Notes: Thank you to everyone who reviewed last chapter. I love you all ;3; Enjoy my griping about college life in this one! A lot of what Sakura has to deal with is what I have to suffer through as well. Bleh. Oh and you should totally google "birman cats" because they're super precious.

The last few weeks of August flew by in a whirlwind of intense heat, last minute trips to the beach in hopes of soaking up the scorching rays of the sun, and catching up with friends who returned from exciting adventures abroad. With the last of the summer—and freedom— coming to an end, September arrived, bringing with it responsibility and textbooks weighing down book bags like rocks.

The first day of class came like a smack in the face, abruptly waking a very disgruntled Sakura from her deep sleep. In a flurry, she ran around the apartment, scarfing down her breakfast one second and putting the finishing touches on her eyeliner in the next. Seriously, waking up late on the first day? Hopefully this wasn't some new habit of hers.

Snatching her leaden bag from the revoltingly green couch—they really needed to get a new one—, she dashed out the door and decided that she would take the bus for the first day so she wouldn't have to worry about driving in all the freshmen-induced traffic. The first day of class wasn't hell on earth just because it meant hours and hours of class work and then piles of homework on top, but the irritating newness of the freshmen coupled with campus being stuffed full with teary-eyed parents made it a thousand times worse. It was like if the unbearable heat of Hell wasn't quite enough, then you were also gifted with Lucifer jabbing you in the rear with a pitchfork. Lovely. And this entire situation was just too much to deal with when she was already grumpy from lack of sleep.

By the time her third and last class of the day came, Sakura's mood had worsened exponentially. Her first class—pre-med physics at the ungodly hour of 9:05—finished with the teacher informing his three-hundred students that they had a quiz on the first two chapters next class, and then in her English class, she was paired with one of the most annoying guys in her year. Constantly sweaty and very needy, her partner was notorious for complaining about work, but never actually doing any of it. Needless to say, when Sakura dragged herself to her calculus class after lunch, she was just ready to head back home and curl into a crying ball on her mattress, currently on the floor because the bedposts still hadn't arrived yet.

Plopping down in the closest seat possible, Sakura dug her pink notebook out and then buried her head into her thin arms. Drawing in a deep breath, she let it out in a long, low whistle and then looked up, aware that the person next to her was staring intently.

Met with the dark eyes of her roommate, Sakura straightened, subconsciously fixing any stray strands of pink. "What are you doing here, Sasuke-kun?"

"I'm in this class," Sasuke drawled out. "As are you, I assume."

Sakura let out a low chuckle, tucking her hair behind her ear. "Yeah, I need to take a calc class for med school. I've been putting it off for a while now because I hate math so much, but I couldn't really avoid it anymore." Placing her hands on her desk, and leaning a bit closer to the Uchiha, she asked, "And what about you? What's your major?"

"My dad wants me to go into law enforcement." Sasuke's eyes darkened. "But he wants me to be a higher-up official; that's why I'm taking this dumbass class."

Casting an interested glance at the man, Sakura wanted to continue the conversation but was stopped by the slamming of the door, signaling the arrival of the teacher, a foreign man with a very strong accent. Oh, kill her now. Math was already her weakest subject, but add to that almost incomprehensible lectures, and she was done for.

The class went by painfully slow, but at least Sakura could follow the lecture on parabolas and other obscure mathematical jargon. Every so often, she would sneak a glance at Sasuke beside her to see how he was faring with the material, and she was always met with the view of his apathetic face, almost bored with the complex formulas on the board. He hadn't even taken any notes yet!

With the end of the seventy-five minute lecture—that was way too much damn math for one day—, the entire lecture hall stood in unison and filed towards the doors in the back of the room. Turning towards her roommate on her left, she cocked her hip to the side and asked, "You done for the day?"

Storing his pristine white notebook in his bag, he looked down at the petite girl. Thin lips parted to respond, "Yeah, I'm heading home now."

Falling in step with his long strides, Sakura tugged her book bag more firmly on her shoulders. "Oh, me too. But I gotta go wait at the bus stop. Hopefully it doesn't take too long."

Turning his dark eyes towards the bright girl, he observed her until he finally offered a ride, which she accepted gratefully.

Five minutes into the car ride, Sakura was thinking that maybe she should've waited for the bus after all. The pervasive silence was driving her crazy; it pressed relentlessly on her ears, and all she wanted to do was shatter it. Squirming in her seat every few moments, she finally steeled herself enough to ask Sasuke to put on some music.

Jabbing his finger out towards the controls of the radio, the man complied and put on a popular station. The sickeningly sweet lyrics of a love song reverberated in the closed interior and had Sakura singing along, very loudly and very horribly. The Uchiha attempted to block out her voice by turning the music up with a flick of the dial, but whenever the radio's volume increased, so did his roommate's. With the end of the song, Sasuke believed that she would stop, but with the opening notes of the next song starting, he realized he was very wrong. The entire fifteen minutes spent in the car was filled with her flat notes and an oncoming headache.

Pulling up into a parking spot, the dark-haired man quickly shut off the radio while Sakura was scratchily crooning the ending note, effectively cutting her off midway.

"Alright, we're here."

Opening the door with a huff and glare—way to be an ass, Sasuke— and grabbing her bag, the girl climbed the steps to the third floor with renewed vigor, lightly humming a song that had been on earlier. "Thanks again for bringing me home, Sasuke-kun. I'd probably still be there if I waited for the bus."

