Nine

Midterms were fast approaching, the weather was miserably frigid, and Sasuke had barely spoken to her in weeks.

Ever since the soup incident, he had been distant and aloof – even more so than usual. Sakura had stopped dropping by his desk on the way out of class after she had continually been met with cold eyes and barely-there responses. She refused to climb the stairs to the door at the back of the class, though. No. She proudly marched past his desk each time she exited the classroom, very pointedly looking away from him with her head held high.

She refused to dedicate any thought to the matter. There was nothing to think about, nothing had been lost.

Sakura flopped over onto her stomach, folding her hands behind her head and pressing her face down into her pillows. She didn't even want to look at the clock – she knew it was well past midnight. Tumultuous thoughts had kept her up on a nightly basis as of late, and she refused to believe that Sasuke had anything to do with it. Clearly, she had misread the situation, misread her own feelings.

She'd let herself get caught up in silly, childish daydreams. She really should be thanking Sasuke, after all, for getting her back on track. She most certainly didn't have the time to be nursing ill-advised crushes on her professors.

These were the mantras Sakura repeated over and over in her head as she drifted off to sleep that night – and every other night as well. She just wasn't sure why after all these nights she still didn't believe them.

"Hey, Sakura-chan!" Naruto spluttered at a volume that was nowhere near appropriate for that time of night. "No fair! When did you get so good at this game, anyway?"

"I've alwayssss been good," Sakura gloated drunkenly, sticking her tongue out as she killed his video game character once again. "You just forgot."

"Bah, I quit!" Naruto tossed his controller to the floor in a melodramatic rage.

Hinata giggled quietly from the bright orange beanbag chair she was sitting in. Sakura couldn't help but notice that the dark-haired girl's lavender eyes were a bit glazed over – definitely thanks to the alcohol. The alcohol was also probably to blame for the fact that Naruto hadn't noticed that Sakura had unplugged his game controller five minutes ago.

Knowing this, Sakura toppled onto the floor laughing, soon joined by Naruto, and to her great surprise, Hinata. The girl must have had more to drink than Sakura realized. As a matter of fact, Sakura had had more to drink than Sakura realized. And it was a Sunday night.

That thought was almost enough to sober her up. Keyword being almost. When she pushed her arms against the ground in an attempt to stand up, the world spun around her one too many times to make her feel comfortable standing.

"Mmmm, Naruto? Imma just sleepdownhere," she mumbled as she crawled over to the beanbag chair Hinata had since vacated. "G'night, guys."

She was answered by similarly slurred murmurs as Naruto and Hinata climbed haphazardly into Naruto's bed – Sakura was too drunk to be surprised by Hinata's behavior – and Lee simply snored in his sleep. He'd passed out hours ago.

Sakura curled up on the beanbag chair, too drunk and too tired to care that she was about to get less than four hours of sleep – and on a beanbag no less. Oh well, she had needed to let loose, and when Naruto had invited her over to hangout, she just couldn't say no. She needed an excuse to get a certain someone off her mind, and she could think of no better way than by hanging out with Naruto. He had always had a way of making her feel better – of making her feel loved and protected.

Sakura frowned dejectedly. She loved Hinata…she really did. But a small part of her couldn't help but be jealous of the girl now resting comfortably in Naruto's warm embrace. Sakura didn't like Naruto – not in that way, that wasn't it. She loved him as her closest companion, he was her soulmate, in a way. Just not romantically. She berated herself for having those thoughts, but she just couldn't help it.

There had been many a night in high school that Naruto and Sakura had gotten into their fair share of trouble together. There had been many a night that they shared a bed – although only once romantically. Sakura couldn't help but admit to herself that she missed it. She felt a closeness with Naruto that she feared she would never feel with another man. She just…couldn't love him in the right way. And she knew he couldn't love her like that either. They had tried, they really had. Sakura was just grateful that their experiments had left them closer than ever rather than ruining their friendship.

Doing her best to replace her frown with a smile, Sakura forced herself to think about how sweet Naruto and Hinata were together. She genuinely was happy for them, but that didn't make the process of getting used to space between her and Naruto any easier. Normally, on a night like this, she and Naruto would've crashed in bed together in a tangle of limbs, no awkwardness between them because they knew each other.

