Notes: Hello, hello beautiful people. So, I would like to thank the people that reviewed the last chapter; you guys all make me squeal and blush like a schoolgirl. You're the bomb. And sorry this took so long to come out. School has violently taken over my life bleh. But I hope you enjoy it (and if you want, you can totally review because it makes me happy and more motivated, yeah? ;3)
As Sakura watched Sasuke's bare back— wow, every part of him was gorgeous—recede into the darkness of the hallway, she stuffed her face into her small hands and slumped against the wall.
Why did bad things happen to good people? It just wasn't fair. She considered herself a good person. When she was younger, she always ate her vegetables without her mom hounding on her, and she always washed behind her ears. Hell, she even volunteered at the local nursing home. Do you know how hard it is to be pleasant to old people who just complain about how soggy their cream of wheat is? It was really damn hard, okay? And Sakura just listened to their complaints with a smile on her face and a promise to get them a replacement on her lips.
This entire godforsaken situation was all her supposed-to-be best friend's fault. If Ino wouldn't have been so damn selfish and hadn't have taken the offer to live in her sorority house, they could both be happy, pretty girls in a cute and sparkly apartment living it up as the gorgeous single ladies they were. But nope, the blonde had called her up a week ago and prattled on and on about how this opportunity was so good for her, both socially and academically. Besides, she had exclaimed, I'll take you to all of the parties.
Yeah, right. At this rate, Sakura was going to rot in this apartment, void of all human contact except from her sunshine boy, Naruto. She couldn't even afford to party it up this year. Junior year was the most important time for potential medical students—stuffed with massive books and practice tests for the MCATS. So, no. She doubted she would even get more of a glance at Ino in this next semester. Stupid, stupid girl.
"Ugh, Naruto, this is literally going to be the worst." The small girl looked up from her spot on the floor to see him draping a large maroon sheet across the room.
"What?" Naruto's voice resounded from somewhere underneath the blanket. "Aw, c'mon. I know I was never as good as you or Sasuke at making forts, but I'm not that bad."
With a sigh, Sakura pushed herself off of the plush carpet and padded her way to the boy's covered form. Pushing the sheet out of the way, she ducked down and helped him tuck the corner between the wall and the bookshelf.
"It's not that you suck at making forts, which you do." Sakura shot a wink over to the blond. "But did you not see what just happened? That was so disastrous."
"What was? You and Sasuke, you mean?" Naruto threw his arms behind his head and flashed his bright smile. "I thought that was pretty good actually. C'mon, Sakura-chan. Were you honestly expecting anymore from him? It's Sasuke. He's the moodiest person I've ever met."
Sakura looked down at her turquoise-painted nails and muttered, "True, but he didn't even say hi."
"Y'know how he is. Sasuke just doesn't talk." He grasped the pink-haired girl's shoulders. "Don't worry. He'll open up after awhile. Just attack him with your super special move!"
Sakura let out a soft chuckle, "And what would that be?"
"Super Heart Beam!" The exuberant boy threw his arms up and looked down at Sakura with a determined look. "So, just keep shooting him down until he has to admit defeat. He's definitely gonna lose, since it's the two of us against one moody little boy."
Poking him in his stomach, she replied, "Okay, okay. I'll see what I can do, but let's finish this fort and then we can order some dinner, 'kay?"
"Yeah! Let's build a blanket castle to lock Sasuke in and then we can just attack him until he talks! Super Heart Beam! Pew, pew!" He raised his hands as if he were holding an invisible gun and shot off a couple of rounds.
"Hey, can we get ramen for dinner?"
Letting out a sigh, Sakura ignored the inquiry and continued draping a second sheet across the first, her mind occupied by the task of getting Sasuke to talk.
Pushing her lo mein in a circle on her plate, Sakura furrowed her brows. Why the hell was it so quiet in here? Even Naruto wasn't talking, but that might be because he was currently shoving food down his throat like he hasn't eaten in months.
Allowing her eyes to stray from Naruto's colorful appearance, they landed on the man leaned against the wall farthest from her spot on the lumpy couch. Despite years of maturation and separation, Sasuke still looked the same as he did in middle school. His face was a bit more angular now, and Sakura could see the hint of stubble on his chin, but he still had the same intensely dark eyes, constantly narrowed in an unknown emotion. His nose, although a bit longer than when he was younger, was still perfectly straight, and his thin lips were constantly pulled down by a pensive frown. No change there.
As she watched Sasuke use his chopsticks to pluck the last piece of chicken from his plate and into his mouth, she found herself wondering if his personality was as unchanged as his face. Maybe he was the same Sasuke that she knew in middle school, except now his moodiness had more of an adult tinge to it. If he was the same as he once was then he wasn't always a grumpy, disgruntled person. Back in their pre-teen days, Sasuke's bouts of sullenness were always broken up by light days of laughter and quiet enjoyment. Maybe this older Sasuke also lightened up every once and awhile; she would just have to use her "special attack" to make him lower those damn defenses he always has up.
Opening her mouth to finally cut through the thick silence, she was beat to it by Naruto.
Mouth still slightly full with half-eaten noodles and pieces of chicken, the blond turned his attention to the other man and asked loudly, "So, what have you been up to, bastard?"
