A/N: No beta for this chapter. Enjoy.

Chapter 12

The One Where The Council Members Meet

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Somewhere between twilight and dawn

Sakura had woken up stiff, hot, and somewhat confused by her surroundings. Hidan, still sound asleep, responded to her fidgeting by tightening his arms around her.

Oh.

Frozen in his embrace, Sakura began recalling the night's events that led to this physical… predicament. It was me who wanted to lay here, she remembered, feeling scandalized by her own drunken boldness. Pressed up against his chest she could smell the lingering scent of his detergent and cologne along with a sweetness. Probably from the drinks, she thought, closing her eyes and taking a deep breath.

The kotasu's self-timer had already turned it off, but the warmth that lingered plus the added body heat was beginning to become uncomfortable. Regardless of that fact, Sakura remained still. Even if it was a bit cramped, with her arms bent snug against herself and a leg trapped between his, she realized she missed this. The little intimacies. Something as innocent as cuddling.

Is it innocent though, she couldn't help but question. Not because one of Hidan's hands managed to brush up her back and bring her shirt along with it, but because of the chills left in the wake of his fingertips touching her skin.

It was still dark in the hallway. The thought of going home briefly crossed her mind, but she still didn't move. With every breath she took now, Hidan's fingers grazed across her skin again.

Only a little longer, she reasoned, and then I'll go.

However, the extra time taken to indulge also gave time to reflect. There had been plenty of times where she cuddled with Naruto or on the rare occasion even Sasuke. Perfectly platonic in their actions. But with Hidan, it was becoming obvious it wasn't the same as that. It was different.

Hidan managed to cling to her thoughts more than she ever intended him to. At first it was easy to brush off as a simple reaction to his good looks, but then the inexplicable need to find any excuse to see him after tennis was a clear indicator that it went beyond that. She sought him out and lingered long enough to eventually end up in his arms.

To make sense of it, she acknowledged that the qualities for a small crush were all there. Surprisingly easy to talk to, was funny in his own way, and of course he was also handsome, among other things. It seemed perfectly within the realm of possibility that a crush could form. She reasoned that would only matter if she felt like doing something about it… and she didn't.

They were still strangers after all. Even with the parallels of their breakups, his was still vastly different, as were their reactions. And glaringly so. Sakura knew from the beginning she wasn't dealing with this in a healthy manner and dragging Hidan along for the ride, even if he was somewhat onboard, was out of character for her.

Screwing her eyes shut, she nestled closer within the embrace. I'm still drunk, it's just drunk thoughts. Once you sober up, you'll realize you're just overthinking

...hopefully.

8:05AM

By the time Hidan began emerging from the depths of sleep, Sakura had already left. Kisame, who was passing by to get to Deidara's room, told him as much.

"Yeah, I woke up, what, maybe 30 minutes ago to her coming down the stairs." Kisame apprised. He leaned against the doorframe with a bundle of clothes in his hands. "I told her to stay for breakfast, but she said she wanted to go home to change or something. I doubt she's gonna come back to hang out with a bunch of dudes who are hungover. Even if you're here."

"What do you mean?" Hidan asked, furrowing his brow from the assumption and the pounding in his head. The hangover was definitely coming on hard and fast. He hoped Deidara had some tylenol somewhere around here.

Shifting his weight, Kisame considered him before continuing. "I don't know if you could tell, but there was definitely some tension between you two," he then shrugged. "Or maybe it was just the alcohol. Who knows."

"Fuck," Hidan grunted, placing his palms on the kotatsu to lift himself up. "I'm pretty sure we slept together last night - "

"WHAT?"

"Not like that! I meant like just normal sleeping. We didn't fuck or anything." Kisame visibly relaxed. The night was a little hazy for Hidan, some moments clearer than others, but luckily no blackout spots. After downing a gallon of water and maybe a beer, the hangover would clear up and he'd be able to remember everything in better detail. He especially wanted to remember word for word the conversation he and Sakura had before falling asleep.

"Thank Sakumi for that. I'd have to kick your ass otherwise."

Hidan stared at Kisame in disbelief. "Did you just equate Sakumi to God?"

"Yes, our Goddess and Savior, Sakumi."

"Please shut the fuck up."

"Sacrilege."

"And what do you mean you'd kick my ass?"

"Sakura and I are best friends, it was decided yesterday." Kisame sniffed primly. "She deserves more respect than that."

"She's blackmailing me, Kisame."