Things were different now, though.

Tonight, Sakura slept alone on the floor while Hinata took her place, and more. Sakura always knew this day would come – the day where Naruto got a girlfriend or she got a boyfriend and they would have to alter their relationship. She just hadn't been expecting it so soon, or she hadn't been expecting it to affect her so much.

Maybe it was just because she was lonely…maybe it was just because on some level, she was upset about the way things had gone with Sasuke…

No.

She wouldn't think about that.

But she did think about that. She thought about it until she drifted off to sleep and her dreams were filled with dark eyes and empty words.

"Sakura," a male voice echoed off somewhere in her mind.

"Mmmm," Sakura swiped blindly at the air, feeling satisfied when the palm of her hand smacked skin. "Sleeping."

"Sakura-chan, don't you have class?"

That woke her up.

"Shit!" Sakura sprung up from the floor, cringing at the instant vertigo she was rewarded with. She had a cramp in her neck and major nausea, but she didn't have time to dwell on that. A glance at the clock had informed her that it was two till eight, and she was definitely going to be late for class.

"Damn it, Naruto! Why'd you let me drink so much last night, anyway?" Sakura whined frantically, tying her favorite black converse in a hurry.

"Don't look at me! You and Hinata-chan crushed that vodka," Naruto held his hands up in protest, a slight hangover blush coloring his cheeks. "Poor Hina is in the bathroom puking her guts out."

Naruto's words were punctuated with a female gagging sound – presumably Hinata – coming from the bathroom.

"Poor Hinata, tell her I hope she feels better!" Sakura grabbed her book bag from the floor, grateful that she had brought it with her the night before. "I gotta go, Naruto!" She reached over to hug him, and pecked him on the cheek before she could think better of it. She flew backward immediately, fingers raised to her lips and wide eyes directed towards the bathroom. Kissing him was probably not acceptable anymore.

"Heh," Naruto reached out to ruffle Sakura's hair affectionately. "It's okay. You'll always be my Sakura-chan, no matter what happens. Now get your ass outta here before you're even later for class!"

Smiling brightly at her precious friend, Sakura took off out of his dorm room door, prepared to run all the way to class if she had to.

The cold autumn wind quickly shut down that plan, however. The chill took her breath away almost immediately, and Sakura was forced to endure a brisk, teeth-chattering walk to class. Thank god she was wearing sweats and not shorts and a t-shirt, but they were Naruto's and they were absolutely massive on her small frame. She had spilled a drink on herself the night before, and Naruto had offered her a pair of clothes to change into. She obviously had no time to change before class.

Great. Sakura grimaced. She was about to show up late for class with her hair in a bedraggled, messy bun, bleary-red hangover eyes, and a man's clothes on. She would practically be screaming "I had sex last night!" when that couldn't be farther from the truth.

No, Sakura had spent a drunken night on a beanbag chair – and she now had the sore muscles and neck cramps to prove it.

It was eight o' nine when Sakura finally made it to class. She was actually impressed with herself, she'd barely been out of bed ten minutes and she'd made it to class less than ten minutes late. Walking to her seat was going to be the shitty part, though.

Deciding to swallow her pride and do it, Sakura strolled as quickly and as casually as she could to her seat. Luckily, the classroom had several doors – one of which would allow her to get to her seat without having to cross in front of Sasuke's desk – and that was the door she had chosen.

"Late, are we?"

Sakura stopped dead in her tracks upon hearing those words. They were the first he had spoken to her in probably two weeks. She chanced a glance at him, a little startled to find him seething. People had been late to class before – sometimes he had called them out, sometimes not. She had been naïve enough to believe that he would leave her alone…

"Forgive me, Uchiha-sensei," Sakura had to grit her teeth to keep the venom from her voice. "I overslept."

"Tch." He scoffed openly at her. "Clearly."

Sakura's mouth hung open. He wasn't serious, was he? Was she still asleep on Naruto's floor and having some sort of sick nightmare?

