Notes: Wow, I really suck at this whole updating thing. Sorry about that, guys. I'm like halfway done with chapter 5 so yay! And Zoey and I made a resolution to update every week, but that's not gonna happen. Also, I started rewatching The Office and Jim and Pam take up most of my time.
As Saturday morning dawned bright and warm, Sakura lazily stretched in her bed—finally off the floor— and basked in her first time to relax in weeks. Life with two boys and a little kitten wasn't a walk in the park. As the only female in the house, Sakura had to make sure the apartment didn't fall into shambles, her roommates didn't die from malnutrition, and the cat wasn't squashed under piles of dirty clothes—all orange and belonging to a certain blonde. Add to that her giant load of homework and she hardly had time to take a shower. Life as a pre-med student sucked big time.
Turning over and fully intent on getting at least another hour of sleep, the woman flopped on her side and pushed her face into the pillow. Ah, sweet, sweet darkness. Starting to fall asleep again, she was interrupted by a soft prodding at her hand draped off the side of the bed. Groggily lifting her head to peer down at the floor, tired green eyes were met with big blue ones. With a delicate mew, Shiro batted at the woman's hand again and made her way to the door, signaling that she was ready for breakfast.
With a groan, Sakura forcefully smashed her face into the pillow and took a deep breath— so much for sleeping in. Sliding out of the taunting warmth of her bed, she followed the bushy white tail of the cat into the kitchen to be met with the sight of Sasuke lounging against the counter, sipping coffee.
Face falling into a disapproving frown, she appraised the man before her, spitting out, "You've got to be kidding. Why the hell did the cat come bother me when you're already awake?"
Looking up from his bitter drink, the dark-haired man merely shrugged and took another sip. "She likes you more."
"Oh, and I wonder why that is?" Sakura sarcastically replied. "It probably has something to do with the fact that I'm the only one who takes care of her."
"Don't snap at me. It wasn't my idea to get her." Sasuke placed his mug on the counter, stretching his arms with a small groan. "Go wake up dumbass and lecture him."
Snatching the porcelain cup, Sakura gulped down the rest of the contents and let out a low breath. "Oh, please. I'm not lecturing you. I'm just passive-aggressively sharing my problems."
Snatching his mug back from her small hands, he raised a dark eyebrow before turning away to wash out his cup. The only thing heard in the apartment was the sound of the kitchen sink and the light tinkle of one of Shiro's toys as she batted it around. Sasuke always liked the mornings best because Naruto wasn't up yet, and that meant some peace and quiet for a little while.
"Hey, Sasuke-kun, I have a favor to ask of you."
Well, that would be the case if Sakura wasn't just as talkative as their blond roommate.
Angling his face towards the pink-haired woman to let her know that he was listening, Sasuke placed his cup in the dishwasher to dry, closing the door with a soft snap. Turning back to Sakura, he could see that she was doing that annoying nervous habit of hers where she played with her hair and refused to make eye contact.
"Well…um... the thing is…"
"If you never ask, I'll never answer."
Pink hair falling into her face, Sakura looked up, eyes wide with confusion. Noticing her actions, she quickly dropped her gaze and hesitantly said, "Well, I was wondering if you minded going jogging with me, as like a common thing."
Noticing no response from her roommate, she hastily added, "I mean, I'd normally go with Ino, but she's super busy and I haven't seen her in awhile. Of course, I'd ask Naruto, but he hates jogging more than anything else, or so he says. And I know that before, you liked taking walks, so I thought maybe—"
"Sure, Sakura. I'll go with you."
She stopped mid-rant, wringing hands going still and eyes angled up towards her roommate. "Really? You don't mind?"
With a sigh, Sasuke made his way to the hallway with a muttered, "I'm not going to say it again."
Peering around the corner, Sakura called out her thanks, and then squatted down to dote upon the cat currently swatting at her hello kitty pajama pants. Picking up the kitten, she made her way to the cabinet in the corner to grab the cat food when she heard Naruto stumble into the kitchen.
"Hey, Sakura-chan," he drawled out, eyes furiously rubbing his squinting eyes. "What are you doing up so early?"
Eyes narrowing into a glare, she closed the distance between them and dropped Shiro and her food into his arms. "Y'know, I have no clue why I'm not still sleeping. I'm gonna go fix that." With a half-hearted wave, she trudged out of the kitchen, ignoring Naruto's tired groans of protest.
As she sat at the kitchen table deciphering the foreign language that was calculus, Sakura mused that she actually really liked jogging with Sasuke; he didn't constantly talk like Ino did, so that meant he didn't run out of breath as fast either. And anybody was better than Naruto. She had jogged with her blond roommate only once, and that was enough for her to know that she was never doing it again. He had started complaining about "physical activity" before they even left the building, and five minutes into it he was already talking about heading back.
But jogging with Sasuke was nice. His long legs gave him a slight advantage, so Sakura often found herself pushing her body more and more in order to keep up with his lengthy strides. They would both get immersed in the pure physicality of the activity; no stressful thoughts of deadlines and studying and graduate school and you have to pass if you want to be successful. It was just the steady rhythm of legs pounding against the concrete, blood thudding in your ears with each step, and the comforting sound of breaths right next to you, equally as labored and equally as satisfied with the mind-numbing motions.
Not only did jogging let Sakura get away from her responsibilities for an hour, but it also let her catch a glimpse into Sasuke's mind. With each passing day, she saw him slowly lowering his defenses, opening himself up, actually initiating conversation with her and Naruto. Above all, it intrigued her to see how a little prodding and nostalgia could take such a coldly broken man and warm him up until he was almost like his younger, less troubled self. It was a beautiful experience to be able to watch his transformation into a less lonely person—a person who didn't have to always prove himself.