"You keep saying that, but at this point it doesn't even seem like a problem anymore." Pulling a shirt from the messy pile along with black sweats, Kisame tossed them to Hidan who caught it before they hit his face. "Anyways, here's some of Deidara's clothes if you wanna change. I gotta go downstairs and take care of him. He's currently throwing up everything he's ever put in his body in the past five years."

"Yeah, yeah, go." Hidan responded, already stripping. Kisame was gone by the time he yanked his shirt over his head.

Inspecting the clothes given, it was a pair of black joggers and a heather grey IWA HIGH VOLLEYBALL shirt. Quickly putting both articles of clothing on, Hidan patted his discarded jeans for his wallet and phone.

"Where the fuck is my phone?" He mumbled to himself after finding only his wallet. Deciding to take his search downstairs, the unmistakable sound of vomiting could be heard and Hidan cringed.

"Kisameeeee, I'm dying, un." The miserable groans of Deidara could be heard from the slightly ajar door followed by Kisame's chuckles.

"You're not dying, you're just hungover."

"Same fucking difference." Hidan quipped loudly from the living room. He began to run his hands along the cushions of the couch.

"Shut up before I throw up on you, un."

"Yeah fucking right." Hidan grumbled absentmindedly, catching the edge of something hard deep within the side pocket of the couch. Maneuvering his hand to better reach it, he pulled out his phone with relief. There were one too many times where the night started out with them drinking and ended with Hidan's phone lost, smashed, or on the one rare occasion, snapped in half.

Ignoring whatever pathetic retort Deidara managed out before the retching continued, Hidan tapped in his password and checked his notifications. 1 text from Kakuzu reminding him that the kitchen window would not be unlocked to climb through if he forgot his keys and that that wasn't a challenge from him to try to break into their own apartment again. Another from a coworker, Zetsu, who was looking for someone to cover his shift for tonight, which Hidan decided to ignore, 'cause fuck that. And none from Sakura.

Not that he was expecting a full blown conversation or anything, but at least a text letting him know she got home safe. Ruffling his already messy hair, Hidan decided to bite the bullet and opened their thread.

Hidan: You got home safe right?

Falling back onto the couch, Hidan grimaced at how it rattled his brain. "Hey Deidara, you got any tylenol?" He called out.

There was some shuffling from the bathroom before Kisame emerged in the doorway to toss a white plastic bottle before disappearing again. Hidan caught it midair and headed towards the kitchen for some water.

After grabbing a cup and waiting for it to fill, he opened Instagram to avoid feeling like he was just waiting for a response from Sakura. Unfortunately Konan's existence decided to make an appearance. Her profile picture presented itself at the top with an updated story. He stared at the picture staring back at him and realized for a full 24 hours, he hadn't really thought of her. However, that didn't stop him from clicking on it anyways.

It was a screenshot of a song. A song he had shared with her way back in the day, before they had even started dating.

Well, that's enough social media for the day, he decided, locking his phone and taking the Tylenol. Deleting, blocking or whatever the fuck else there was to do to unfollow someone on all socials was clearly the most logical thing to do, but Hidan didn't feel like doing logical things yet. A part of him wanted a window to see what was going on, even if it did only end up hurting him.

Thinking of Konan was now always preceded by Sakura, the former now seemingly intermingled with the latter despite it not being the same vice versa. Konan made him frustrated, but Sakura….

Glancing back at the black screen of his phone, he couldn't help but wonder about her as the grogginess that fogged up his mind finally began to clear. Sasori's room and the cold outside... her hands skimming along his arms until her fingers found his own. All the words whispered between them.

"Fuck." As tempting as it was to blame his actions solely on the alcohol, what excuse could be given for the goosebumps that shot up his arms at the sheer memory of her touch.

Hidan turned the faucet back on and splashed his face with water, hoping to calm his nerves. However the vibration of the phone against the marble counter cut through any semblance of 'calm' he was hoping to feel. After turning the faucet off and wiping the water from his eyes, he snatched his phone up with a touch of excitement.

Sakura: Yeah I got home not to long ago, sorry I didn't wake you up, but you were drooling so I assumed you were getting some good sleep

Hidan blushed in embarrassment at the thought of him fucking drooling .

Hidan: Whatre you talking about? I dont drool
 Also kinda funny you gave me shit for leaving tennis without saying bye but then you do the same shit HMMM

Sakura: Fine, next time I'll shake you awake. I'm sure you'll enjoy that sooo much

Hidan: As my mistress arent you supposed to handle me roughly anyways?

