The next three days pass by in a blur and it's already Saturday.
Sakura informed Sasuke that she 'd be able to make it for the casual dinner at his place on the morning after he had asked, when she went over for coffee again on Thursday. She didn't make it home that night due to a traffic accident that brought in five patients – all requiring surgeries – so she took a nap in the hospital's on-call room when she had a chance to do so. Friday went by in a similar fashion when she spent her time making sure the post-op patients didn't take a turn for the worse. Her set of interns were still fairly new; she couldn't leave it completely up to them.
Sakura knocks on the door of 10A on Saturday night. She's a little later than promised. She can hear loud chatter from the inside but it's hard to make out what is being said. A few moments later, the door opens and Sasuke eyes her warily.
She feels dead on her feet.
"I came from the hospital just now," she informs him tiredly. "Long, long shifts."
In fact, she'd taken a quick shower at the hospital itself and she was wearing the emergency clothes that she'd stuffed in her locker. She hasn't even been to her own apartment yet. Sakura is sure that if she enters her flat, she might just give in and pass out on the couch. The only reason she hasn't done that already is because she likes Sasuke and Sasuke was nice enough to offer her a chance.
"Come in," he invites and steps aside. His hands are tense as if readying himself to catch her the moment she stumbles.
Sakura feels a rush of gratitude. "Thanks."
There are four people gathered in the living area, who all look up at her as she moves further inside the apartment. Sasuke shuts the door behind her and comes to a stand on her left.
"Guys, this is Sakura," he introduces. "Sakura, these are my friends. You already know my brother."
Itachi is sitting between two people. "You look dead," is his greeting.
"Thanks," Sakura says wearily.
Sasuke tsks at their exchange. "That's Naruto," he points at the blonde one who is grinning at her from ear to ear. He's sitting on Itachi's right side. "That's Shikamaru," Sasuke points to the one on Itachi's left. The man has an afro that he's tied in a high ponytail and looks bored out of his mind. "That's Hinata," Sasuke points at the last unknown person. She's actually very pretty with inky blue long hair and grey eyes. She's sitting on the other piece of the sofa set, near Shikamaru, and offers Sakura a shy smile.
"Hey," Sakura greets. "I'm the new neighbour." Itachi rolls his eyes. Sakura ignores him.
"Yeah, teme told us," Naruto says excitedly. "Why are you still standing? Come and sit!" He wiggles a little to make room for her. Itachi throws him a look that goes without any acknowledgement on the blonde's part. "He said you're a doctor! That's so exciting! What kind of a doctor are you?"
Sakura sits in the offered space. "Cardiothoracic surgeon. I'm still doing my residency, though."
Naruto blinks at her stupidly. "Eh… what does that mean?"
Surprisingly, it's Shikamaru who answers. "She's training to be a heart, lungs, and throat surgeon. Basically, chest stuff."
"Fuck," Naruto breathes. "You must be super smart."
Sakura shrugs consciously, not knowing what to say to that. She's already very tired and doesn't really want to have much of a conversation. She'd be happy to sit and observe from the background. Thankfully, she doesn't have to go to the hospital until four in the evening the next day.
"You want a drink?" Sasuke, the life-saver, asks her. He's standing near the island and now that she sees, there's a whole array of alcohol to choose from.
"I love you," she declares and stands up.
He laughs. As she makes her way over, the conversation behind her restarts with Naruto continuing their earlier topic on something called Thanos.
"What about them?" Sakura asks him with a shake of her head in the others' direction.
"We already had some," Sasuke answers. "But yeah, I should ask again." He takes a step away from her. "Guys? Anyone want another drink?"
Sakura picks out a wine bottle, grabs a nearby glass, and pours in a decent amount of it. She makes a grab for the bottle of rum just as Itachi does.
"What are you making?" he asks and takes the bottle first.
"Sangria."
"Without the juice and fruits? Not to mention, without using a cocktail shaker, as well." He hands her the bottle, regardless, after he's done taking his share.
Sakura rolls her eyes. "Do I look like I care right now?"
Itachi pauses to assess her. "I suppose not," he finally says.
