddamned three words that now made him feel like…
He wasn't even sure what it was that he was feeling. It was like there was an electric current – but not strong enough to pain him – going through his body, but at the same time there was an ache, somewhere, for a past he couldn't revive – there was angst and regret and sorrow and anger, but then there was something akin to…
Hope?
Sasuke shook his head, irritated, as though to shake off the thought, as he swiftly marched out of the room in an attempt to relieve the frustration he was feeling. He was being ridiculous. No matter how he looked at it, it was impossible for her to love him now. Maybe back then it could've been impossible, when they had been so close – when it seemed like the world could've fallen down and they would still be okay –
But now? After everything they had said and done to each other? Or more specifically, after everything he had said and she had done?
Get a grip, a voice that sounded like his father's berated him with a bark in his thoughts, focus on something else. You will find no answers like that.
He scanned the room, frown deepening, in search of anything to occupy his mind. It was, naturally, impossible for him to sleep now, not that he had been planning it either way. He couldn't turn on the TV, as that would wake her up, so therefore, he strode over to the bookshelf in search of something to read.
Title after title registered briefly in his mind, but none that woke interest – books about the cardiovascular system nor Bridget Jones' Diary seemed like anything Sasuke would read willingly, and with a displeased sigh, he instead dug in his pocket in search of his mp3-player.
The jet-black iPod nano seemed to illuminate the darkened living room as he flopped down unto the jade green couch, glaring at the TV screen as though blaming it for being the source of his inner tumult. The sound of the fan blades spinning above him, and Sakura's (loud) breathing was drowned in a guitar solo the moment he hit play.
Eyes are feeling heavy, but they never seem to close, Yellowcard was singing into his ears. The fan blades on the ceiling spin, but the air is never cold –
He almost wanted to laugh at the irony. It was as though Ryan Key was singing about him.
Instead, he continued to search the room with his gaze, in lack of anything else to do. A crumpled piece of paper lay before him on the wooden coffee table – hadn't Sakura said anything about her father crafting it himself before her birth? – with a slightly smudgy text, as though somebody had shed tears whilst reading or writing it.
Sakura, it read with a perfectly neat handwriting;
We're off to Tokyo this weekend. We'll probably be back by next. We're sorry that we'll be late again, but we trust you to take care of yourself and the house. There's food in the fridge, and if you run out of food, we've left you money for grocery shopping.
-- Mom & Dad
Sasuke remembered clearly that when they had been younger, Sakura's parents had been away almost 90 percent of the year due to their constant business traveling; it probably hadn't receded as of now, either. But what was beyond his comprehension was why the text was so smudged – had she cried while reading it? But of what reason?
He couldn't remember Naruto saying anything about her parents' behavior as of the recent years. Perhaps they had become more distant, more detached – he wouldn't know. Her name alone had become taboo ever since that time.
It struck him how little he knew about her now, having not wanted to speak to her for almost four years. Was she still the same as she used to be? Did she still eat muesli with honey and yoghurt faithfully every morning because she loved non-Japanese breakfast dishes? Did she still spend hours in front of the mirror trying to curl her hair for certain events, just to have it turn into a weird-looking frizz?
Did she still think he was flawless? What did she think of him now?
I couldn't bear to hurt you, but it's all so different now, Yellowcard chose to sing right then, as though to answer his thoughts. Things that I was sure of, they have filled me up with doubt…
Putting away the note, Sasuke arose again and entered Sakura's room. At least he could use her computer for the time being – it'd at least keep him busier than contemplating things that were better left unthought, if that was even a word.
However, something stopped him. Something he hadn't noticed when he had carried the unconscious pinkette to her bed an hour prior to now.
Her entire wall was covered with photos.
Black-and-white ones; colored ones; big ones; small ones – all kinds and all kinds of people in it.
There was the photo he recognized so well from his childhood – a black-and-white picture of Sakura's parents, smiling at the camera with an infant Sakura in their arms
(that's my dad and mom, she had explained countless times, and staring longingly at the photo as though she wished them to appear if she stared long enough)
and then there was another one, of a 3-year-old Sakura playing at the beach, looking unnaturally happy with the broadest grin on her face with her father standing next to her.
