By 1am the party was really in full swing. Music was blasting, games of beer pong were steadily growing rowdier and rowdier, someone had already landed on and broken a table, and Sakura had been over this scene about 30 minutes ago.
Which is why we find our fed up pinkette on the move, pushing her way through throngs of people, searching for Ino. Because a missing Ino in a place like this always spelled immediate disaster and one nasty headache.
"Ino! Ino!" She attempted to shout her name across the sea of drunken faces but to no avail. There's no way anyone could hear her let alone the one she was searching for. Giving up on that, Sakura pulled out her phone. Maybe a call—no, a text! She would text her!
"Hey…where…are you…" And send! Delivered…delivered…no bubble with three dots. And no indication that she'd even read it.
"Fucking hell…"
"Sakura-chan!" Looking up at the sound of her name, she spotted spikes of blonde locks before the sunny face of Naruto popped into her line of sight. She felt a smile brimming amidst her present frustration after seeing him.
"Naruto, have you seen Ino?" Maybe he would know. This might be an Akatsuki party but Naruto was still pretty popular here. Mostly because all the members hated his guts at one point yet he somehow managed to get on their good sides. It probably had something to do with odd relationship with Nagato but she doesn't really know much about it.
"Ino…? Uh…I think I saw her on the patio? Why? Don't tell me you're trying to leave!" He huffed, soon wrapping an arm around her shoulder to lead her back into where most of the bodies were dancing and dangerously close to one another. A sight that honestly made Sakura grimace because YIKES.
"You know parties are not my thing, Naruto. I'd rather be at home." She replied, flinching back from a particular pair of folks that had no sense of boundaries whatsoever.
"Yeah, I guess that's true. Still! You could at least try to enjoy yourself!" No sooner then he'd said that had those idiots from earlier rammed right into her. Of course, with Naruto in front of her, she careened into his chest none too gracefully. Immediately she felt fingers latch around her arms as if to steady her form. Chancing a glance upward, her eyes locked on concerned pools of ocean blue, glistening softly under dimmed party lights.
"S-Sorry, that was an acci—."
"Oi! Watch where you're going!" In another series of blurred moments, Naruto had cradled her against his chest with one arm around her while the other shoved back at the person who'd run into Sakura so rudely. He clicked his teeth while the person drunkenly apologized then got back to dancing as if nothing happened.
"You alright, Sakura-chan?" Ohhhhhh shit. She was kind of at a loss for words, staring up at him with this bewildered expression. Evidently, she'd been staring for a while because she blinked at the sight of his hand waving in front of her face.
"C'mon, let's get some fresh air!" Before she knew it, they were outside on the back patio where, again, the party was raging like a wildfire. Music was blasting, bodies were moving, and she could've sworn she heard splashing. Oh right, there was a pool. There was a freaking pool and oh dear God Ino just jumped in with her clothes on.
"You've got to be kidding me…" All she could do was run her hand down her face watching that dreadfully familiar blond ponytail sink beneath the surface of the water with groves of people cheering her on. Yeah sure, it's fine for them to encourage this kind of thing. They're not the ones who have to drive home with a soaking wet drunk probably retching in the backseat.
"Well. What can you do, right?" Standing beside Naruto whose eyes drank in the sight before him, twinkling excitedly, Sakura began to wonder. What could she do? Instead of grumbling and complaining and sulking about, maybe…maybe she could try to enjoy herself?
"Hey, let's get a drink." Honestly, she'd never seen him turn his head so quickly outside the involvement of ramen and the promise of it.
"Really? Hah, alright! Let's get a drink!" Once more he slung an arm around her shoulder and ushered her back inside. Luckily the drink table was still being manned by a somewhat tipsy Kiba who excitedly waved them over after expertly pouring a round of shots for a group of faceless individuals.
"Yo! I see ya found Sakura. Sup guys?" He gave them expectant looks. Like he was expecting Naruto to ask for a drink and for Sakura to complain about the smell, the taste, and his overall level of consumption.
"I want a drink."
Never in his wildest dreams did he ever imagine Sakura 'Prude is my middle name Haruno would ask for a drink. A. DRINK. So he just kinda…kept staring at her with this same gleam of expectancy that soon morphed into a 'what the fuck blink' because what the actual fuck?
"HAh?!" Eventually he snapped out of his stupor just to grant to two of them a rather unattractive sound coupled with an expression that displayed just how utterly shocked he was. Here he was under the impression that drinking was just something that Sakura doesn't do. Just like he doesn't associate with cats.
"Right? Crazy night, huh? Just give us a bottle of sake if there's one back there!" Naruto chimed up first taking the reins on this whole drink ordering thing. He figured Sakura is more than likely a lightweight. No need to make her first real drinking experience hell by filling her up with something strong like vodka or whiskey. Sake will do just the trick.
"Ehh…that's the stuff Tsunade-sensei keeps under her desk, isn't it? Are you sure—?" Uh oh. Her sense is rising to the surface. Can't have that!
"Ahh that granny's an alcoholic. Don't worry, Sakura-chan! This is…like wine! Yeah! You'll be fine even if you drink the whole bottle!" Something told Sakura that wasn't exactly the case and she suddenly wished she hadn't run her mouth so flippantly. Oh well…
"No turning back now." Naruto grinned cheekily before ushering the bottle into her tiny hands. She could be wrong, but this is usually something that is consumed by way of a small saucer and not straight from the spout.