"There's juice in the refrigerator if you want," Sasuke tells her. Naruto has come over as well, and he's trying to pry the bottle of scotch from Sasuke's fingers.
"It's fine," Sakura shakes her head.
Itachi makes a noise from her left. He places his glass on the table and goes to the refrigerator. He brings out a bottle of soda and juice. Sakura takes the juice from him and watches as he pours in some soda in his rum.
Sakura makes a rudimentary sangria and takes a deep gulp as soon as it's done. Blissful warmth blooms in her chest. She closes her eyes for a brief moment and tries not to sigh and fails.
"Okay, I need food," she announces. "The last meal I had was a protein bar in the morning. So feed me if you don't want me to pass out by the time I finish this."
Naruto has successfully made his own drink of scotch on the rocks and holds up his glass in a toast in her direction. "Hear, hear."
Sakura clinks their glasses together.
"Twenty bucks says that you pass out before the glass finishes," Itachi puts in. He's sipping at his homemade Cuba Libre with a smug smirk on his face.
"I'm so not getting into that," Sakura shakes her head and scowls at him. To be honest, he might be right but she's not going to say it out loud.
"Don't do that," Sasuke warns her, referring to her earlier statement. "We've ordered pizza. It'll be here soon."
Sakura sighs and maybe pouts a little. She goes back to sit on the couch. Her feet are aching like hell.
"You really do look tired," Hinata says, smiling sympathetically.
"I haven't been home since Thursday," Sakura admits. "There was a huge accident and the patients were critical. They're still under observation."
Hinata's eyes widen. "Are they going to be okay?"
"I hope so."
"It must be hard," Hinata continues in her soft voice. "I think people forget that being a doctor isn't only about being smart, but having a strong spirit, as well. To be able to work despite losing people sounds like a harsh environment to be in."
Sakura's face flushes at the blatant compliment. It seems that Hinata has no filter whatsoever.
"It's alright," Sakura replies lamely.
Hinata nods as if what Sakura said made complete sense. Wanting to change subject, Sakura continues hastily. "Are you working somewhere?"
"I have a flower shop on the Naka Street. It's pretty small, but I get by."
"Nonsense, Hinata," Naruto quips in as he sits beside Sakura again. "It's a great shop, Sakura! You should totally check it out. Hinata has all these beautiful flowers that you don't get here in the country."
"Really?" Sakura asks, interested. She never knew flower business was a big deal. But from the way Naruto looks, it's clearly of importance to be selling international flowers. It might also be the wine taking its effect, but who the hell knows. Hinata has been nothing but nice to Sakura and she is going to return the favour.
"Yeah," Hinata smiles widely. "I recently made a trade deal for the Himalayan lilies. They've been quite a hit for weddings."
"I took this girl once there," Naruto gushes, "for a date. You know, impress her with my knowledge of flowers –"
"Yeah, right," Shikamaru snorts.
"-with Hinata's help, of course," Naruto adds with a glare at the other man. "And she got so excited; she didn't wanna leave the shop."
"Great," Sasuke sits to Hinata's right with his glass of scotch and Itachi settles back on Naruto's other side. "Are we talking about exes, again?"
"Bastard," Naruto grumbles. "Just because you didn't have many doesn't mean I'm gonna hold back on my adventures."
Sasuke glares back. "That's because I was busy studying and not traveling in the back of a stinky van."
"It wasn't a stinky van," Naruto defends instantly. "It was the coolest van in the world! Take that back, you asshole."
"Here we go," Shikamaru mutters.
"Nope," Sasuke says adamantly. "I've seen that van. Jiraiya didn't even clean it up after his various sexcapades." He visibly shudders and takes a deep gulp of his drink.
"Who's Jiraiya?" Sakura asks loudly, mostly to shut them up. With the way Shikamaru and Hinata were sitting with resigned expressions, it was clear that this was a daily occurrence between the two men.
Besides, Sakura feels nicely buzzed. Whatever Naruto's questionable past might be, it won't faze her.