The following photos, from when Sakura was 4 years and onward, had none of her parents in them. She was standing next to Ino in most pictures; posing with a bunch of flowers in their hair and hands; trying to pull Ino's horrified father to join them in playing dress-up, fully armed with a makeup kit and an unbelievable amount of brushes and combs; smiling with their shoulder-length, flowing hair in identical hairstyles in front of a cake on which it was scrawled, "Happy Birthday, Ino!"…
And then, with a flinch, Sasuke stared at his own, sullen-faced 8-year-old self standing next to her, smiling even bigger and happier than in any of the photos he had seen so far, with a guitar in front of them, and his mother's stolen (or borrowed, as Sakura had insisted later in an attempt to defend Sasuke for something he hadn't done) high-heels in her hands.
"I know, you can be a rockstar, and I can be a model!"
The remaining photos all had either him or Ino in them; a 10-year-old Sakura joining Naruto's father in the impossible task of trying to make Ino and Naruto stop fighting; an 11-year-old Sakura pulling on his sleeve as he reluctantly joined her in going into a women's clothing store; a 12-year-old Sakura grinning toothily at the camera, showing her braces as he and Naruto glared at each other…
The amount of photos had almost come to its end; a photo that apparently had been taken 3 years ago – prior to his returning to Konoha – showed her standing next to Naruto with a meek, barely existent – but still there –smile as he made quite an effort to grin as widely as possible, looking very much like the Cheshire Cat from Alice's Wonderland
(not that Sasuke made such a childish comparison)
as he did so.
He was definitely being ridiculous.
(about her "confession" and such, if one could even call it that)
Sakura was, of course, not in love with him. It had only been the immeasurable amount of drinks she had taken that was talking. What had even been thinking? She had been spouting utter nonsense from the moment she had clung to him at the balcony, of course she wasn't speaking seriously then.
And either way, she was in love with Naruto now.
They were dating. And furthermore, he was the only one who could make her smile now.
("Heey, Sakura-chan! Why do you become so happy when Sasuke-teme gives you a birthday present, but not so happy when I do?!")
Besides, she had spoken in past tense. Or, well, she had talked as though she had reverted back to their past; telling him to come back from Sound, and so on.
But that, too, he decided abruptly, was ridiculous.
(Because back then, before she had dated Naruto –)
Sasuke stared at the latest photo on her wall – the infamous picture of Konoha's Golden Leaf and their entourage, the one posted everywhere – on people's lockers, on the net, on the notice boards in school – consisting of her, Ino and Hinata; his arm encircled around Ino's waist, Naruto's hand intertwined with hers, Hinata between Kiba and Neji; and he realized that the only two that were left unsmiling on the photo –
(- it had been him.)
- was her and him.
("A guy can't be pretty, Sakura." Irritation.
Grin. "Aww, don't be jealous, Sasuke-kun – when you grow up, you'll be almost as pretty as Ita – Sasuke-kun, where're you going?!")
Yes, he decided as Yellowcard's song came to an end, leaving him to listen to Sakura's breathing until the next song began, it was all utterly ridiculous.
And I can feel you breathing
And it's keeping me awake
She was about to get mauled by a gigantic rabbit.
It wasn't even a normal rabbit. It was yellow. As in bright, screaming, fiery yellow – the sort of flashy yellow that was the color of Ino's favorite nail polish in the summer – with piercing, accusing sapphire eyes.
"How could you!" it bellowed at the top of its lungs. "How could you do this to me?"
"Do what?" Ino yelled back, as she dodged a fatal blow that punched a hole the size of The Academy in the wall behind her. "I haven't done anything!"
"You ruined everything!Everything!" screeched the rabbit, stomping in frustration as Ino backed, paralyzed with fear as her body moved on its own, "You fucking traitor!"
