I'm sorry it took me so long to write this chapter. After I finish those one-shots for Just Because and finally get through with Worlds Apart, Yet So Close, I'll be focusing completely on this story. (...and random one-shots that demand to be written...) And once this is over, And Then There Were None will be worked on dutifully. I promise. *salutes*

So, yes, anyway:

Please enjoy!

And in case anyone forgot, she is texting her new buddy — not calling him.

Please read and review! :D

Hey.

Who is this? ? ?

That idiot you found in the empty classroom a couple days ago.

OH! ! HEY! ! What's up? You okay? I didn't see you in class today.

Sakura paused, reading his reply.

Huh?

She didn't know him. What the hell was he talking about?

Do I know you?

Yeah, I'm in your first block with Kakashi-sensei!

Sorry; I didn't even realize.

No problem. Do you need anything?

She paused again, debating.

Why had she texted him? She wasn't sure.

Another message appeared when she apparently didn't reply fast enough for him.

Hey, do you need someone to hang with you? 'Cause I can ditch and come pick you up, wherever you are, if you want.

Sakura smiled to herself softly.

Yeah. Thanks. I kinda need some cheering up right now, ya know?

The reply appeared more quickly than she thought possible.

Sure thing! Where are you? Oh, and can I bring a couple guys? They won't bother you — I promise!

I don't see why not. I'm at home — 127 Forest Harbor Drive. Just ring the doorbell and I'll be down in a second.

Alrighty! Be there soon!

A minute later, a second message arrived.

Oh, yeah. And I don't have a car. So we'll have to walk. That okay?

Sakura smiled.

That's fine.

Cool! See ya in a sec!

Sakura sighed and snapped her phone shut, lying there for a moment. After a while, she sat up and sent Satori a message.

I can't stay shut up in the house all day. I'm going out for a walk. I've got my phone on me in case I need you.

She climbed off her bed and gathered clothes to put on. A text made her phone vibrate as she was yanking on a pair of black jeans. She fastened the button before checking it.

Fine. Just be careful.

She shut her phone without replying and exchanged her pajama tank top for an old My Chemical Romance concert t-shirt. She slid on a black-and-white checkered belt and a pair of black ankle socks before slipping out of her room and taking the stairs two at a time. The imaginary aroma of a Milky Way called to her, whispering her name addictively. A grin made itself known on her face as she headed for the kitchen and dug around in the pantry.

A-ha!

A Milky Way.

And it was king-sized.

Oh, Kami, how we love thee.

Sakura enjoyed ripping open and taking a generous bite of that candy bar much more than she probably ought to have. It was gone in no time, to her immense distress, but — voila!

Another one.

Oh, yes; life is sweet.

She took care in eating this one — because, unfortunately, there were no more. Her bites were small and slow, allowing her to savor the heavenly chocolate, caramel, and nougat for much longer than the last time. She was sorrowfully throwing the wrapper away when the doorbell rang.

She paused and looked up.

One could never be too careful.

"'That you?" she called, making sure whoever was on the other side could hear her.

"It's me!"

The voice was muffled, but it was most definitely him. She would recognize his voice anywhere.

"Alright — I'm coming!"

She made for the door, taking a second to pull her old, battered tennis shoes on. When she opened it, she was greeted with the sight of orange.

Lots of orange.

And a hyper-looking blond guy wearing it.

"'You just break out of prison or something?" she joked, pulling the door closed behind her and locking it.

A guy behind him snorted. He had black hair in a — PFFT. In the shape of a chicken's ass. That was way too good.

Four other guys about their age stood around as well. Three were brunettes, while the fourth had silver hair and violet eyes. And oddly sharp teeth. Sakura dubbed the three brown-haired boys Triangles, Whitey, and Pineapple Head — until they eventually told her their names, of course.

"I'm Uzumaki Naruto!" the blond greeted with a thousand-watt smile. She was honestly shocked that it didn't blind her.

"Sakura," she said, nodding to each of them. "Nice to meet you."

"That's Sasuke-teme!" Naruto introduced with way too much energy, pointing at Chicken Ass. He switched to Triangles. "That's Kiba!" Whitey. "Neji-teme!" Pineapple Head. "Lazy ass Shikamaru!" And odd-looking-shark-toothed-guy. "And Suigetsu!"

Sakura greeted each of them respectfully, carefully averting her eyes from Sasuke's hair in an attempt to keep herself from laughing. It didn't work.

She snorted.

He eyed her suspiciously.

"What?" he demanded.

"It looks like someone sliced off a chicken's ass and glued it to the back of your head."

Naruto, Kiba, and Suigetsu immediately burst out laughing, Naruto being the loudest. Sasuke sent them a 'shut-the-fuck-up-before-I-strangle-you' look, then glared at Sakura.

"And I suppose someone shit out a wad of gum on your head?"

She glowered at him. Lightning practically crackled in the air between them.

"Careful, Naruto," Kiba snickered, wiping an imaginary tear from his eye. "Looks like you've got competition to be Sasuke's rival."

o o o O O O o o o

Sakura was genuinely surprised.

These guys — besides their complete idiocy (except for that Shikamaru guy; he was just lazy) — were actually kind of…fun. And as much as it pained her to admit it, she was enjoying herself.

Especially when they inadvertently thrashed a movie theatre.

