Apartment 7
The Morning After
Sakura blanches at her roommate's words and curses her past self for being so stupid. The thought of having nowhere to sleep for the night sobers her up enough to realize the situation she currently finds herself in. Her very hot and very male roommate, who seems slightly intoxicated is pinning her arms above her head while looking at her with hooded bedroom eyes.
"My tent?" she manages to choke out while her oh so helpful mind begins thinking of how much she wants Sasuke to wrap his strong arms around her and take her right here in the tent.
"Yes, Sakura," he purrs, his tongue tripping over the 's' slightly.
"Well, I suppose I could go find Temari, or maybe Hinata. Oh wait! I still need to find Ino and-" she cuts herself off as Sasuke's face lowers closer to hers. Her heart leaps in her chest and her stomach begins doing backflips at the thought of her fantasies becoming a reality.
She feels his lips brush against hers slightly before realizing that it is the alcohol churning her stomach, not the hot guy practically on top of her. Quickly, she wiggles out of Sasuke's firm grasp and sticks her head out of the, still unzipped, tent door.
Her throat convulses with a harsh gag, but she manages to keep the contents of her stomach down. Sakura feels a large hand begin to rub her back, causing embarrassment to creep up her neck. She almost threw up right in front of Sasuke. Roommate Sasuke. Secret crush Sasuke. The Sasuke.
She feels the heat rise up to her face and wash down all the way to her toes. Her awful habit of turning bright red in situations like this, giving her emotions away. She hears Sasuke let out a deep chuckle and a second later, a bottle of water is held out in front of her face. She graciously accepts the water and after a few cool sips and deep breaths, the nausea eventually passes.
She hears movement within the tent, and finds that Sasuke has moved so that his head sticks out of the nylon, right next to hers.
"Something always manages to interrupt us." Sakura chuckles as she thinks back to the other almost-kiss incidents, "Maybe it's a sign."
"Are you feeling better?" Sasuke asks her, retrieving the water bottle from her hands and tossing it back in the tent.
"Yeah," she replies, the blush coming back in full force, "thanks."
Suddenly, she finds herself removed from the corner and pulled against Sasuke's body. Her head rests on his outstretched arm and her legs are curled up towards him. She doesn't want to say anything about the position they find themselves in. Over the past months, she has learned that Sasuke is more of a man of action rather than words.
Instead, she finds herself looking up at the stars. There are so many out tonight, and since they are on top of the highest peak in Konoha, it's easy to see them all.
"When my mom first died I would always look at the stars. I 'd find the brightest one and pretend it was her looking down on me," Sakura finds herself saying the childish confession before she realizes it. "I guess I still do."
She thinks back to her summer after freshman year. Almost every night she would be out on the front porch of her childhood home studying the sky. More often than not, her father would come out and join her. They never said anything, they never really had to because they both knew what the other had been thinking. The world would just never be the same without that happy-go-lucky woman in it.
"That one," Sasuke says while extending a finger to point at the sky.
"Huh?" the med student asks, focusing on the present once again.
"That star right there is the brightest," he says.
Sakura shifts her gaze to the general area that Sasuke gestured to. Even though multiple little diamonds glitter against their black backdrop, she instantly picks out the one Sasuke referred to. The celestial body is not the stereotypical asterisk shaped speck. Instead it shines brightly, a large tail adorning the bottom, making all its neighbors seem dull and insignificant in comparison. The star is unique, shining with a golden hue apposed to the typical white. Not that Sakura has anything against other stars, but this one fit her mother's personality like a glove.
"That's probably the perfect star for her," Sakura begins, not taking her eyes away from the shining light. "She was so beautiful and had long hair that I always thought resembled a golden waterfall. Even though she-"
Sasuke turns to admire his fellow stargazer. Her large green eyes shine as she describes her mother, all the while focusing on the peculiar star. As she tells him little tidbits of information about her deceased parent, Sasuke realizes how much this girl trusts him. He knows first hand how difficult it is to speak about family members that have passed. He knows the vulnerability that comes along with the memories that resurface.
Looking at Sakura, he would have never guessed that her mother had passed only months before.
"Sorry for ranting on like that," her voice says, breaking his thoughts. "You probably don't care."
Sasuke hears the soft sniff that she tries to hide and notices the small tears running down her face. Before he can stop himself, he brings a thumb to her face and wipes away the moisture.
Maybe it's because she just bared her soul to him, that compels him to do the same, or maybe it's the same alcohol that he's been blaming all of his other actions from tonight on, but he finds himself opening his mouth to share something that he's never vocally shared before.
"My parents are dead too."
Sakura looks up at him, but says nothing. He appreciates it though, all his life he's heard the apologizes and condolences, but the fact that Sakura remains silent, her true emotions displayed in her eyes means more than any words ever could.
"It was when I was eight. After that, I moved in with Naruto and his uncle, Jiraiya."
He watches the shock flash over Sakura's face. "I knew that you guys are close, but I didn't realize you are actually that close. No wonder you bicker like brothers."
"He's a bit of a screw up," Sasuke begins, once again wondering why he's sharing his inner most thoughts with her, "but I have no doubt that he can do something great."
Sakura looks up at him in a way that can only be described as adoration and in that moment, he feels his heart stop beating. Here they are, slightly intoxicated, sharing their feelings like a couple of girls, their heads hanging outside of the tent while their bodies cuddled together beneath a sleeping bag.
He figured here is a good a time as any. So he moves his head down as she tilts her chin up and kisses her. She tastes like fruit and vodka, indicating that she had been taking some of the Jell-O shots that had been circulating, and he finds himself liking the flavor more and more. Her lips are soft as they move against his, igniting a fire within him.