The voice echoed, as though they had been on mountains; and suddenly Ino could feel herself falling – the ground beneath her was caving – and she screamed, but to no avail; she realized that she'd keep falling forever in this endless void, never-ending depth.
"Blame yourself, Yamanaka," Neji said as he floated in mid-air, perfectly balanced, as Ino kept falling, kept screaming – "you brought it on yourself."
"Brought what on myself? Help me, Neji! HELP!"
"This loneliness." His voice felt like it was tearing her apart. Even though his orbs were milky white, almost iris-less due to its light color, it seemed impossibly even more penetrating than the rabbit's. "You can feel it, don't you? Eating at you – just like when your parents almost had a divorce –"
"SHUT UP!" she shrieked, but her lungs failed her; it came out like a cracked, dry sound, and with a disapproving snort, Neji disappeared, and was replaced by Sakura, who flickered, as though she was a hologram, not a real person; relief flowed through her. "Sakura! Sakura, please help me… I… I'm falling…"
"Why should I help you?" Her eyes were lifeless, apathetic – an expression that scared her more than she could understand; had she ever seen so… so dead before? "You killed me, don't you know?"
"Killed you?" she demanded, bewildered. "I haven't killed you!"
And then, Sakura clawed inside of her chest, tearing it open, and she couldn't even close her eyes; all she could do was stare, wide-eyed, as she tore out her heart, a beating, bleeding organ in her hand that was spurting blood from its broken veins, and then she squeezed it.
"STOP IT!" screamed Ino, but she continued to squeeze, until no more blood came… and then, as Sakura's eyelids fluttered to a close, she fell into a broken heap. "Sakura! SAKURA!"
She screamed. And screamed. It felt like it'd never stop – like she'd never stop. Never stop falling, never stop screaming… never being able to get that picture out of her mind…
Until she finally found something. Gravity. Her fingers were grasping the edge of a cliff tightly, and she could almost see her knuckles whiten – although she could barely see anything else clearly, neither the sky nor what was below her – and all she knew was that she needed to keep clinging, to never let go, because if she did –
She didn't even want to think about what'd happen.
And suddenly, somebody showed itself. Or rather, himself.
"Sasuke-kun!" she exclaimed, once again relieved, on the verge of tears. "God…. Sasuke-kun… help me, I – I'm going to fall, please…"
No answer. His back was turned towards her.
"Sasuke-kun." She was getting desperate; her grip was starting to slacken, against her will, and despair was clawing in her entire body like a maddened cat; in her chest, in her fingers, in her head, even in her throat, making her voice crack when she spoke up again. "Please… help me…"
Then, slowly, torturously, painfully, agonizingly slowly, he swiveled around.
And completely mortified, she realized that he had no face. It was him, without a doubt – that raven hair, that pale skin, those clothes, even the Konoha's Soccer Club t-shirt she had borrowed earlier, but the place where his beautiful, almost angelic face features should be situated, had been replaced by skin.
Nothing but perfectly ivory, almost shiny skin – like that of a doll – as he said blankly, "Who are you?"
And then her fingers slipped, and she fell again – this time faster than before, the gravity pulling her towards the end with such force that she knew that the moment she'd hit the ground, she'd shatter to pieces and experience unbelievable pain –
But what scared her the most wasn't even the fact that she'd die.
What scared her the most was that she was afraid to live.
And then, with a start, she realized that her back had connected with the soft material of a bed. Her entire body was aching, especially her feet – she could tell she had countless blisters – and her head, which seemed like it had been cut in half; her throat was parched, and she was breathing through her mouth, gasping for air which hurt her sore throat.
Irritated, she realized that she couldn't open her eyes.
It wasn't like Ino didn't want to. After the nightmare – and she thanked God it was only a nightmare – she didn't want to go back to sleep again. But her eyelids seemed to have glued themselves to each other.
Frankly recalling having been at a club last night, she instantly knew who her company was – the one who she could hear breathing
(because Ino did indeed have pretty good hearing, even if she was such a loudmouth herself)
some distance away, and who seemed to watch TV at a low volume. She didn't pay heed to what program it was.