Sasuke slightly inclined his head in acknowledgement before he unlocked the door and shouldered his way into their shared apartment.

Throwing her bag on the lumpy sofa, Sakura padded her way to the kitchen, determined to find something to satisfy her growling stomach. Standing on her toes to reach her granola bars in the highest cabinet, she knocked the box down with a swipe of her hand and caught the falling object. Peeking her head into the living room, she spotted her quiet roommate hunched beside her bag on the alligator couch.

"Hey, want one before dinner?"

Rubbing his hands over his face, Sasuke paused and looked up, examining the proffered item. "No thanks."

"Suit yourself. More for me then." The pink-haired girl flounced back into kitchen, considerably happier than she was an hour ago. Placing the box back on the shelf, she heard the front door opening, signaling the arrival of her sunshine boy.

"Hey, Naruto— what the hell is that?"

Green eyes snapped towards the white ball of fur partially hidden by Naruto's obnoxiously orange sleeves. One large tan hand came to rest on top of it in a soothing petting gesture.

"Okay, okay. So, promise you won't get mad at me."

Dark eyes snapped towards the boy in the entrance while the viridian ones already trained on him narrowed in suspicion and anger.

"I'm not promising anything until I see what you have." Sakura crossed her arm over her chest and jutted her hip out. Oh, she was pissed.

"It's not a bad thing, Sakura-chan. Chill out," Naruto pleaded. "You just can't flip your shit when you see it, okay? You'll scare her."

If Sakura were a dragon, there would be fumes of smoke emitting from her nostrils right about now. All she wanted to do was open up her wide jaws and swallow the blond whole, indifferent to his pleas for mercy. Whatever the hell he had, he better have a good explanation attached to it.

Sensing that his female roommate was about to lunge at him from across the room, Naruto quickly extended his arms until a small kitten was in full view of his roommates' prodding gazes.

In two seconds flat, Sakura's heart was captured and melted by the tiny cat perched on the boy's hands. Peering around the room with two piercing blue eyes from a black face, the kitten licked at its paw and shifted a little.

"Oh my god, that is the cutest freaking cat I've ever seen in my life." Sakura made her way over to the animal and quickly scooped it up into her arms. "Where did you get her?"

Scratching at his head, Naruto breathed a sigh of relief. At least she wasn't yelling her lungs out. "Well, there was kinda a box of kittens out in the street today as I was getting lunch. I looked in and saw this little cutie in there and she obviously wanted me to pick her because she was staring at me, Sakura-chan, staring at me with those big, blue eyes. I couldn't just leave her there."

The girl stopped her cooing at the kitten and looked up at Naruto, eyes hardening once again. "But are we even allowed to have animals in this place? If we get in trouble, it's gonna be your job to find a place for us to live, you know."

"Okay, okay. I'll do it." The blond plopped down on the couch and elbowed Sasuke in the ribs. "How do you like our new kitty, bastard?"

The Uchiha jerked out of Naruto's reach and threw a punch at his shoulder. "Did you even bother figuring out what type of cat she is?"

"Oh, right!" Naruto jumped up off the couch and began digging in his pockets. Grabbing a crumpled piece of paper, he smoothed it out and exclaimed, "Here it is. She's a Birman, whatever that means."

"The breed doesn't matter," Sakura cooed, propped up against the dining room table. "All that matters is that she stays this cute, and we stay out of trouble, right Naruto?"

The blond scratched at his head nervously and stammered, "O-of course, Sakura-chan. But, we won't get in trouble; trust me. She's a good little kitty."

Scooting away from Naruto's broad body, Sasuke scoffed. "Yeah, right. She's fine until she's starts yowling in the middle of the night."

"Do you have to ruin everything?" Blue eyes shot towards the man currently reclined on one lumpy cushion. "She's adorable and watch, she'll have you wrapped around her little paw in no time."

"Highly unlikely. But you might want to give your precious animal a name." The Uchiha stood up from the couch and threw a pillow at Naruto's face. "I heard it adds sentimentality."

"Ooh, I actually already have one in mind! Can we name her Ramen?"

Sakura snapped her head towards her roommate. "Definitely not. This cat is too cute to be named something so stupid."

"Okay, okay. How about Miso?"

"We're not naming her after food!" The petite girl observed the kitten, holding it at arms length. "I was thinking something cute like Shiro."

"Really, Sakura-chan? Shiro?" Naruto rolled his cerulean eyes. "That's so boring."

"Well, let's see which Sasuke-kun prefers and that'll decide it. Two against one."

"Alright! But I'm totally gonna win." Naruto confidently marched his way down the hall towards the Uchiha's room. "There's no way he can't pick Miso or Ramen."

It turns out that Sasuke could turn down Miso and Ramen. With a deadpan look towards the blond, he quickly agreed with Sakura and then pushed his two roommates out of his room.

Little Shiro turned out to be a lot more work than Naruto, or even Sakura, expected. She always followed someone around, constantly meowing for food, her litter box was always dirty and desperately needed to be cleaned, and when anyone wasn't paying attention to her, she would jump up on their lap and swat at them until they did. But the worst thing about the new kitten was that Sasuke was right and she whined the entire night.

So with less sleep than desired, Sasuke, Sakura, and Naruto fell into a routine of who would take care of the cat and when. This little kitten, through her excessive neediness, made the three roommates form a dysfunctional family, with two dads, a mom, and one baby. Or maybe it was one dad, one mom, an uncle, and the baby? Regardless, at the end of the day, the three were happy to just relax at home, falling into a comforting routine.