He feels her tongue flick out hesitantly and finds her shyness endearing. Gently, he opens his mouth and invites her in. As he pulls her more securely in his arms, he realizes just how much this pink-haired med student means to him.
"Breakfast call!" The two words echo loudly throughout the campsite and are answered by many disgruntled groans and shouts of "Fuck off!"
Sakura chuckles slightly and slowly opens her eyes. She finds herself on her side, with Sasuke's arms wrapped around her waist and stomach. With a sigh, she snuggles further into his warm, bare chest, ignoring the sunlight now filtering through the thin black nylon.
The memories of last night play through her head. While the party and the circumstances of how she ended up in Sasuke's tent are a bit of a blur, everything afterwards is crystal clear. Stargazing, cuddling, confessing, and the kissing. Oh god, the kissing.
Sasuke could kiss like a god and she will definitely be exploring more of his abilities in the future. They even fell asleep in each other's arms. It feels like something out of a cheesy movie, but there are no complaints on her part.
She feels his nose nuzzle her neck and a soft kissed pressed against her exposed shoulder. Her nice top and pants are sure to be wrinkled from being slept in, but as she hears a voice like velvet wishing her a good morning, she finds her not caring one bit.
"Good morning," she responds back before turning around to look at him. "Should we go get breakfast?"
"What time is it?" Sasuke asks and Sakura finds herself grabbing his phone from off of the sleeping mat. "Half past noon," she reads off of the digital numbers, but finds herself eyeing the 4 missed calls notification with curiosity. Deciding to ignore it, she sets the phone back down and turns to her… eh, what is he exactly? Not a boyfriend, but not just a friend because he's Sasuke.
She shrugs and figures that calling him "her Sasuke" sounds pretty good.
"Isn't it technically lunch time?" he asks as he pulls a shirt on, much to Sakura's disappointment.
"Not for university students," she responds, elbowing him mockingly.
"Come on," Sasuke says as he begins unzipping the tent.
They walk towards where the, now empty, kegs are and find a table filled with the potluck breakfast food of poor college kids. Sakura tosses down her contribution of a box of premade waffles – which she grabbed from her pack on the way over – and picks up a shiny silver package of pop tarts.
"Aren't you supposed to be a med student?" Sasuke says, "Pop tarts aren't a very healthy breakfast."
"You know," Sakura begins as they find a place to sit on a picnic blanket with Naruto. "I'm getting real sick of your health and fitness lectures."
She shoots him a smile and realizes that he sat down next to her close enough to be considered "boyfriend proximity".
"Hey guys!" Naruto says as they sit down. "Do you guys have hangovers? The bartender is handing out Bloody Marys. Oh, and just a warning, somebody spiked the orange juice."
"I don't feel hung over at all," Sakura says, noticing the lack of headache.
"Same here," Sasuke says as he reaches for his water bottle, his fingers brushing slightly over her thigh.
Naruto observes the two for a moment before the actions finally click. "You two slept together didn't you!" he yells, causing multiple heads to turn their way. "First Ino and Shikamaru, then Kiba and Temari, and now you two! Was I the only one who slept alone?"
"I s-slept alone t-too, Naruto-kun," Hinata, sitting on the blanket nearby stutters out.
"Alright Hinata," Naruto begins, still speaking way too loud for his own good. "Next time we should sleep together."
Obviously not realizing what he just implied, a look of confusion passes over his face as the dark-haired girl turns bright red and proceeds to pass out.
The blonde boy stares at her limp body, "Uh, Hinata?"
Suddenly, Neji thunders over, staring Naruto down as if he could make him burst into flames with enough effort. "Uzumaki, did you just ask my cousin to sleep with you?"
"No! Not like that!" Naruto defends as Neji pulls him to his feet. "I didn't mean it like that, I swear!"
Sakura finds herself clutching her sides in laughter as Naruto digs a deeper and deeper hole for himself.
Soon enough, the majority of the tents are taken down, save for the few that still contained sleeping occupants, and Sakura is packed up and ready to go.
She looks at her and Ino's unused tent, still in the knapsack from the day before and loads it up.
"Hey, Forehead!" Ino shouts from the distance, causing Sakura to whip around.
"Pig! I looked for you everywhere last night. Oh my gosh! Your neck! Did somebody try to strangle you," Sakura shouts in surprise at the sight of dark splotches covering the blonde girl's skin.
"Shut up, will ya!" Ino says with a light slap to the pinkette's arm. "Nobody tried to strangle me, except for that Karin chick, but anyways, it was Shikamaru."
"Shikamaru?" Sakura asks, "That lazy guy?"
"Yes," Ino says while fanning herself dramatically. "Oh god, Sakura, he's an animal!"
Sakura finds her cheeks burning yet again at the thought.
"But look at you, still in your clothes from last night. Who's the lucky guy?" Ino waggles her slender eyebrows in expectation.
"Uh," Sakura chokes out, trying to change the topic. "Oh look, there's still a pack of pop tarts left, I'm gonna go get them."
As she walks away, Ino stares at her retreating back, determined to get to the bottom of whatever her friend is hiding.
The sound of one of the few tents still standing unzipping catches the cosmetologist's attention.
"Well, well," she says as the redhead girl crawls out and begins straightening her clothes. "Looks like we all got lucky last night."
"Yeah, god knows we needed it," Karin responds.
Ino looks at the girl's torn up clothing and feels a little guilty. "Sorry for tearing your clothes up."
Karin looks at her and shoots a small smile, "Sorry for pulling your hair and calling you Barbie."
"Truce?" Ino asks as she holds out a hand.
"Truce." Karin replies as she gives it a small shake.
"But Sasuke's still mine," both girls say at the same time, causing friendly smiles to turn into death glares and the friendly handshake turns into yet another cat fight.