"Urgghh… ice," she groaned hoarsely. "Bring me ice."
There was a tiny pause. Then, she could hear the sound of somebody getting up from the floor; footsteps; and then, after a while, something hard, cold and wet pressed into the palm of her left hand.
She brought it to her left eye slowly, and winced at the pain of the cold – but it was needed for the excessive amount of makeup to unglue itself from each other – and mumbled, "Thanks, Sakura."
"… I'm not Sakura," a baritone voice that sounded familiar – but who definitely wasn't Sasuke – replied, and startled, she flipped one eyelid open as she proceeded to unglue the rest, sitting up swiftly on the bed.
The scene before her was unclear, as though she was seeing through a fog – the room was half-lit, and a dark figure was standing next to the bed, somebody who, just like the person had said, wasn't Sakura. "Wh-who are you? Why are you in my –" Realizing that the feel of the sheets and the entire room didn't look like her own, she yelled; "OH MY GOD --!! RAAAAAPIIIISST! THERE'S A RAAAAAAAAAAAPIIIIIIST IN HEREEEE –"
An annoyed sigh cut her off. "Relax, Ino, it's just me."
Having successfully unglued her other eyelid, she blinked a couple of times groggily. "Shikamaru?"
"No," he retorted sarcastically, "Johnny Depp."
"Really? You wouldn't mind signing my bra, would you?"
"…"
"I was just kidding, you know," she threw back with a roll of her eyes that pained them slightly. Which, in turn, made her head feel as though she had just been electrocuted.
"I'm glad to hear that." Pausing, he asked; "Are you feeling better?"
"I think my head's going to explode with a loud "KA-BOOM!", and then all of my inner organs will be spraying all over you, and you'll swim in a sea of my blood pretty soon." Imitating his earlier sarcasm, she added, "But other than that, I'm fine."
"That's how it gets when you've had at least 20 tequila shots and half a bottle vodka. Or something like that. Aspirin?"
"Would be very much appreciated, thanks," she murmured as he silently left the room, his footsteps the only thing breaking the silence as her eyes scanned the room swiftly. It was nothing special – brown wallpaper, wooden floor, two windows with a view that had been dimmed by the increasing amount of raindrops smattering against it. A bed, a TV, a desk, a chair, a shelf and a wardrobe – a photo of him and Chouji, above the bed, and another one of him, Chouji, Kiba and Naruto
(do they know each other? she inwardly wondered, surprised)
as grinning 11-year-olds. But none of him and Temari, it dawned upon her as she hid a triumphant smirk whilst accepting and swallowing the Aspirin he had offered her along with a glass of (perfect, much wanted, beloved) icy cold water.
"So…," she drawled, trying to prolong the word to break the silence that had fallen, "how did I wind up here, again?"
"You got drunk. And fainted," he added with a casual shrug as though his hobby was bringing home unconscious blondes who had just one cocktail too many. "So I brought you here."
"Oh. Right." Ino reverted back to being uncharacteristically quiet, battling her memory in search of anything embarrassing she could've done when she was being drunk. Several scenarios flashed through her mind – stripping, pouring out her secrets, perhaps even kissing him – when she suddenly noticed something.
Or rather, the lack of something. The lack of clothes tightly clinging to her body. Looking down in horror, she realized that her clothing had been changed to a baggy, white t-shirt and a pair of boxers, and she shrieked, "Those aren't my clothes!"
"I know," he stated simply, and Ino could feel her eye muscles stretch further.
"We… we didn't -," she choked, but he swiftly interrupted her with an assuring; "Don't worry, we didn't do anything."
She relaxed briefly, but then scrunched up her face as she contemplated why he'd change her clothes. "But, then – why – how – YOU PERVERT!"
She shot him her most intimidating glare, but instead of obediently recoiling in fear (and perhaps even throw in a girlish scream), Shikamaru merely raised an arched eyebrow towards his forehead. "You threw up everywhere, even after you were unconscious. You were basically stinking and almost choking on your own vomit by the time I got you here. I just changed your clothes, that's all."