Sakura felt like she was gaining something back that she hadn't known that she'd lost. Ever since Sasuke left, she had been missing the friendship between the three of them that made her feel whole—made her toes curl in warmth whenever she thought of them. And now with that feeling back, she realized that for all those years she really did miss their dynamic. Yes, she really liked having both of her boys back.
"WE'RE HOME SAKURA-CHAN!"
Startled by Naruto's obnoxious greeting, Sakura's hands jerked up, causing the pencil she was absentmindedly doodling with to stab into her hand. Watching as a small bead of blood pooled onto her finger, she thought that maybe she'd take back all those warm, fuzzy feelings about those two.
Sticking her wound in her mouth, Sakura turned to greet her roommates who had just come back from grabbing some take-out from the burger place a couple of blocks down. Naruto had begged that they actually go out to eat tonight, but she had adamantly refused, insisting that she had far too much homework to do to waste on hours of eating. After minutes of arguing, in which Naruto got whinier and Sakura more frustrated, Sasuke had to step in and suggested that they just go pick up the food. Naruto, practically starving as he put it, quickly agreed, and the two boys left their female roommate to her math homework.
"Oh, Sakura-chan, I hope you don't mind, but we ran into Lee while coming back," Naruto's voice could be heard above the various crashes and clangs coming from the kitchen, which could only mean that he was making a huge mess. "And I kinda invited him and some other people over tonight."
Face falling into a dissatisfied frown, she ran her hands tiredly over her face and called back, "And when you say 'a couple of people' that means how many?"
"Ummmm…it's just Lee, Neji, and Tenten. Oh, and I forgot, I invited Hinata-chan over tonight too!"
"Of course you did…" Sakura muttered, stacking her books in a neat pile to cradle in her arms. "Well, it's not a big deal. I'll just work in my room all night; you guys just can't be too loud!"
"Aw, you're not gonna watch the movie with us?" Naruto poked his head out of the kitchen entrance, blue eyes glittering with disappointment. "C'mon, can't you take a break just this night?"
Lugging her heavy load of books towards her room, Sakura looked behind her shoulder and said with a sigh, "Oh, I wish I could, but that's not gonna happen with this math. It's hell on earth."
She softly kicked open her door, and made her way to her desk, already covered in various textbooks and papers, and plopped the stack in her arms on top of everything else. Grumbling about stupid calculus and stupid teachers and ridiculous amounts of problems, she stretched the kinks out of her neck and made to sit down when she heard a quiet voice mutter, "You know, I could help you if you want."
Looking over to the threshold, Sakura saw Sasuke leaning against the doorframe, black sleeves rolled up to his elbows and dark hair messily surrounding his face. He was way too good looking for his own good. But it wasn't even that type of attractive where you're carefully polished and it's obvious that you put some time into your appearance. No, Sasuke was freaking an attractive asshole without doing anything. And that type of person, the kind that don't even have to brush their hair and they're still the hottest ones in the room, they were very dangerous. Stupid attractive guy who doesn't even do anything to be that attractive, it made her so mad.
"Wait, what?" Sakura shook her head, trying to regain some focus on reality.
Thin lips tilted in a smirk, and his head slightly cocked to the right—making him look even hotter than before! "Are you sure you're not going deaf? You ask me to repeat myself a lot."
Giving him a flat look, she stared at him for a few seconds, just to make him uncomfortable. She knew that he hated it when she did that.
"Maybe if you would actually speak in a voice louder than a grunt, I'd be able to hear you properly."
"You're annoying," Sasuke let out with a deep breath, ruffling his hair with his right hand. "I take back my offer."
Turning to leave her room, he was stopped when he heard Sakura shout out, "No! I was just kidding. Damn, you're so sensitive."
"And you think that's going to help your case? Insulting me?"
"Okay, okay. I'm sorry for teasing you, Sasuke-kun." Sakura shot him a cheeky grin, pulling her hair over her shoulder to twist it into a braid.
"Come and watch the movie and I'll help you with that tomorrow." Seeing her eyebrows furrowed in an inquisitive frown, he added, "Naruto will be complaining about how you're not there the entire movie. So just save us all from that."
Hearing the bell ring, signaling the arrival of their guests, Sakura made her way into the hallway, brushing past Sasuke and lightly laughing.
"Let's go shut Naruto up."
It turned out that Sakura's presence didn't have much of an effect on Naruto's noise level. They should've known that the blond combined with Tenten meant that there was going to be non-stop commentary for the entire length of the movie. Cackling at the overly dramatic confession scene—they were watching some cheesy romance movie that no one was really interested in except Hinata and Lee— Naruto and Tenten whipped towards each other, faces scrunched up in painful looks of "love".
"Oh, Naruto! How I've waited for you all these years!"
"Tenten! Allow me to swoop into your life like a vampire of love and capture your heart."
"Oh my god, will you two shut up!" Sakura groaned, currently squished between a disinterested Sasuke and an enraptured Lee.
"Oh, Sakura-chan! My poor injured dove! Who has rained upon your parade with a bowl of ramen?"
Next to Sakura, Sasuke muttered, "That doesn't even make sense, dumbass."
"And you! Would you like to battle it out for this fine young lady's heart, you brute!" Naruto forcefully pointed his finger towards his dark-haired roommate.
Before Sasuke could open his mouth for a retort, Hinata called out from the other side of the lumpy, green couch, "Can we all just be quiet and finish the last ten minutes in peace, please?"
Stunned by the normally reserved girl's semi-outburst, everyone slowly straightened in their seats and blankly stared at the screen.
"Oh, Tenten, allow me to embrace you in these big, warm arms of mine!"
"NARUTO, SHUT UP!"
With a smack to head from a scowling Neji, the blond clutched at his locks and watched the rest of the movie in silence, a pout on his face.