"He's my Godfather." Naruto's anger fades away to be replaced with excitement once again. "He's in a band. I went with him on his tours a few times growing up and Sasuke here believes that I caught cooties from the Old Man."
"You did become a man-whore after that," Sasuke points out.
"HEY!" Naruto yells at him. "Can you stop with that man-whore crap? Like I said, just because you didn't have many adventures does not make me a bad person!"
"I didn't say you were bad."
"Your tone sure did."
"You're projecting."
The doorbell rings. Itachi says an audible "Thank goodness" and gets up to open the door.
"Thank you," Itachi says to the delivery person after taking the boxes.
"My pleasure," a woman replies from the other side of the door. She's clearly trying to sound flirtatious. "Let me know if you need more. I'll be on the shift until two AM."
"Here we go," Sasuke rolls his eyes.
Sakura laughs suddenly. 'Here we go' seems like a running theme for this group of friends. It might not be that funny to warrant a laugh, but the wine is making her head light and she's just so tired and delirious and hungry and doesn't know how to stop laughing.
"Oh," the woman falters. "Sorry, I didn't know you were on a date."
Sakura laughs louder.
"Sorry," the woman repeats in embarrassment. "I'll just leave you be. Thank you for the generous tip."
Itachi shuts the door and faces the gang. Sakura sucks in a deep breath, trying to steady herself, but then Naruto starts to laugh and then Sasuke does, too. Hinata starts giggling and then everyone is laughing – even Itachi.
Over the pizza dinner, Sakura learns that Naruto and Sasuke actually work in Itachi's start-up (Shikamaru explained how it's still a start-up despite its success due to the company's age and not net worth). Naruto works in the marketing department. Sakura also learns that Shikamaru, for all the boredom that he displays, works under his father who is the Head of National Intelligence.
Naruto and Sasuke are childhood friends, who went to the same elementary, middle, and high school, and then got in the same college but acquired different degrees. Shikamaru and Itachi met in college, and Hinata met the guys through Shikamaru. She's his neighbour and a friend from high school.
They ask Sakura about her college and work. Sakura leaves out the specifics and only focuses on the name of college and the nature of her work. They've never been friends with a surgeon before, and Naruto seems completely taken by her hectic lifestyle.
"I never knew you guys have it so bad," he says, face scrunched up in a painful way.
"To think Itachi almost went that way," Sasuke mutters, his face mirroring Naruto's.
"You wanted to become a doctor?" Sakura asks Itachi, her eyes widened in shock.
Itachi shrugs as if it's no big deal. "I thought about it."
"Why didn't you?"
"My parents told me I was allowed only one degree so I had to pick one that I was very sure of," he answers casually. "So I took up Business Administration."
"Wait. What do you mean 'allowed only one degree'?"
It's Naruto who answers. "Oh, you don't know? Itachi is a prodigy! He's like super smart. But he only got one degree because their parents weren't sure if they'd be able to afford more. I mean, college education is very expensive already. I remember when Itachi said he wanted at least three degrees! Man, that was some high-level stuff."
Sakura is immediately intrigued. She's never met another prodigy before in her life. She thinks about requesting a brain scan but deduces that it might be the wine talking once again. She's staring at him with newfound fascination. Itachi starts to frown heavily under her scrutiny.
"Stop that."
"You still don't make enough money," she tells him seriously.
Itachi rolls his eyes at her. "You're really materialistic, you know that?"
Sakura sticks out her tongue at him. He stares for a moment, not really believing his eyes at her rather childish antic, and then gets up, shaking his head, to grab the bottle of rum from the counter.
Naruto laughs loudly. "You go, girl!"
She smiles lazily. She needs to sleep before she does any more foolish things. Getting to her feet slowly, she stretches out her back.
"Alright, I'm calling it a night."
The others murmur their agreements and start wrapping up, with the exception of Itachi who is sporting his drink. Sakura asks Sasuke how much she owes him for the pizza and pays the correct amount after much struggle with her wallet. She leaves before the others do, bidding good nights, and tells them that she had fun. And she really did.
As soon as she's inside her apartment, she lets the alcohol crash and stumbles to the bed before promptly passing out.