Warning(s): None
A/N: There's a poll on my profile running till I finish writing this fic, check it out.
Edit: 6/18/15: Updated this chapter. Again, just mild gramatical errors.
Driving alongside Naruto was altogether quite a fun ordeal.
He wasn't necessarily the safest driver, and he had a habit of exceeding the speed limit when he noticed that there weren't that many cars on the road in front of him (something which had not gone down so well with his mother when he had came home with a speeding ticket, but which his father took immense pride in, strangely enough), but he made sure that the passenger was always engaged.
He even did that ridiculous thing where he made the car dance, simply because he knew she liked it.
So when Sakura found herself staring uninterested at the blur of greenery as they made a left at the interstate, already having passed the heavily graffitied 'You are now leafing Konoha' sign, she knew something wasn't right.
("It wasn't me." Naruto had told her last year when she'd asked him about it.
Sasuke had just snorted in reply and shrugged.)
When she sighed for what felt like the nth time that day, Naruto looked at her-
("Keep your eyes on the road idiot!")
-questioningly, "What's up, Sakura-chan?"
But Sakura's eyes were trained on the road ahead, increasing in size when she noticed the lone deer (that wasn't fucking moving oh my god) in the middle of the road. And then grew even more once she realised that Naruto wasn't slowing down.
"NARUTO STOP!" She screeched, pointing ahead frantically.
Naruto, thank the gods, finally turned around, confusion giving away to realisation and fear in a second flat. Sakura would have found it amusing if they weren't about to kill an innocent animal and probably crash in the process.
The Naras would never forgive her if she let that happen. Deer were almost sacred to them and they owned the biggest wildlife reserve in the country.
(They were also frighteningly intelligent.)
When Naruto hit the brakes, screaming as he did so, Sakura curled into herself and clutched at the sides of her seat as if her life depended on it. Which, right now, it sort of did.
"We're going to die." Sakura muttered to herself like a mantra, squeezing her eyes shut when the car swerved and Naruto let out another ear piercing scream. She vaguely heard the words 'Ramen' and 'God'. Not something she was going to dwell on at the moment. Naruto's ramen obsession was the stuff of legends, almost as bad as Sasuke's dedication to wearing black no matter when and where, and Tenten's collection of every weapon known to mankind and then some.
Sakura could feel her stomach rebelling against the turns the car was making but was too scared to even open her eyes, instead she tried to remember what she'd said to her parents before they'd left Konoha, and hoped that Hinata would be able to find another roommate and forgive her.
Her eyes snapped open when a thought hit her like a speeding train: INOPIG OWES ME $50!
Opening her eyes, however, also made her realise that they weren't moving anymore and then there was the sound of the door quickly being pushed open and Naruto retching on the side of the road. Sakura knew she had to go and check on Naruto, as well as the van itself, to make sure everything was okay (Naruto did not sound okay). But she was glued to her seat and her heart was pounding against her chest, threatening to break out if she so much as moved.
After 5 minutes of doing nothing but breathing in and out, and listening to Naruto retch and cough as he tried to get up from where he was kneeling on the road, she decided to chance a glance back. Looking for any signs of the deer.
All she could see was a stretch of road with faint skid marks and a trail of Naruto's vomit sliding down it.
She made a disgusted sound and Naruto looked up from where he had decided to lean against the door. The squeak he made once he was facing her direction immediately caused her to whip her head around to find the cause of his distress.
What met her eyes was an open doe-eyed gaze and really, that was all Sakura could handle in the space of 15 minutes; she promptly fainted.
To: Hinata-chan; The Bastard
From:The Ultimate Orange King
01:50pm
Subject: HELP
SAKURACHAN FAINTED AND A DEERS LICKING HER FACE WTH DO I DO
To: Naruto kun
From:Hinata Hyuuga
01:55pm
Subject: Re: HELP
Um, Naruto-kun, maybe you should try stopping the deer and waking Sakura-chan up?
Shino-kun says you could try Nara-san. His family takes care of Deers.
To: Idiot
From: Avenger
02:05pm
Subject: Re: HELP
Idiot.
To: Lazy bastard
From:The Ultimate Orange King
01:57pm
Subject: HELP
SAKURA CHAN FAINTED AND DEER LICKING HER FACE HELPME
To: Naruto
From: Shikamaru
02:08pm
Subject: Re: HELP
Troublesome. Deer spook easily Naruto, just approach it slowly and carefully with a salt block and lead it away from Sakura.
And whatever you do, don't make any sudden movements or loud noises.
Sakura woke up to the feel of something damp and sticky on her cheek and Naruto shaking her side, tears cascading down his cheeks almost comically.
"I'm sho showy, Shakura-chan!" Naruto cried out, sniffing in a way that had Sakura recoiling in disgust. He snapped to attention when he heard her move and his mood changed from sorrowful to elated in mere seconds. The change almost gave her a whiplash. He made a move as if to grab her but Sakura quickly intercepted, slapping his arms away and thumping his head.