"That's all?" she sputtered as she could feel her cheeks turn magenta, "I wanted my boyfriend to be the first guy to ever see me naked, not you – while I was choking on my own vomit, nonetheless!"
At this remark, both of his eyebrows traveled further up in an expression of astonishment. "I'm the first guy to see you naked?"
His simple statement couldn't have hurt more than if he had stabbed her in the chest with a knife. Ino was aware that a lot of people probably thought of her as a slut, but seldom people who she had actually thought were close to her – not that she was close with him anyway, she tried to mentally remedy, it wasn't like he was anybody important…
"What, you think I've slept around?" she challenged him, and was irritated that the fact that she felt wounded at his remark showed through. "I'm not a slut, you know! I know that I wear short skirts and revealing tops and stuff, but I don't – I don't sleep around, like Ami! I –"
"That's not what I meant," Shikamaru cut her off, and instant relief flooded through her, making her feel at ease. "But you and Sasuke have been going out for more than a year, and I thought you guys had already… well, had sex."
He was still seemingly quite surprised by this without even quite reacting to the topic itself, but Ino's face burned a brighter red, especially at the reminder that Sasuke seemed to be the only guy whatsoever who couldn't seem less attracted by her, what with the fact that he never took the initiative to even kiss her; sex was completely out of the question.
"Well, we want to wait until it feels right," she retorted defensively, and flicked her hair with as much nonchalance as she could muster.
But wait, she suddenly realized with a pang of glee, isn't it a good thing that he isn't trying to get into my pants? He's not like the others.
"And Sasuke wants to take it slow, too," she added quickly with a visible note of pride in her tone, "he's not with me to get into my pants, you know."
"… Good for you," was all Shikamaru had to supply for an answer, making her feel slightly annoyed –her other peers (with the exception of Konoha's Golden Leaf and Sakura, Hinata and Tenten, of course) would've squealed by now and fawned over the romantic factor of it all. Not that she had been waiting for the same girly reaction from Shikamaru, but at least he didn't have to sound so… monotonous.
But perhaps, it dawned upon her, it was because he was already used to it all.
Not talking about sex, maybe – but having it. That could be why he seemed so unfazed by the topic, and if he had thought she and Sasuke had had it… but she didn't know how long he and Temari had been going out…
Unable to hide the sulk that flashed across her face, she wondered, "Have you?"
"Have I what?"
"Lost your virginity?" she pressed on, irritated.
At this, he flushed slightly – it wasn't quite visible in the half-dark, but there was definitely a tint of something on his cheeks as he hurriedly diverted his gaze from her demanding eyes. "That's none of your business."
"I just told you I haven't lost mine." She crossed her arms stubbornly as her frown deepened. "You should at least tell me if you've lost yours."
He made no attempt to answer, and strangely enough, that made it feel like her heart had just plummeted into the pit of her stomach. "… Well?"
"Technically," he replied, a little too fast for his usual careless manner, "I don't owe you anything, since I saved you. Which, by the way, you haven't even thanked me for yet."
"Thank you," she enunciated with exaggerated clarity through clenched teeth, not bothering to stifle her impatience. "Now, have you lost it or not?"
"… I haven't," Shikamaru finally responded, and she couldn't help but feel that wonderful, warm relief take over every cell of her body again – as though she could finally relax after a long day with the cheerleaders. "Does it matter?"
Ino couldn't suppress the smile that was spreading widely from cheek to cheek. "No."
He still refused to meet her gaze, and she stifled the urge to giggle at his obvious embarrassment. "I'll go and get breakfast."
"Yeah." The smile fading slightly, she asked in panic; "Wait, your family isn't home, are they?"
"My parents are off on a cruise for a year. They won't be home for another six months."
She let out a breath she didn't know she had been holding, her anxiety diminishing. "Great. So, um… can I take a shower?"
"Go ahead."