"If you wish to stay in class, come to the board and solve a problem," Sasuke's tone was taunting as he turned from her, his motions stiff and guarded. It seemed like the stick up his ass had grown.

In a state of disbelief and total embarrassment, Sakura followed him to the board, debating on just running out of the room in shame. She was now on full display to the whole class, wearing sweatpants with the cuffs rolled up so her feet could stick out and a bright orange long-sleeved t-shirt that could've fit two of her in it. The arms hung far past her hands, and she had to push them up to her elbows to get them to stay. Not to mention, the orange clashed horribly with her hair.

Sasuke was writing furiously on the blackboard, the chalk straining under the force of his grip. She frowned as she watched him nearly snap the stick in half. What the hell was his problem, anyway?

"Wait a minute," Sakura mumbled under her breath upon seeing what he was writing. "That's calculus!"

"Tough," he bit back without looking at her.

"What the fuck, Sasuke?" she whispered quietly enough that no one would hear.

"Don't call me that," he shot her a look so nasty then that she shrunk back a few paces. Was he really so furious with her for being late? He had never done this to any of the other students…

"Fine," Sakura clenched her jaw, determined then to beat him at his stupid game – whatever it was. "Pardon my insolence, Uchiha-sensei. It will never happen again."

Sakura was painfully aware of all the eyes on her at that moment as Sasuke deposited the chalk in her hand, giving her an unmistakably charged look as he did so. He turned then and resumed lecturing the class as though nothing had happened.

Furious beyond belief, Sakura marched over to the chalkboard and took in the problem. It was a hard one, to be sure, but she was pretty sure she could do it. It would just take a few moments. She smirked at her looming victory – Sasuke probably thought she wouldn't be able to do it. Little did he know, she had tutored AP Calculus in high school.

A few minutes later, Sakura ceremoniously dropped the chalk onto the lip of the chalkboard and marched straight past Sasuke to her seat, not turning around to see if he was checking her work or not. She was confident that she was correct, and she wouldn't give him the satisfaction of seeing her look over her shoulder.

Only when she had settled into her seat did she chance a glance at her ruthless professor. An unchecked smile painted her lips when she saw the grimace that had taken over his mouth as he continued to teach. He actually had the nerve to be pissed that she got the answer right! Sakura then immediately questioned her own sanity – had she imagined every moment of kindness, every fleeting glance they had shared? It was as though none of that had happened and he hated her as much as a certain group of her classmates did.

She twisted the hem of Naruto's t-shirt in her hand anxiously. This was why she loved Naruto – he never pulled any of this passive-aggressive, confusing bullshit with her. He was always the type to be upfront with his feelings, and he would never humiliate her purposefully. Meanwhile, she looked up to find Sasuke positively glaring daggers at her, as though she had ritualistically sacrificed his first born and burnt down his house.

The force of his loathing felt like a physical push, and Sakura found herself shrinking further and further back into her chair. The animosity was rolling off of him in waves and it was starting to make her feel sick – or maybe it was just the hangover. She couldn't be sure.

The rest of class was equally brutal. He kept the whole class over for ten minutes since she was late – he was sure to point that out. He couldn't technically do that, but everyone had seen what he had done to Sakura and were scared to incur his wrath, and so they all stayed for the extra time. Sakura felt the weight of about a hundred glaring pairs of eyes on the back of her head and nearly cried. He was making it very easy for her to hate him in that moment.

She was frozen in place, frozen with anger, humiliation, and confusion. He dismissed class and she couldn't find it within herself to stand up and walk out. She sat motionless in her seat as her classmates filtered out around her, some people frowning at her, some people just walking past.

"How's it feel, teacher's pet?" Karin's infuriating voice pierced Sakura's ears.

"It feels wonderful," Sakura smiled at Karin, cursing her quivering bottom lip. "You really should try it sometime."

Karin merely snorted at her before flipping her hair and walking away, stopping to chat with Sasuke at his desk for a moment before she left. Sakura let her head fall into her folded arms on her desk, not caring that the last few students in the classroom would see her breaking down. She was beyond the point of caring.

