Phantasmagoria
Chapter Three

On the day Naruto took me to that garage sale, I had called Shikamaru for a ride to work. He said no, and gave me the lamest excuse in the world. He said he was buying a new car. What he was really doing was meeting a girl for lunch.

Like I said earlier, Shikamaru was Ino's ex-boyfriend. He had broken up with her less than two months before, and they had dated all throughout high school and the first year of university. They had such a long-lasting, healthy relationship, and had been friends forever, so all of us, especially Ino, thought they were eventually going to get married. A bit early to think of that, maybe, but whatever.

Shikamaru broke up with Ino so suddenly. No one saw it coming. One day he was carrying her bags in the mall and letting her buy them dinner, the next day she came to my apartment in tears, telling me he had dumped her.

For a month, I hated Shikamaru with Ino. We raged against him and insulted him and mocked him. then we went back to school. Ino pretended he didn't exist, and Shikamaru asked me to look after her. then he asked to compare our schedules so he could skip our common lectures and get notes from me. and we were, kind of, still friends. I mean, it was the same with Chouji, who was Ino's good friend, and Shikamaru's best friend. So I thought it was okay. We were all a little separated, but Ino had her friends, Shikamaru had his, and the ones in common were just very careful about dividing their time.

It wasn't a perfect arrangement, but we figured it was stable enough.

And, as I'm sure you can guess, it turned out that it wasn't. Not stable at all.

-x-

"Hey, sorry I'm late," I said, setting down my bag and sliding into the chair across the table from Ino. Kiba and Naruto took seats on either side of me.

"It's okay," she said, pushing my coffee towards me. "Who are you?" she added, to Kiba.

"I'm Kiba. Where's my coffee?"

"You two can get your own," Ino said, slapping Naruto's hand away from where he had tried to make a grab for her muffin. "You should hurry, Lee and Suigetsu are in line now."

Naruto got up; Kiba did not. "Get me a coffee," he said as Naruto left. normally, Naruto wouldn't listen, even if I asked, but something about Kiba's tone left no room for debate, so he did as asked. Though he did make a face at Kiba as he did so. He hadn't been thrilled to see the two of us together, waiting outside his lecture. He was probably upset that he had to share me with someone else on our way to lunch. I made a mental note to pay him more attention. that would satisfy him.

"So, are you the guy that's been taking up all of Sakura's time?"

"I-no!" Honestly, she could be so embarrassing at times.

"What? It's just a question."

Kiba was trying to hide a smile, I could see it. I felt myself redden, because now he would think I had been talking about him, when I really hadn't. god only knew what he would say about that.

But he didn't say anything. Instead, he shook his head.

"I doubt it," he told Ino. "I just met Sakura this morning."

I stared at him for about ten seconds, totally uncomprehending. Then he turned and raised an eyebrow at me, almost imperceptibly, so I sputtered out a quick, "Oh, uh, yeah! this morning!"

"We were in the library," Kiba said. "We were both going for the same book," he added, totally straight-faced. I hid a smile and turned back to Ino.

"And then I invited him to eat with us. He just transferred."

"Yeah? From where?"

"Uh…"

"I spent a year here," Kiba said, "And then I took some time off. For personal reasons."

"Oh, okay." Ino shrugged it off, but she didn't fool me. Ino was curious about everyone and everything, and she would probably pester me for details (which I didn't have) later. She just didn't want to look rude. "So, Sakura, who was the guy from Sunday?"

Yeah, Ino doesn't let things go.

"Probably Sasuke," I said. "I went to go see him." Her eyes gleamed, and I added, before she could come to the wrong conclusion, "Naruto went, too. It was nothing."

"What, not cute enough?"

"Ino!" I hissed. "Not in front of Kiba, please!" To him, I added, "Not all girls are this shallow. Ino's a special breed."

"It's okay," Kiba said. "I have a sister. She doesn't care what I hear."

"A sister? Really?"

"Yup. Older. I'll introduce you sometime."

Ino raised her eyebrows at us. I noticed, and hoped Kiba didn't. Time to separate them. "Ino, get me a muffin. I'm starved."

