Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or any of the characters… unless I run into a billion dollars then I might just buy it all so brace yourselves
Sasuke turned the music in his headphones up to drown out the sound of banging against the door.
"Sasuke we should of left nine minutes ago, what's taking you so long", Naruto whined through the door of the dark room. With no answer from his raven haired friend Naruto started lightly banging his head against door in frustration unaware Sasuke had already drowned him out. On the other side of the door Sasuke was examining some of the photos that had developed on the films hanging around him while his favorite band blared in his ears. He picked up one strip to study the now visible windows of pictures.
Complete crap
It has been months since He had actually shot a photo but the results were still the same. He tried to think back to the last decent photo he has taken but all that came to mind were scraps of jagged metal scattered across a paved road, smoke billowing through the air, two bodies lying lifeless in a smashed car. The memory pushed out every ounce of air in his body leaving him to clutch the table beside him for support. He shook his head violently to get rid of the haunting images. At that moment he couldn't tell if the sirens he was were from the music in his ears or traces of the memory clinging to his mind. He ripped the head phones out of his ears leaving him with was the comforting darkness of the dark room and a rhythmic thumping against the door which brought him back to reality.
"What are you doing idiot", Sasuke said while throwing the door open. The blonde stumbled forward with the sudden vanishing of his solid support. He looked up at Sasuke with a goofy grin and opened his mouth to greet his friend but couldn't get the word out before Sasuke brushed past him. "Don't just stand there looking stupid, hurry up so we can get this over with." Sasuke was already halfway to the door but it only took a couple seconds before his friend was right by his side.
Together they stepped through the front door of the Uchiha Manor into the slightly chilled fall air of the city of Konoha. The pair made their way through the crowded dark streets illuminated by neon store signs and office lights beaming threw the windows of tall building, proof of dedicated employees working late on a Friday night. The two walked in silence for a while until it was broken by Naruto.
"You look pale, are you alright", Naruto questions leaning forward to examine his friend's face illuminated by the city lights.
"I'm always pale", Sasuke replied stoically trying to remain cool to erase any trace of the episode he had in the dark room. Naruto seemed to buy his act because he just shrugged his shoulders and placed his hands behind his head the relaxed way he often did. "Why do I have to do this again", Sasuke continued to conversation afraid the silence would draw the attention to him again.
"Because Sakura said quote 'bring your good looking friends you know, someone like Sasuke' unquote", Naruto did his best Sakura impression while delivering his answer. "So that's why you're here."
"That still doesn't explain by I Have to come and aren't you trying to get with Sakura? Why bring the guy she is obviously interested in?" Sasuke watched Naruto puzzle over the question, amused by the expressions flashing across his face. Finally his blue eyes light up as he found a good answer to Sasuke's question.
"Because It's the beginning of our senior year in college and when was the last time you've actually been out on a Friday night with someone other than me", Naruto waited for an respond but when none came he continued. "When was the last time you were with a girl? Face it man you're in a funk and the best way to break you out of it is to drag you out myself, besides I'm a confident guy so a little health competition won't hurt me. All I need to do is keep being me and sooner or later Sakura will fall for me." Sasuke didn't protest because what he said was true. He hadn't been out in a while and the only girls he had been with where the once he woke up next to after too many drinks and even those times were far and few in-between. He agreed he need to get out of this 'funk' (as Naruto put it) but he wasn't sure a goukon was the answer.
~X~
"Are you sure I don't need a jacket", Hinata questions slightly out of breath from having to jog to keep up with her two blonde roommates as they hurried through the busy city streets.
"Yeah you'll be fine there are sleeves on that dress", Ino responded without turning around to acknowledge her dark haired friend.
Yeah quarter sleeves with no shoulders
Hinata looked downed at the short wine colored dress Tamari made her put on and groaned. If her father saw her in this he would be furious. The skirt of the dress swished around her mid-thigh in pace with the walk-run she settled herself into to stay in pace with the two girls ahead of her. She caught a glimpse of her reflection in a store window as she passed and had to admit she didn't look bad, the deep red of the dress complemented her pale skin and clung to her curves well but she couldn't help squirming uncomfortably as she felt the unfamiliar sensation of bare legs and shoulders.
"I better not hear Sakura's big mouth yap about us being late", Ino huffed while weaving though people. Tamari and Hinata rolled their eyes in unison they never understood how Sakura and Ino could go from best friend to enemies in the blink of an eye.
"Trusted me if Sasuke is already there she probably hasn't noticed she was the only girl in the room", Tamari snickered. Ino giggled along but Hinata was too lost in nervous thought to catch the joke.
'My first goukon', she thought to herself. Though excited the thought of it still made her want to run for the hills. The only men she had been comfortable talking to where her father, her cousin Neji who happened to be her genetic brother (their father's where identical twins), and her male professors. Sometimes in casual passing she could make small talk but other than that she considered her conversation skills with the opposite sex borderline awkward and embarrassing. Then there was the fact that Naruto, Konoha University's star soccer player, was going to be there. Just the fact that his name flashed across her mind made her cheeks go crimson.
"How am I going to do this", she said aloud this time to her roommates walking just ahead of her.
"Don't sweat it Hinata, you're with us so you're going to have a great time", Temari replied looking over her shoulder to flash Hinata one of her playful ear to ear grins. Her fluffy blonde hair brushed her shoulders as she turned her attention back to the direction they were headed. Hinata watch Ino and Temari as they walked marveling at how even their simplest movements gleamed with confidence, if only she could learn to be more like them she would be able to handle tonight.
"This way girls", Ino shouted at the others as she hastily turned a corner and bounded up the stairs to their destination. Hinata tried to follow suit but it seemed that the mixture of heels and a walk-run pace didn't agree with steps and felt herself lose balance and start to tumble over. She squeezed her eyes shut and braced her body to make impact with the concrete but instead she felt two firm hand grab her by the waist and steady her. Hinata froze as a startled high pitched squeak left her mouth.
"Are you okay", a deep calm voice said from behind her bringing her back to reality. She immediately straightened herself back up and spun around to face the person who had kept her from falling. That is when, for the first time, innocent pale lavender eyes met stoic pitch black ones.
Authors Notes: Thanks for reading the first chapter! I'm working on the next one as you read this so it should be coming shortly. There is something I must explain and that is my use of the word 'goukon', now it is a Japanese word meaning group date. In these type of situation usually a girl will gather some of her friends and a guy will gather some of his and they will set up date for both groups to meet. I really wanted to include this concept in my story of the introduction of characters but couldn't really find an English word that embodied the same meaning so I stuck with the Japanese words but hopefully that will be the only Japanese word in the story because I honestly don't like when Japanese words are sprinkled into stories for no real reason. Sorry for the long explanation but thanks again for reading and I will see you soon.