Waiting for his instructions, she stared at him questioningly until he gestured at a door to her left. Rising it up and almost stumbling across a shougi board on the floor in the process, the palm of her hand closed around the welcomingly cool door handle, and pressing it down, she revealed a bathroom strangely neat for a boy's room.
Ino swiveled about to ask a question, but as though he could read her mind, he answered; "Your clothes are already in there. I washed them, so don't blame me if they shrunk or whatever, but I think they should be fine. They should be dry by now."
She smiled thankfully at him, and just as she was about to close the door and he was about to exit, he seemed to have remembered something as he spoke up again. "And oh, Ino?"
"Yeah, what?"
Digging in his pocket, he pulled out the snoring pineapple head keyring along with a crumpled package on which she could see the carelessly scribbled words, 'To Shikamaru', and for a moment, it felt as though her heart was beating frantically.
Why it was doing so was probably because of the fact that she was dizzy, and her body was abnormal in general, she decided.
"Thanks for the gift."
He smiled – or rather, smirked – and Ino felt her own lips tugging upwards to match his. "You're welcome."
Can you feel it beating?
Hinata was scared.
No, she was more than that.
She was freaking I'm-going-to-pee-my-pants, 3-year-old-scared-of-the-monster-in-the-closet scared.
The thing was, that even though Hinata had grown up in a family renowned for martial arts, she had never practiced it. Her fragile health and the fact that she had two ridiculously skilled bodyguards (even though one had been absent for about two years in a foreign country) had prevented her from "wasting her time" on such antics.
But now, as her alabaster eyes snapped from right to left in this secluded, dark (and unbelievably messy) room that stank of old ramen, she desperately wished she had at least learned how to successfully kick somebody in the crotch.
(Not that one needed instructions for such, but Hinata felt safer like that)
Feeling fear trickle upwards from her spine to her neck in the form of a shudder, she could hear footsteps come closer.
She prepared herself in what she hoped was a fighting stance (as much as one could look like a fighter sitting up in a bed, anyway) and when she was completely sure that her offender was within her range, she focused all of her strength and punched him in the nose.
Or, to be more precise, she punched a certain blue-eyed blonde in the nose.
"Ow!" came Naruto's voice as he turned the ceiling lamp on as he rubbed his now extremely red nose, "What're you doing, Hinata?"
"N-N-N-Naruto-kun?!" she burst out, surprised beyond her imagination.
"Y-yeah, it's me," he whimpered as he continued to massage his damaged nose, but only succeeded in making it resemble a bright crimson ball, "I brought you here yesterday night."
"B-brought… b-b-b-brought m-me h-h-here?!" Although she felt a thrill of excitement, panic overtook most of her senses – what exactly had happened last night? All she could remember was joining Ino at the bar for drinks, and then…
Naruto must've noticed her paling visibly, because he hurriedly convinced her – with a face as flushed as his nose – "N-no! It wasn't like that! I mean… you got drunk, and… well…"
"S-so… n-n-nothing h-happened?" she asked carefully, and couldn't help but feel some slight disappointment.
"Well… I can't say nothing…" Blood rushed to her cheeks as she watched him with wide eyes; his face expression turned serious. "The thing is… last night…" He gulped. "You told me everything about yourself, Hinata."
Whatever she had been expecting, it hadn't been that. "W-what?" she stuttered in an octave too shrill for her to seem composed. Not that she was the slightest composed anyway, but she'd have liked to given him that impression – that it was completely normal for her to be abducted by random, good-looking strangers (not that he was only that for her) after having gotten too drunk at a club.
"I never knew you were going through so much…" At this, guilt was added to his stony expression, and her heart was beating so fast she was convinced it was merely a flutter – like a hummingbird's wings. "I mean, I knew Hiashi was a total asshole, but… what he's doing to you…"
He seemed to struggle with his words, but raw anger flashed across his sapphire eyes, making them seem uncharacteristically aggravated. "And you know, I know that Neji is a human robot like Sasuke-teme, but even Sasuke-teme would've said something. But for him to not to stick up for you when Hiashi says stuff like that…"
Hinata couldn't believe it. She could hardly believe it. It felt as real and possible as a dream, and any moment now, she was waiting for the Branch maids to tell her to wake up and prepare herself for school.