School came easy to her, that much was true, but the stress of impending midterms and grades and medical school and her family were weighing heavily upon her and she was tired. No matter how well she did, how hard she tried, she felt belittled – not only by others but by herself. Nothing was ever good enough, and the race for perfection was taking its toll on her.

Sasuke had approached her, she could tell he was standing in the row in front of her. Without looking up, voice barely cracking above a whisper, she asked: "Why?"

Ignoring her completely he replied, "Late to class and wearing her boyfriend's clothes? Tch, doesn't seem like you."

Sakura's head snapped up at that, her fury momentarily outweighing her sorrow. "Excuse me?"

Sasuke simply shrugged at her, still standing in the row in front of her, towering over her as she sat slumped in her chair dejectedly. His scowl was positively menacing.

"What's your problem?" Sakura fumed, finally letting her anger take over as she sprang from her seat, suddenly gaining the height advantage from her upper level. "What the fuck was that?"

"That was fair treatment for a student who shows up late," Sasuke growled at her, clearly furious himself.

"You've never done that to anyone else for being late and you know it!" Sakura was practically shouting now, but she didn't care as the classroom was empty. "You're just doing it to me because – because you…"

"Because I what, Sakura?" Sasuke asked darkly. "Spit it out."

Sakura blushed deeply then, but she couldn't be bothered to care. "B-because you hate me! You like to fuck with my head and make me look stupid!"

"Such a dirty mouth, Sakura. Didn't your mother teach you better?" Sasuke's voice was positively icy, but still managed to hold a seductive edge that only served to infuriate her.

"Yeah, well I'm pissed, Sasuke!" she paused upon realizing her error. "Oh wait, sorry. Uchiha-sensei or your majesty? Which do you prefer?"

That clearly pissed him off. "Most students who show up late don't waltz in looking like they just – "

He cut himself off, but his insinuation had been obvious.

Sakura was so angry she almost couldn't form words. "You're…you're telling me…that you did that to me, in front of a class of students, many of whom already hate me, because what? Because it looks like I…had sex last night? Is that honestly what you're saying to me?"

Sasuke didn't reply, but the way he crossed his arms over his chest and pressed his lips into a thin, angry line was the only answer she needed.

The fight went out of her suddenly and completely then, and she dropped back into her chair, unable to even process what was happening.

"What is the matter with you?" the words came tumbling out, and Sakura almost didn't care how disrespectful it sounded. Once the flow of words started she couldn't stop them, and was horrified to feel a lonely tear streak down her left cheek. "I spent the night…on a fucking beanbag chair on the floor. I spilled a drink on myself, borrowed some clothes from my friend, got drunk, and played video games until three in the morning because I needed a break. I slept very much alone, please and thank you. Not that it's your business." She turned her eyes bitterly to him then. "I should have transferred out of this class when I still could."

He was just staring at her, but the pinched glare was gone. It had been replaced with a mask of cool indifference. Her heart wrenched inside her chest as she realized that he just didn't care.

In an attempt to salvage what was left of her dignity, Sakura hastily grabbed her bag and made a beeline for the exit, planning to call Tsunade and ask for the day off so she could go lie in her bed and bemoan her existence.

"Sakura."

The deep, tempting sound of his voice was almost enough to stop her in her tracks on the way to the door.

Almost.

Ignoring temptation, Sakura continued forward and away from the man who could seemingly cause her nothing but pain.

"So how are your classes going, honey?"

Sakura finished chewing her food before answering her father. "Not too bad! Midterms are coming up next week!"

Sakura had offered to take her parents out for hamburgers, she'd saved up some extra money from work and had requested they come for a visit. Her mother had a soothing presence that always helped to calm Sakura's nerves, and her father was great for moral support.

She hadn't told them about her professor from hell and she didn't plan to. Her mother would be horrified (and maybe a little intrigued) and her father would probably want to hit him. No, she had best leave that little tidbit out.

Her parents thanked her for dinner and drove her back to campus, dropping her off at the library with a hug and a kiss each.

Sakura studied for a few hours before heading back to her dorm. It took a large amount of willpower to ignore the fact that she had an extra hoodie in her backpack as the biting night wind caused her to shiver violently. She was already wearing a thick hoodie of her own, and a long-sleeve shirt underneath that. She didn't own a winter coat.