Sasuke slid his expressionless eyes from his empty plate towards the loud boy in the corner and raised his eyebrow. Simply staring at his male roommate, he made no move to answer the question.
"Aw, c'mon, don't make this harder than it has to be." Naruto set his plate on the carpet beside him and sharply pointed his chopsticks towards the dark-haired boy, bits of sticky rice flying across the room. "I know you can talk, Sasuke! And we're all stuck together for a while, so you mind as well start getting friendly now. It'll save us a lot of effort and time. So, spit it out; what'd you do after you left?"
Neatly arranging his chopsticks on top of his plate, Sasuke glared at the blond. "What the hell do you think I did, idiot? I left for school, so obviously I went to school."
"Well, duh! But how was it? Did you make any new friends? Did you like it better than here?"
A long pause permeated the room until Sasuke muttered, "Why the hell do you care about this anyway?"
Sakura watched the exchange between the two boys with mild fascination. Sure, Sasuke wasn't answering with anything more than necessary, but at least he was talking a little bit. Maybe, Sakura mused, if I join in with Naruto, he'll open up a bit more.
"We care because we've missed you, Sasuke-kun. We want to know about your life in Oto. How was it?"
Sasuke turned his dark stare from the bright boy in the corner to the girl perched on the disgustingly green couch, hands nervously fiddling with her hair. When the hell had she become one of the roommates anyway? When Sasuke had agreed to rooming with Naruto, it definitely wasn't her that was supposed to be staying with them. Seeing those two together brought back too many annoying memories; it was unnecessary.
"Fine." Sasuke bit out. "It wasn't a matter of liking it or not. I needed to do it."
With the thump of his back hitting the floor, Naruto threw his hands behind his head and whined out, "Man, you're so damn boring. What the hell kind of an answer was that?" Whipping his head over to pierce the Uchiha with a stern stare, he ran his hair through his hair. "Are you trying to say that you made no friends the entire six freaking years you were there? I call bullshit on that one."
"That's not what I said, is it, idiot? Of course I spent my time with people. But the majority of it was used for studying."
Speaking over Naruto's loud groan of protest, Sakura asked, "But why? You've always been smart so it can't have been because you were failing."
A muffled "Wow, you turned into such a nerd" resounded from underneath the blond's covered face.
Shooting Naruto a glare, Sasuke let out a frustrated sigh and pushed the stray strands of his bangs from his face. "It was necessary. I needed to be as good as Itachi."
Oh, so that was it, Sakura thought. He was still living under the shadow of his genius brother. Poor Sasuke-kun had always been worried about being better than his older brother, Itachi. It literally consumed every aspect of his life. Even in middle school, his driving factor was to surpass his brother so that he could receive even a mere second of recognition from his father.
"Well, I'm glad you decided to come back to Konoha, Sasuke-kun." Sakura brightly smiled at him as she finished braiding her hair and tossed it over her shoulder. "I'm sure everyone will love seeing you again."
Pushing herself off of the dingy sofa with a low groan, Sakura collected all of the dishes and made her way to the kitchen. Placing the plates in the sink, she began to wash them and put them on the drying rack when she heard a muffled yell and then a loud smack. Peeking her head around the corner, she peered into the living room to see Naruto holding Sasuke in a tight headlock and Sasuke thrashing around trying to loosen the hold.
Flinging his foot to the side to make contact with the blond's torso, Sasuke slipped out of Naruto's grip and twisted so that he yanked his tan arm behind his back. Naruto lurched forward in an attempt to free himself, but just caused the pain in his arm to worsen and he let out a low yell.
Seeing Sakura in the entrance of the living room, he called out for help and violently wriggled his body. "C'mon, Sakura-chan! Remember what I said? Two against one!"
Shaking her head, Sakura let out a low chuckle and padded her way towards the boys. Dropping down into a crouch, she flicked the blond's forehead and remarked, "You're on your own, Naruto." Straightening back up, she dusted off her shorts and made to walk down the hallway. "I'm going to take a shower. Don't kill each other while I'm gone, 'kay?"
Slipping into the undecorated bathroom, the pink-haired girl began to shed her clothes and turned on the shower, allowing tendrils of steam to fog up the mirror. Stacking Naruto's toiletries in a neat pile, Sakura thought that maybe this whole roommate thing wouldn't be so bad. With a little prodding it seemed like Sasuke would fall right back into his dynamics with everyone he left in Konoha. He was already fighting with Naruto as if he'd never left. And maybe with a bit more of her "Super Heart Beam", he'd be just as comfortable around her as he was when they were fifteen.
But… would that actually be a good thing? Right before he left for Oto, they were at a weird crossroads in their relationship, closer than friends, but not quite more. There had been far too many awkward, blundering moments for Sakura to want to rekindle that kind of dynamic with him. She would just look stupid, especially if she was still hung up over a childhood crush that he had long forgotten.
As Sakura blindly sought out for her conditioner among the less pink and fruity smelling bottles lining the edge of the tub, she decided that nothing like that would happen. She may still be in love with Sasuke, but he definitely had no feelings for her, and that was fine. She was just glad to have him back in her life.
As long as she got to be a part of his life again, she was content. At least that's what she told herself.