She must've told him everything. Literally everything.
And yet, here he stood, not even disgusted by it all. Instead, he was angry.
For her sake.
She didn't know if she wanted to laugh, or cry out of mere joy.
"And then there's that…" A slight grin crept onto his face. "… your big love…"
Hinata was more than just stunned by now. The world could've spun out of its solar system, the sun could've exploded and caused the sky to fall down outside of the window, and all of the inhabitants of the Earth could've turned to zombies, and she wouldn't have noticed.
And if her thoughts as of this moment could've been expressed, even if they were barely coherent, they'd have been something like, ohmygodohmygodohmygodohmygodohmygodohmygodOHMYGOD–
"I… I know that it's not any of my business." Slight nervousness. "But it somehow feels like I should help you. I mean, you could refuse, of course, it's really none of my business and I know I'm just meddling and all, but…"
ohmygodohmygodohmygodohmygodohmygodohmygod –
"… you were talking, you know, and I couldn't just… well, I don't know, you told me all of it, like how you've been in love with him since you were eight, and always looked up to him, and everything, and I… well, I'm sorry, but you just kept on talking…"
ohmygodohmygodohmygodohmygodohmygodohmygod –
"… so, you know, if… if you don't have anything against it, like, if you want me to help you… I'm going to protect you from your evil dad and Neji from now on," he announced, slightly proud but fiercely determined, "and I'm going to help you to get your one true love…"
OHmygodohMYgodohmyGODohmygodohmygodohmygodOHMYGOD –
"… Kiba!"
ohmy – WHAT?
She stared at him. And he stared back, grinning. She blinked. He grinned, slightly nervous.
Blink. Grin.
Blink. Grin.
Blink… "Are you okay, Hinata?" Grin faltering.
And then, as all of Hinata's brain cells overworked themselves, pulverizing her brain completely and frying it alive, all of the hemoglobin in her red blood cells rushed upwards to her face, and she fainted.
"Hinata? Hinata!" he shouted, shaking her body frantically. "Are you okay? Hinata!!"
It couldn't have been worse with the background music (complete with violins, piano and a wailing singstress) to a dramatic Asian TV-series in the background (Naruto had left the TV on prior to checking in on her) with sobbing people crying, "Don't die! Don't die!" when suddenly, blaring sirens caused him to jump.
"This is the police!" the metallic sound of a megaphone could be heard outside of the apartment. "We have you surrounded! Uzumaki Naruto, you've been arrested for the assault and kidnapping of Hyuuga Hinata!"
My heart's sinking like a weight
Sakura woke up to the sound of chirping birds.
But something was off. The chirping birds not only didn't cease to repeat themselves – they sounded almost robotic –
Realizing with a grin what the source of the noise was, she fumbled around on her bedside table, fighting to open her eyes, as her hand closed around her bright pink Motorola.
1 New Message From: Tenten, the screen flashed at her as she groaned once more as she glanced at the clock in the corner – 10 a.m. Her first class started at half past ten as the teacher for her first class was down with the flu, but that also meant she had to get ready in ten minutes.
Are you okay? were the first words she read as she opened the message sent shortly after 3 a.m., I haven't heard from you all night and I can't find the others either. I hope you're fine. I've patched up things with Neji now, but are you with Hinata? Please tell me you're with Hinata. She's gone, and Neji's all mad, and I think he's going to kill the cop we're talking to and –
The message had ended there, probably because she had been too frantic writing it. "Oh my God," she mumbled for herself, eyes wide with worry. She had never been particularly close with her, but she rather liked her; she was pretty sweet and kind, and very caring. "What if something has happened to her?"
"The Hyuuga heiress is with the dobe," a dark voice spoke up in the corner, causing her to jump in surprise, "if that's what you're talking to yourself about."
"OH MY GOD!" she half-shrieked, until she met the glance of the extremely annoyed person situated on her computer chair. "S- Sasuke-kun?"