Sakura: Youre terrible
 Wait, I'm Kisame's mistress now

Hidan: Just did a quick number crunch turns out Kisame isnt tough enough so looks like you're stuck with me

Sakura: Fantastic, as your recurring mistress then, I'd like $5000 transferred to my bank by this evening, thank you

Hidan: Yea I'll get back to you in 4-7 business days for that one

The replies halted there and Hidan sighed and tapped his phone against his chest, becoming lost in thought. It wasn't the first time he pondered how easy it was to talk and joke with her and it wasn't the first time he felt bummed out when she stopped responding randomly either.

What if one of us starts to like the other?

Well, we'd just stop immediately, I guess.

"HIDAN! Deidara just got vomit in his hair, BRING ME THE SCISSORS!"

Snapping out of his thoughts and into action, Hidan decided to continue his streak of not doing the most logical things.

10:42AM

There truly was no rest for the wicked. This was undeniably life's divine intervention, coming in the form of a fiery, redheaded, bifocal woman who felt wronged by her friend. Not a second after Sakura stepped into her own home earlier this morning had she received an immediate phone call from Karin. From the eerily calm voice inquiring about what activities were done the previous day, Sakura was able to quickly deduce that Naruto mentioned tennis and thus, albeit consequently, Itachi's friends.

Sakura wasn't even able to respond with an apology or excuse (she wasn't quite sure which she wanted to go with yet, the oncoming hangover slowing her mental capacity by a few gigabytes) before Karin proposed they meet up for brunch and talk about it then.

Hesitantly agreeing, Sakura began getting ready, all the while avoiding Mannequin Sakura's direction. It was too early to talk to Her about the inner turmoil that was a direct product of whatever she woke up to a few hours prior.

Not putting too much effort into her outfit, Sakura showed up in a white v-neck cami and black pants paired with black ankle strap sandals. Karin, who had arrived first, was dressed in a cropped black halter-neck and distressed dad jeans. She took off her red cat-eyed sunglasses and gestured to the metal patio chair next to her.

"Take a seat," she instructed, placing her sunglasses in her handbag and replacing them with her normal glasses. "We've been waiting for you."

"We?" That was ominous. Sakura quickly looked around the small patio for anyone else she might've recognized, but besides another group of patrons a few tables down, there was no one.

"Surprise!" Sakura turned to the sound of the familiar voice. On the table, propped up against a cup of water, Ino grinned enthusiastically on Karin's phone screen.

"Ino." Pushing aside the disbelief, Sakura sat herself down and leaned forward, trying to take in her friend all at once. Her long blonde tresses were tied into a messy bun atop her head with her bangs pinned back by a barrette. There was a mug in her hand which was barely peeking out of an oversized white crewneck that had some faded design on the front.

It had been so long since their last video chat. Sakura reached a hand out, intent on bringing the phone closer, but Karin lightly smacked her hand. "Nuh-uh! All sentimentals can wait until after the interrogation."

"Do we really need an interrogation?" Sakura groaned, slouching back in her chair with a pout.

"Yes." Came Karin's curt response. "Councilwoman Ino is well aware of your most recent breakup and your fake-boyfriend."

Sakura's mouth fell open in shock. "Oh my god, you told her ?"

"She left out all of the juicy details if it makes you feel any better." Ino informed.

"The How's and Why's I left up to you." Karin explained, giving a pointed look towards Sakura.

"I do like this new naughty side of yours though. Like, a fake boyfriend? Who'd've thought?" Ino laughed. Of course this would all be amusing. She didn't know the details yet.

Karin hummed in agreement. "Yes, yes indeed, HOWEVER this is where things get complicated." She crossed her legs and leaned forward, placing her elbow on the table. "Yesterday evening I came across an interesting bit of information. My dear cousin, bless his heart, excitedly told me how he had played tennis with Sasuke's family and by extension, Itachi's friends. Do you see where I'm going with this?"

"No, but continue anyways." Ino encouraged with a shit eating grin on her face.

"Fake boyfriend is friends with Sasuke's older brother. So lo and behold, not only did Naruto meet this elusive fake boyfriend, but Sasuke did as well. Sasuke, Ino. All this after I had already claimed dibs on being the first person to meet him."

"Oh. The mighty dibs." Ino echoed in a solemn voice.

"How was I supposed to know he was going to be - "

"Your drinks, ladies." Their waiter announced, interrupting Sakura. He leaned past them to place their champagne flutes filled to the brim with mimosa on the table. "I just wanted to remind you ladies that it is bottomless mimosas until noon, so I'll leave these here for you." Carefully the waiter placed a pitcher of orange juice on the center of the table followed by a champagne bottle. "With that being said, are you ready to order?"