"Ne, ne, Sakura-chan!" Naruto called excitedly, tugging on her sleeve so insistently she was surprised the material didn't rip. He pointed wildly with his other hand at the cinema to her right, wide eyes and huge grin right in her face. She could smell and feel the warmth on his breath from the ramen he'd had earlier that day (for breakfast?). "We should so see a movie! Wouldn't that be awesome? ! It would, right? !" Before she even had time to blink, he had whirled around, almost literally dragging her after him as he made a mad dash for the theatre. "Whoo! C'mon — let's go get tickets!"

Sasuke sighed, hands jammed in his pockets, and muttered something under his breath that sounded suspiciously like "dobe" before following them. The others grudgingly did the same, glancing disinterestedly as the movie posters. Only once Naruto had succeeded in forcing them up to the ticket counter did he bother to ask what movie she wanted to see — of course, not asking what his friends wanted to see.

"So, what'cha wanna see?" he inquired, practically bouncing in place, beaming. "There's — there's, ah—"

He whipped his head around, catching movie names on the posters. His grin widened considerably as he spied a romance. He didn't really like that mushy gushy shit, but hey: this was a pretty, pretty girl that was in need of cheering up and, um, hello — Uzumaki Naruto was completely awesome at cheering girls up. So, yeah.

A pretty girl plus Naruto plus a romance movie equals a-ma-zing.

He rather conveniently forgot about his friends' existences.

"Oh! There's 'Blue Eyes—"

Sakura interrupted him halfway through the title, expression fierce. "If you think for one minute," she hissed, "that I will sit through that mushy gushy romance shit, then think again."

He blinked, unable to believe his ears. A girl who didn't like romance movies? What had this world come to?

Sakura's face was blank as she leaned her head back to look around Naruto and scan the movie titles. One struck her fancy, and she couldn't help the way her lips curled up wickedly at the edges.

"Either we're seeing that kick-ass looking zombie movie spoof, or we're leaving."

Cue shocked silence.

Then:

"…you like zombie movies?"

She smirked.

.

.

.

Naruto and Sakura burst out laughing as the typical horror movie blond bimbo got smacked in the face with a shovel and was taken down by the lead female character. The tubs of popcorn they were holding threw pieces on the four guys at their sides. Suigetsu choked on his drink, and Kiba wiped the corners of his eyes as he chuckled. Sasuke was smirking, Neji grunted, and Shikamaru had fallen asleep before the movie even started.

And, damn, it was a funny movie.

Sakura's chest ached from how hard she was laughing, stomach coiling as the snickers and snorts just wouldn't end. As some point during the movie, Naruto fell out of his seat, bringing hysterical tears to her, Kiba, and Suigetsu's eyes.

In the end, they left a shit ton of popcorn and not one, but two, spilled drinks in their wake. The manager clearly wasn't happy as he glowered at them, hands on his hips, but none of them particularly cared. The four scheming minds of the group were far too busy planning out the next place they were going to wreak havoc upon:

The local sells-everything-except-people superstore.

They didn't get thrown out until after they'd had a duel in the back aisles with pool noodles, ridden the bikes around like maniacs, played store soccer using the restroom doorways as goals, dove into the display-only tents and whispered to people to bring lawn chairs and join them, and successfully taken over the intercom system — amongst other small things not worth mentioning.

It was a blast.

Sakura hadn't had so much fun in her entire life.

So, despite her initial tension with Chicken-Ass-Sasuke, she agreed to hang out with them all again the following afternoon — after school.

o o o O O O o o o

"Morning."

Satori looked up in surprise as Sakura strolled into the kitchen and rummaged around in the cupboard for something to eat, her face completely relaxed. He paused.

"Feeling better?"

She smiled at him. "Much." Snagging a protein bar and tossing her backpack over one shoulder as she headed for the door, she threw a raised eyebrow back at him. "Ready?"

He studied her for a moment before sighing, the beginnings of a smirk twisting on his lips. "You're lucky I'm in a good mood because the water is working again," he remarked, reaching for his keys.

On their way to school, he surprisingly managed to refrain from running a single person over. It was practically a miracle.

.

.

.

Yahiko's eyes instinctively shot to the door as it opened.

Everyone was in their seats except for a certain girl that hadn't been there for the past two days, and the bell had yet to ring — much less an hour pass — so it clearly wasn't Kakashi.

That only left one person.

He wasn't disappointed — not that he cared, anyway — as the aforementioned girl with the ridiculous hair stepped in. His head was just turning away when a sudden yell attracted his attention.

"Sakura-chan!"

His gaze flew to one Uzumaki Naruto as the blond leapt for his seat and all but tackled the poor girl. She staggered back under his weight and clocked him over the back of the head with her fist, to which he gripped the quickly-forming lump with a wounded look. Uchiha Sasuke, to his surprise, grunted and joined in the little interaction.

"Tch. Dobe. Getting whipped by a pink-haired midget-bitch."

She glared at him challengingly, arms crossed over her chest. "You mean unlike yourself?"

He rolled his eyes, stuffing his hands into his pockets. "Hn."

"That's not a word, Chicken Ass — but, wait; I forgot: you don't care." She suddenly rounded on Kiba and Suigetsu as they snickered. "And don't you think for one minute, Inuzuka, that I didn't notice last night when you were staring at my ass." At his paling face, she continued sharply, "I'd sleep with one eye open, if I were you." Her glower switched to Suigetsu. "That goes for you, too, Hōzuki."

"Me?"

Laughs followed.

Yahiko watched the scene stiffly before turning his back. Sakura never once looked at him.

Never once thought of him.