Ino rolled her eyes and got to her feet. "Fine. I get it. Kiba, want anything?"

"I'm good, but thanks." He smiled, and she smiled back, then wandered off. As soon as she was out of earshot, he leaned close to me and muttered, "So, tell me about this guy that's been taking up all your time."

"Shut up shut up shut up," I said, pressing my hands to my flaming cheeks. "Just ignore her, okay?"

"Is he cute?" Kiba asked, adopting a falsetto.

"Meh," I shrugged. Hey, he was asking for it.

"Cuter than Sasuke?"

"No contest," I said. "He's got nothing on Sasuke."

"Ouch," Kiba said, actually pulling back, brows furrowed.

"Kidding, kidding," I said. I was about to ask him if he wanted anything to eat, because, come on, he hadn't had anything all day, but before I could, I saw Shikamaru step into the caf.

"What's up?" Kiba asked when he saw me falter. He followed my gaze to Shikamaru, standing by himself and glancing lazily around the caf, probably wondering what to get. He noticed us watching him, and raised a hand in greeting, then turned to buy a cold, wrapped sandwich (ew, by the way). He didn't see Ino, and she didn't see him. that was good.

"Who's that?"

"Ino's ex."

"Is he on drugs?"

I laughed. "No, he's always been like that. he's just… lazy. I don't know. He's cool."

"What's his name?"

"Shikamaru."

"Okay," Kiba said. And that was that. He leaned over, picked up my coffee cup, and took a long sip.

"Hey!" I said, yanking it back. He laughed.

"What, you're embarrassed?" He tugged on a lock of hair, took the cup back again. "We've already shared our germs, it's okay." What a romantic way of putting it, I know.

"I'm not embarrassed," I said, which was only half true. "I just don't share my coffee. It's too precious." Okay, this was all true. "And we've only kissed once so far."

"Are you hinting at something?"

"Are you hinting that I should hint at something?"

"That made no sense," Kiba said. Then he took a quick look around, before leaning forward and kissing me quickly.

"Um," I said when he pulled away.

"You blush too easily," he said. Then, with a gleam in his eye, added, "We'll have to fix that."

Why not? It wasn't like we didn't have time now.

-x-

You know what I've always hated? Being out, alone, at night. Evenings are okay, but when it turns black outside, I hate to be anywhere but home. I especially used to hate being at school when it was dark outside. It felt haunted.

The moment I left the building where my last class had been, I fumbled for my phone. it was only a six-minute walk to my dorm, but at nine, it was pitch-black and spooky outside. I always called Naruto on my way to my room.

He picked up on the second ring.

"What would you do without me?"

"Don't flatter yourself," I warned. "I could've called Ino, or Chouji – or even Kiba! Hey, yeah, I should call Kiba!"

"No, you should not," he said, and I laughed. Poor Naruto thought he was going to be abandoned. "Anyway, he doesn't have his phone."

"No?"

"No, he left it with me. He's rooming with me, did you know that?"

"I did not know that. Wow. How's he pulled all this off?"

"I dunno. He's probably pretty smart, though. I mean, hey, he used to be literature."

"It's so weird to think of that," I said, tipping my face back to look up at the sky. On the tree-lined path to the dorms, when everything was dark, I could see a sprinkling of stars. "So, where is he?" I started to ask, but was cut off by a rustle in the woods.

I froze.

"Sakura-chan? What's up?"

"Um…" I swallowed, hard, and tried to peer into the trees, see what was approaching. Actually, I wasn't sure if I actually wanted to see. "There's something here," I hissed into the phone.

"Relax, it's probably a deer, or—"

I didn't want to know what it was anymore. I picked up my pace. As soon as I rounded the bend a few feet ahead, I would be in view of the dorms. I just had to—

"Sakura!"

I shrieked, whirling around so fast I dropped my phone. Kiba was standing in front of me, looking bewildered. He bent to pick up my phone and hand it to me. I could hear Naruto's anxious voice coming from the speaker. Heart thumping wildly, I pressed the phone to my ear.

"—kura?" Sakura, I'm coming," he was saying.