"Another bottle of champagne perhaps." Karin smiled, already sipping at her drink. "Maybe two."

"Ask if they have anything harder in the back like vodka." Ino whispered loudly. The way the pitcher was placed, the phone screen was completely blocked from view which made her sound like some ominous voice sounding from thin air.

"Please give us a few more minutes, thank you." Sakura quickly said, giving a tight smile. The waiter gave a polite smile and left.

"I was serious about those extra bottles." Karin frowned.

"I feel like a parent when I'm out with you two." Sakura chastised. She rearranged the pitcher and bottle so they could see the phone again.

"You'll have to chug those little things to catch up to me. I actually have vodka in my orange juice." Ino raised the mug in her hand before continuing. "Honestly Sakura you should consider yourself lucky the council has only decided to grill you on your secret tennis shindig and NOT on the fact you didn't tell me about this fake boyfriend! I didn't even know you weren't with Nagato anymore."

Sakura grimaced. It was true she had avoided telling Ino but only because she would undoubtedly ask questions and she wanted to avoid the finer details. There was no reason to add on more things to worry about when the only thing her friend needed to focus on were her finals. Since Ino was studying abroad in Ame and their semesters ended later than colleges in Fire County, Sakura was only waiting for a better time to catch her friend up to speed. It was apparent, however, that Karin couldn't contain herself and needed to spill the beans to the trio of their girl group—even if it was only one bean. One dangerous bean.

"Yes it's quite unfortunate Councilwoman Ino had to hear it from me and not the source herself." Karin said in a posh accent, swirling her now half full champagne flute.

Sakura snorted. The audacity. "Councilwoman Sakura is about to revoke all future visitation privileges from—"

"I did it out of love and my own personal well-being, Sakura. Being burdened with such knowledge, it was burning a hole in my brain." Karin sighed dramatically. "And besides, Ino was going to find out eventually."

"I know that." Sakura turned to the phone with a frown. "I didn't want you to worry until after you were at least done with finals."

"That would've been 2 more weeks." Ino furrowed her brow and shook her head displeased. "I could've called you during my breaks. Finals don't take all 24 hours of the day, you know."

"I know, but that's still precious time you could have been reviewing stuff." Sakura weakly argued.

"As you can see, she's still as stubborn as ever." Karin gestured to her while looking pointedly at Ino who at least laughed. "However, as mentioned earlier, an unexpected naughty streak has taken place in our dear Sakura."

"Ah yes, the fake boyfriend."

"I'm glad you're both taking this in stride." Sakura gave a small smile. No time apart could change the fact that Karin and Ino were, in fact, cut from the same cloth. Of course Ino would be more intrigued than opposed to the whole situation. Details or not. "I've missed this. All of us together."

"Same." Ino agreed. "I wish I was really there with you two. Ame is pretty, but it's cold and wet. I miss the sun."

"And the sun misses you!" Karin exclaimed. "When are you coming back to us?"

"I should be back the beginning of February."

"How is it possible that it feels like just yesterday we were seeing you off, but waiting another month feels like such a long time." Sakura pouted. "The house doesn't feel the same without you."

"Don't worry. It'll pass by quicker than you think and besides, you have the ghost to keep you company." Ino teased, making Sakura instantly frown.

"Why'd you remind me of that thing?" She groaned. "I had completely forgotten about it!"

Ino was convinced their home was haunted for some dumb reason or another. It always freaked Sakura out when Ino would be hanging out with her only to stop talking mid sentence and say I just saw something move out the corner of my eye. After Ino went abroad, Sakura had slowly stopped thinking of it.

"Don't worry Sakura, you have Hidan now to invite over and keep you company when the big bad ghost is bothering you." Karin quirked her lips in a sly smile.

"Wait, that's his name! !" Ino exclaimed excitedly. "We keep getting off topic! Tell me about this guy Karin has been screeching about!"

"Well you see, that would be Shisui—"

Karin slammed her hand on the table with a scoff. "It is not Shisui we're talking about here."

"Agreed, but put a tack in that for later because I do wanna hear about that ." Ino said, bringing up her cup for a sip.

"Okay well, if we're all talking about love lives here, what's up with you and Naruto, hmm?" Sakura shot, causing Ino to cough into her drink

"N-Naruto?" She sputtered. "Nothing is going on with him."

"So she says." Karin gave a disbelieving look, not at all minding the shift of attention. It had been a while since they talked about the star crossed lovers.