No, the hoodie in her bag would be returning to its owner. She was embarrassed that she had kept it as long as she had. She just hoped that he would be standing outside smoking so that she could return it easily and discreetly.

As if the devil himself had chosen to answer her prayer, Sasuke stood outside his building poisoning himself. Sakura pulled the hoodie from her bag as she approached him, not caring that he was clearly refusing to look at her.

She thrust the hoodie out at him when she was close enough, much like he had done when he had originally given it to her. In typical Sasuke fashion, he ignored her.

She simply shoved it into his hands then and let go – again like he had done to her, and she turned away from him to go. The pang in her chest was unexpected and painful.

"I told you to keep it, idiot."

Sakura clenched her fists at her sides, not turning to face him. "Yeah? Well I don't want it. Sorry, it smells like a girl now."

She heard his intake of breath, clearly being muffled by the fabric of his hoodie. "No," came his quiet reply. "It smells like you."

Sakura faltered at that. Why did he have to say things like that? Was he really cruel enough to be purposefully messing with her? "Why do you say things like that?" she decided to speak her mind.

"You got the problem right," he said, ignoring her. "In class."

Sakura rolled her eyes, getting the distinct feeling that this was his way of apologizing. It wasn't good enough.

"Yeah, well. I tutored calculus. You won't trip me up that easily," she shot him a look over her shoulder and was surprised to see the unguarded look on his face. He looked wilted, almost like he had when he had been sick. His light skin stood out in stark contrast to his black sweatshirt, the deep purple marks under his eyes were all too apparent.

"Are you going to withdrawal from my class?"

The question took her off-guard and she didn't answer right away. He clearly didn't take her silence as a good sign, as he tossed his cigarette violently to the ground and crushed it beneath his foot as though he were punishing it for all the wrongs it had done him.

"I-I don't know," Sakura lied. She couldn't withdrawal from the class. She'd still have to pay for it and she couldn't afford that…but the sinful part of her wanted to see his reaction.

She wasn't disappointed. He took several steps toward her, and she turned to face him. He got so close that she had to crane her neck backwards to properly see his face. For some reason, all good sense had left her and she couldn't seem to move.

Her long hair blew haphazardly in the autumn wind, some of it sticking in the chapstick on her lips. Her heart skipped a beat when he reached up and ran a single finger down her cheek, freeing the strands from their prison on her mouth. His finger lingered on her chin for a moment too long before he let his hand fall limply to his side.

They stared at each other for a long, empty moment. The sound of the wind in the trees was nearly hypnotic, and Sakura found herself entranced with staring into Sasuke's swirling midnight irises.

"Those clothes," Sasuke's ragged voice broke the silence. "They weren't your boyfriend's?"

Sakura shook her head then, not sure why she was giving the man an answer he didn't deserve. "I don't even have a boyfriend."

"Hn."

They had both averted their eyes. Was this…did this mean that Sasuke had been jealous? Sakura nearly cried. This was all just too confusing. He couldn't possibly have been jealous. That would carry far too many implications for Sakura to deal with or think about.

"S – Uchiha-sensei?" Sakura's eyes were welling with tears, but she did her best to blink them back.

Sasuke sighed, frowning at her and folding his arms. "Don't do that."

"Well what do you expect? I don't know what you want from me!" Sakura tossed her hands into the air. "Just, Sasuke, please. Don't shit on me in class like that again. I don't know what I've done to you but please stop."

Sasuke was quiet for a moment. Quiet for so long that she turned to go with a huff, doing her best to hold her tears inside until she got away from him.

"You're right," he murmured softly from behind her, so softly that she had to stop and strain to hear him. "You have no idea what you've done to me."

The building door slammed behind her.

AN: I hope you guys liked this chapter! I think this one has been my favorite so far :) I really like writing about Naruto and Sakura's friendship, I just think it's so cute.

I have a feeling that at least some of you will REALLY like Chapter 10 *wink wink* ;) Keep in mind, the rating will likely be changing to M soon. Thank you all for reading! I will do my best to get better at answering reviews, you all are so wonderful!