"No, the Santa Claus," he threw back venomously. "And before you get any twisted ideas, you had passed out and I remembered where your spare key was."
"… Passed out?" she questioned aloud, confused. She couldn't have just passed out for no particular reason. Racking her brain for foggy memories, she recalled that they had been in a club… Ino had asked her to join her at the bar and she…
Paling, another memory was summoned with perfect clarity.
I love you.
She couldn't have. After all these years… after everything they had been through… she couldn't have been stupid enough to –
"Get out of bed and get ready," he snapped irritably as he arose, proceeding towards the exit of her bedroom, "we're supposed to be in class in half an hour."
"Sasuke -," she spoke up, and he halted, abruptly. The unsaid suffix lingered in the air, almost pressuring her to utter it out loud, and for the fraction of a second, it seemed like the world's weight had been put unto her shoulders.
It wasn't just a suffix.
It was everything. Everything they had had, everything they had said and done, everything she had felt –
And she couldn't do it. She couldn't call back what had once been.
Because she didn't have the right, nor the guts, to do it.
"What I said last night…," Sakura instead chose to say, swallowing in an attempt to moisten her unbelievably dry throat, "… you know… I… I didn't mean it."
He didn't have to ask what she meant. Both of them knew.
There was a tense, or rather, intense silence that descended as she fought against herself, fought against every little instinct in her body screaming at her for being a liar, for being so weak, so cowardly –
"I know," he responded simply, shortly, with a tone that ended the discussion – not that there was any to begin with.
And just like that, as though it had been the easiest thing in the world
(whilst she was struggling hard not to cry, not to shed any tears or to show any weakness)
and as if it didn't feel as though he had just reached inside her chest, clawing out her heart and squeezed it to nothing but a bloody pulp and thrown it outside of the window to be battered by the wind and rain
(even though she didn't want to be that dramatic, that weak, but she couldn't help it, not when it was him, who was walking through that door, who seemed so completely unfazed by it all that she wanted to scream at him and shake him and hit him just to make him react, just to make him feel one thousandth of what she felt)
he strode out of her room, not glancing once across his shoulder, and slammed the door shut.
I know that I hurt you, things will never be the same
The only love I ever knew
And I threw it all away…
Okay, am I supposed to run now, or are you guys not on a killing spree... yet? I know that Sasuke's reaction is such a letdown, but hey, it's WAY too easy if we acquire SasuSaku just like that. Right? Right?? -looks around and only sees murderous glares and cowers behind Kiba- SAVE YOUR MOOMA, MY LOYAL GRASSHOPPER!
Kiba: WHAT THE FUCK? I WASN'T EVEN IN THIS CHAPTER?!?!
-ducks underneath a couch-
So, I know you guys missed Kakashi, so there was a lot more randomness in this chapter than intended. But don't worry, we'll return to ZE ANGST soon enough! -pumps fist into air- Speaking of which, I completely ADORE him!!! I cried more during Kakashi's Gaiden in the anime than I did during the Notebook. But that might've something to do with the fact that my guy frirends wouldn't stop making fun of every single scene.
And oh, ooh! Coming up next: MAJOR SPOILERS ABOUT ZE ANGSTY SASUSAKU PAST. Or fluffy. Or both. Yeah. But don't worry, there'll be plenty of ZE ANGST! and LA FLUFF! next chapter as well.
And ZOMG! I bought les shoes of PERFECTION I was talking about in the last chapter. I'm so in love with them. They're perfect, black high-heels that are just AMAZING. And so what if my feet die in them? They're GORGEOUS!!!
Okay, enough of my ranting about shoes. You guys still haven't answered: WHO'S YOUR FAVORITE CHARACTER??
Thanks for all the reviews, and PLEASE keep on reviewing!! I can't believe we hit 200 reviews!!! I'm so happy!!!!!!
So keep on reviewing, yeah? (They keep me motivated to write the next chapter when I slack off. There. Now, obey High-Heels-Goddess-Sama and REVIEW.)