"No, don't," I said with a heavy sigh. "It was just Kiba."

"Kiba? What was he doing?"

"Who knows," I said, eyeing Kiba. He was waiting, patiently, for me to finish my conversation. "Hey, I'll come to your room in a few, okay?"

"Alright. Bye!"

I hung up, and glared at Kiba. "Why did you jump out at me from behind a tree? Do I want to know what you were doing there?"

"I didn't jump out at you," he said. Then he rubbed his head, cringing. "But God, could you possibly scream louder?"

"Of course I'm going to scream! I thought you were a werewolf, or Voldemort, or something!"

"…Those don't exist," he said.

"If you could come out of a book, why can't they?" Which was a really stupid thing to say, but whatever. I started back on my way to the dorms. Kiba fell into step beside me.

"Because I wasn't born into a book, stupid," he said. "I had a life before it."

And all of a sudden, I felt inexplicably sad. Kiba had had a life, and then Itachi took it away from him. Who knew all that he had lost, all that he had missed out on in the last seven years? He would never get that time back.

"Would you tell me about it?" I asked, slipping my hand – tentatively; I wasn't sure where we stood, exactly, yet – into his. His palm was warm against mine, even in the chill of the night.

"It doesn't matter anymore," he said. "I'm not part of that life now. this is my life."

"Let me guess," I said, before I could stop myself. "I'm your life now?"

He didn't reply for a long moment. Then he tugged a bit on my hand, pulling me to stop in the middle of the path. I turned to face him. no one was around.

"I lost everything, Sakura," he said, voice low. "My family, my friends, my life. I was trapped in paper for seven years, with no one to speak to, nothing to do. I was losing my mind when you found me."

I didn't say anything. What could I say?

"There's nothing in my life now – except you. You're all I see, all I know. so yes, Sakura, as it stands now, you are my life. You're all there is for me."

Say what you will about Kiba being terribly cheesy. But I was the one there, hearing these words coming out of his mouth, seeing the sincerity in his eyes…

I don't know.

Everything was moving so fast, too fast. But let's face it; I had been drawn to Kiba from the first time he had called me Sweetheart. I had fallen for him back when we couldn't possibly be together. And then, against all odds, we could. He was in my life, and he was clearly there to stay. Love stories like ours didn't happen very often.

There wasn't anything to say. So I didn't say anything.

-x-

We took almost another half hour to get to Naruto and Kiba's room.

Thankfully, Naruto didn't say anything, though I was sure he noticed my tousled hair, wrinkled clothes, and smeared lip gloss. Classy, I know. but whatever.

"I just got a text from Lee. Tenten's having a party this Saturday. Wanna go?"

Ew, parties. I liked Tenten enough, but well, everyone liked Tenten. There was sure to be a lot of people, few of whom I'd know. I'm not really social, not like Naruto and Ino.

"You can show off Kiba," Naruto said, making a face.

"Green is not your color, man," Kiba said. "Neither is Naruto, by the way. So, are we going?" he asked, turning to me. I took a seat at Naruto's desk, chewing on my lip. He looked so excited, I couldn't refuse.

"Fine, whatever," I said, stifling a sigh. "But for now, I have a lab to do. So, laters."

"Don't stay up too late," Naruto said.

"Call me if you do," Kiba said, loud enough for Naruto to hear.

"OR NOT," Naruto said, loud enough for the entire campus to hear.

I laughed. "Good night, guys."

You may notice that I completely forgot to ask Kiba what he'd been doing. If only I was so observant, right?

-x-

When I got to my room, Ino called me.

In first-year, Ino and I had roomed together. But as much as I like Ino, we're just too different – living together was a nightmare. She was out all night – sometimes at a party, sometimes with Shikamaru, sometimes at the library – and I was out all day. So not only did we never see each other, but our schedules were always conflicting. When I woke up in the morning, I disturbed her sleep. When she took showers, she used up all the hot water.