"Have you talked to him recently?" Sakura pressed, leaning forward in her chair. "Every time I ask him he turns as red as a tomato and scurries off."

"Argh, stop." Ino whined, covering her face with her hands. "We texted a few days ago, but it was nothing special. He was just asking how I was, you know, the usual polite stuff."

Karin groaned. "I'm going to be a hot old lady by the time you two decide to do something."

"I don't see you and Shisui dating." Ino retorted.

"I'm planting my seed though," Karin explained. "At least I'm making moves."

"It's true. They touched knees recently." Sakura added. "It was absolutely scandalous."

"You'll be attending an Uchiha wedding soon." Karin gave a haughty smirk.

Ino snorted. "Sasuke and Sakura have a better chance at marriage I think."

"Not if Nagato has anything to say about—" Sakura abruptly paused. It felt odd, falling back into an automatic response that had no place in her life anymore. She knew there was a look of slight shock on her face as both Karin and Ino looked at her, waiting patiently for her to process. It kind of felt like her mind wanted to reprimand her body for forming such words that so often used to come out of her. It's okay, she reasoned, old habits die hard.

"And thus, we've come full circle." Ino spoke, finally breaking the silence, which Sakura was thankful for. "Let's move on to the mystery fake boyfriend man. I need rapid fire details."

"How much has Karin told you?" There was no point in skirting around the details anymore. It was beginning to feel like she was telling this story every other week now.

Once completing what Sakura considered the spark notes version of the whole debacle, Ino was pinching the bridge of her nose. "He CHEATED." She began, her voice trembling. " A CAR?"

"Not the most ideal way to meet your future husband but hey, we roll with the punches here." Karin shrugged while Sakura turned the volume on the phone down 3 notches.

"When I'm back I'm kicking Nagato's ass!" Ino proclaimed, hopping up from her seat and pacing back and force out of view. "And all he had to say was what do you expect ?! The—the— ugh! "

"We can't kick his ass, Sakura's forbidden us."

"He's small… and delicate." She weakly explained but it did little to calm her friend down, so she decided to turn the conversation elsewhere. "Don't you wanna know more about Hidan?"

"He's hot." Karin supplied. "A silver lining in all this."

Ino froze. "I thought you hadn't met him yet?"

"I haven't, but Sakura showed me a picture."

"Gimmie."

"Hold on then." Sakura fished her phone out of her purse. Ignoring all other notifications on her locked screen, she swiped it open and went to her messages. "Oh."

"Hm?" Karin sounded as she poured herself a new drink.

"Look." Sakura tilted the phone towards her. "Look who texted me."

"Speak of the devil." Karin smirked. "Are you gonna respond? He sent it 20 minutes ago."

"Who?" Ino shouted.

"Hidan texted her asking where she's at." Karin answered, keeping her eyes on Sakura who was staring down at her phone.

Hidan: wya

Sakura read the 3 words the acronym stood for again and again, trying to ignore the nervous flutter in her chest.

"Tell him where you are!" Ino urged, clearly excited. Next to her, Karin nodded.

"And then what? Have him show up?" Sakura asked, incredulously.

"Yes!"

"I don't know… maybe I should ask why he's asking…."

"You overthink things too much." Karin sighed, plucking the phone from Sakura's hands and quickly typing. "Restaurant Kage. Send."

Sakura stared wide eyed, absolutely horrified but also feeling a jolt of anticipation. If she were alone, the chances of her responding might've been close to zero due to last night. Them hanging out and falling asleep together was cheekily hopping on the lines in the sand dividing them. A part of her knew there needed to be space between them, but a more daring part of her also wanted to keep toeing the line.

"Does he respond quickly?" Ino asked and Karin shrugged, handing back the phone.

"Um, sometimes?" Sakura answered vaguely, still reeling from the unexpected chain of events. The muted sound of her phone vibrating in her grasp answered for them.

Hidan: I'll be there in 5

A/N: I hate and love parts of this chapter, but for the most part, I felt aimless. I may have mentioned this before but I'm making most of this up as I go, nothing is really planned out except some vague key points and I feel like that's finally coming to bite me in the ass. I'm hoping that feeling starts and ends with this chapter only. There was supposed to be more, but with this uneasy feeling, I wanted to cut it off here to retain the option of taking it a different direction or even coming back and changing some of it. Regardless of my personal feelings towards this chapter, I wanted to post something just cuz it had been a while, and I hope you've enjoyed it. If it felt a little too short please lmk and I'll work towards making the next chapter longer. See you soon.