"Bottoms up! Hey! Sakura's drinking tonight!" And suddenly shouts rang throughout the place right as Sakura brought the bottle to her lips and took a generous swallow. It tasted sweet and like a bad decision.
"W-Woooo!"
Three hours later…
"Ugh…S'ske slow down…"
"Idiot, the car isn't even moving anymore. I can't believe you got this drunk…"
As fate would have it, Sakura was most definitely a lightweight. And not the kind of drunk any of them expected her to be. After a few swigs of sake, she felt a sudden burst of energy, enough to keep up with Naruto of all people. By the end of the night, she'd consumed way more alcohol than she initially intended to.
Like way more. Like some crazy alcoholic. She saw more of Kiba than she ever intended to and at one point, he even turned her away. It's a mystery she managed to consume more after he cut her off. But yeah, she was plenty plastered. Hence her state of inebriation in the back seat of Sasuke's car. Making Sasuke designated driver for both Ino and Sakura. And let's not even talk about how he had to drag aforementioned blond out of said car just to basically ding-dong ditch her on her parent's front porch at 4 in the morning.
"M'sorry…" This left Sasuke on extended babysitting duty. After opening her car door, he hastily caught her body as she basically fell out of her seat and into his arms. Gods, she was a lot heavier than normal, probably because most of her weight was dead. And she wreaked. Was this some kind of roundabout way of punishing him for showing concern over her well-being? And people wonder why he's fluent in jackass. Being nice ain't worth it.
"Where's Naruto?" Sasuke stiffened, pausing in the driveway after hearing then spotting his older brother at the door. Here he was hoping to sneak in undetected. What the heck was he even doing awake anyway? He left the party early, didn't he?
"Went home with Kiba, I think. I thought you'd be asleep by now." He spoke, resuming his trek inside with a grumbling Sakura in his arms. Itachi stepped aside so the two could enter, his gaze pointedly pinned upon the red cheeked face of their newest housemate.
"I wanted to make sure you made it home safely." Aww. That was almost sweet. Sasuke couldn't help but roll his eyes while stepping inside just to dump the girl on the couch.
"Sakura drank?" It could be the darkness of the room, but he could've sworn Itachi gave him a look that basically said 'dude' without really saying it. That's a look mostly reserved for Shisui. Suffice to say he's kind of offended.
"Mmm…hehe…S'ske's a baby Uchiha…" Now he regrets carrying her in. Should've left her ass in the car.
"….yeah. Not sure how that happened but, if I had to guess, I think Naruto had something to do with it." Which was true. Of the few times they've gone out, Sakura has always been strictly against drinking. And who's the main one playing the part of the orange devil whispering in her ear, encouraging her to the opposite of what she wishes? You guessed it.
"I'll get a bucket."
"Aa."
Sakura wasn't sure if she was dreaming, hallucinating or just trippin. All images swirling behind closed lids few a myriad of flashes, strobe lights, and colors, gods there were so many colors just swirling together in what looked like—.
Vomit. She was vomiting. And in a very conveniently placed bucket no less. But still…vomiting. There goes that Thanksgiving meal!
Evidently the sound of her disgusting retching had reached the ears of the other houseguests, prompting the appearance of one Uchiha Itachi who's legs appeared in her immediate line of sight, over the edge of the bucket because she really couldn't bother lifting her gaze—was he wearing sweatpants?
She really is hallucinating.
She'd only ever seen him in slacks. Assumed that was all he had, all he wore, all he knew. This is extremely shocking and a bit unsettling. Sort of like seeing your teacher outside of school. What's next? Jeans? Itachi in jeans?!
Oh, she's vomiting again.
"There's hangover soup on the stove." There's an angel in sweatpants standing in front of her.
"…urgh…what the fuck is happening…"
"Why'd you even drink that much anyway?" At some point during the day, after she cleaned herself up, Sasuke joined her on the couch of misery and shame with feet propped up on the coffee table and an arm draped along the back. She regarded him silently with a look of death that begged him to stop being so damn loud. And nosy.
He ignored that.
"Heck if I know. It just sort of…happened."
"You remember anything?" That was…a good question…
"…baby Uchiha."
"I hate you."
"That's not what you said last night. Heh, I remember that part very clearly. What was it you said? I was worried about you, Sakura." Really, the only highlight of this so far pretty shitty day was getting to tease Sasuke about kinda sorta openly expressing his feelings to her.
"I didn't say that."
"You basically did. I mean, I wasn't expecting you to say that of all things, but I suppose it's fine in place of an apology." She could tell she was grating on his nerves. His silence can be very telling while not telling at all.
"You're so annoying." He uttered in the midst of Sakura taking smalls sips of the soup previously prepared by Itachi. She's never had hangover soup before, never had a reason to try it. But she's heard that it's a spicy.
"Mm…isn't this supposed to be spicy?" Sasuke sighed quietly before reaching for the remote. He spoke as the television blurred to life, airing some kind of murder mysterious marathon.
"Yeah but you don't like spicy food." It took him a minute to notice it. To notice how she paused mid sip and just…stared at his side profile with this astounded expression on her which. And when he finally noticed, he could only stare back if only to question her initial gleam.
"Angel in sweatpants..."
"…what?"
A/N: Guess who's baaaaaaaaack? Ahaha, that's right! Wall to Wall is back in action (for the time being)! This chapter took me awhile, and it's short buuuut another one is coming sooooonish. Stay tuned! Don't forget to review!