So we decided that, second year, we should separate, for the sake of our friendship (and grades, because it was really hard to study when living with your best friend of so many years). Through some glitch, I was living alone (I had a roommate, but she canceled her registration at the last minute, and I guess I was just forgotten, so, yay! An entire room for me.), while Ino was rooming with a sorta-friend, Shiho. Actually, I thought that was weird, because Shiho had had a huge thing for Shikamaru the year before. It had been both cute and creepy.

Anyway, Ino called, and she was all, "Sakura! Did you mean Sasuke, like, Uchiha?"

"And hello to you too."

"Sakura!"

"Yes, you freak," I said, dropping my bag onto my bed with a laugh. "How'd you know? More importantly, so what?"

"Oh my God, Sakura," Ino squealed. Literally, squealed. I had to actually pull the phone away from my ear. "He's so cute!"

I didn't even know what to say to that.

"He's, uh—" Ino broke off to clear her throat, as I flopped back onto my bed. "He's a friend of Shikamaru's. I've met him before. Once."

"Small world."

"Yeah. Well, anyway… want to edit an essay for me?"

"Not really."

"Please, Sakura. Please please pleaseeeeee—"

"Okay, okay!" I flipped onto my stomach and pulled my bag towards me to fish out my laptop. "Send it. So annoying."

"You love it," Ino said. I could hear the clicking of computer keys from her end. "Oh, so hey, what's the deal with Kiba?"

"Deal? What deal? There's no deal." Oh, yeah. That wasn't suspicious at all.

"Really." Ino didn't sound convinced. Small wonder. "You two seemed really close."

"Oh, well…" I don't know why I didn't say anything then; maybe it was because Kiba didn't seem to want to share. I didn't know why he was keeping our relationship quiet, of course. But I went along with it. Stupid me. "I don't know. We're just friends."

"You don't like him? Really?" Ino sounded surprised, and I felt a rush of embarrassment. Had I really been so obvious?

"No. Why? Did it look like I did?"

"Well, you were… Well, whatever. He doesn't seem like your usual type."

"What?" What was my type? "Why? What's wrong with him?"

"He's… I don't know. Naruto-ish. Okay, I sent the essay. Send it back to me before midnight, okay?"

"Okay. Pig."

"Forehead. I'm gonna go shower now. I'm all gross and nerdy. Byeeeee!"

She hung up before I could say anything, and I dropped my phone with a sigh, then got up to sit against my headboard, laptop propped on my… well, lap, and thought about what Ino had said.

What was my type?

-x-

I had my first boyfriend when I was fourteen. I was stupid and inexperienced, and it… really didn't last very long. Only two weeks, actually. But they were two of the best weeks of my life. His name was Sai, and we were, basically, all over each other, all the time. We would walk together in the halls, hold hands in the caf, call each other every morning and every night… and that's just the light stuff.

Anyway, after we broke up, it was too awkward between us for us to stay friends – which sucked, because we'd been pretty good friends for almost two years beforehand.

My second boyfriend was when I was seventeen. His name was Gaara. We knew each other for a month before we went out for a year. Gaara was everything Sai was not, and well, I had matured, too. Our relationship was much more controlled than my relationship with Sai.

Anyway, after Gaara, nothing. So, I guess I wasn't super experienced, but, you know, I figured I'd have matured further.

But not so.

Kiba and I were… affectionate, to put it lightly. I should have known from that first kiss, two seconds after we met face-to-face for the first time, that more was sure to follow. I also should have realized that it's not healthy to dive into a relationship so recklessly. I should've slowed down. But I didn't. Because even though I could admit, later on, that if we had kept on the way we did, we wouldn't have lasted, at the time, it didn't matter.

Nothing mattered when I was with him.

So sorry for the wait. This chapter was partly transition-y, so I kept putting it off. I am a bad updater. Anyway. I realize this story might seem to be going nowhere, but – it really isn't. The plot started last chapter, though in a way probably too subtle for you to notice just yet.

Anyway, next chapter will be sooner and longer. :D So yes. Also, a bit of pimping: check out The General Principles of Ditching at the Altar, by La Trizzle! The link's in my bio, it's a collab between me, aNdreaa, and angelforshow, so you know it's going to be insane. I'd really appreciate reviews for it :D