"What the hell happened?"
Naruto grinned sheepishly, wiping away the last of his tears, "I thought you'd died."
Sakura thought about death a lot, both because she was deeply interested in the human body and morality, and because she liked to keep herself awake at odd hours in the night to think about it. What she never thought of was Naruto saying something like that to her just after she'd passed out from shock. Weird.
"Let's just go, Naruto." Sakura sighed, she really didn't want to think about much at all right now except getting to her and Hinata's apartment. Groaning, she tried to sit up and pain shot through her head instead, "Ow."
Immediately Naruto's hands were at her sides, trying to keep her up. She silently thanked him. The warmth of Naruto's hands accompanied with his constant chatter soothed her headache, weirdly enough.
"I'll be fine idiot," Naruto moved back slightly, unsure. When she glared at him he finally moved all the way back into his seat, putting his seatbelt on (and if Sakura noticed how he tightened it, she didn't comment) and started the engine. All the while shooting her nervous glances and tapping on the wheel.
Sakura wondered if she'd maybe hit her head too hard when she'd fainted. Because either she was hallucinating or there really was a pineapple underneath her seat. She was too afraid of the answer to ask Naruto though, so she kept quiet.
"Hey, Sakura-chan?" Naruto asked, squinting. Someone had been waving their arms back and forth to grab their attention for a while now. Someone with a really familiar fur coat draped across his shoulders.
"Hm." She tried to hit the pineapple with the toe of her shoe. It moved!
"That's Kiba right?" So the pineapple was real, she didn't know whether to be relieved she wasn't hallucinating or worried about why Naruto had a random pineapple lying around in his van.
"Yup."
Naruto grinned before he parked the van across the street from the apartment complex, parking space would most definetely quickly become a downside to this arrangement. The park next to where the van was parked had a little tire swing and nothing else, the entrance covered in aging greenery.
Sakura wanted to take a picture. Aesthetic, dude.
Naruto exited the van, bounding up to Kiba with a boistorous; "Hey, Dog Boy!"
Sakura took one last look at the pineapple longingly, wondering if she could possibly stay (not hide) here while Naruto and Kiba let out whatever weird male tension they seemed to always have when they met each other.
(Ino had suggested it was something primal because they both owned canines.)
"Le' me go!"
Naruto's shout brought out a sigh from Sakura. She shook her head and dispelled her thoughts about staying in the quiet haven of Naruto's van, there was no point backing out now because of two loud boys.
She made her way out of van, contemplating whether or not she could take the chance with the pineapple as a gift. She bent to pick it up, examining it thoughtfully before shaking her head slightly. Nah, Hinata deserves better.
Throwing the pineapple haphazardly into Naruto's seat, Sakura made her way over to the still bickering duo. Except now Kiba had Naruto in a vicious looking headlock. Rolling her eyes she nudged him on the way into the complex, a silent warning to stop fooling around idiot.
Kiba opened his mouth in a smirk, sharp teeth glinting. He offered her a one handed salute, "Yes Ma'am."
"HINATA CHAN!"
The girl herself looked startled at the greeting, and then her eyes softened and she opened her arms to hug Naruto, kissing him lightly on the cheek. Naruto returned the gesture and the red spreading across Hinata's cheeks was cute enough to have Sakura breaking into a smile, despite the fact that they had to cart boxes up 7 flights of stairs since the elevator was under repairs.
Hinata untangled herself from Naruto, whispering something in his ear that had him smilling wide, and offered Sakura a greeting too.
"Hey Hinata," Sakura rolled her shoulders moving the boxes from the doorway into the apartment, "Kiba just went down to get the last of the boxes."
Nodding, Hinata held her hand out for one of the two boxes Sakura had balanced on her right arm, "I can carry one to your room for you, Sakura-chan."
Sakura nodded gratefully, handing her the lighter of the two boxes and following behind Hinata as she made her way to the little hallway directly to the left of the doorway. Hinata pointed to the the first room on the right, "That is my room."
The one directly opposite, "This is the laundry room."
The one next to that, "Bathroom."
And finally the room next to Hinata's, "And this is your room."
Once inside Hinata placed the box next to the door and tilted her head with a little smile on her face, "I hope that it is to your liking, Sakura-chan."
Sakura waved her hand, "No need to be so formal. And of course I like it!"
The walls were a white colour with water stains around the left side. There was a single window that looks out at the park with the tire swing, and other than the lone mattress on the floor the room was barren. While her parents were willing to pay for rent until she could pay for it herself, or got a cheaper place, and her scholarship covered most of the tuition and material costs, anything else she might need had to come out of her own pocket. Sakura had borrowed the mattress from Ino since she and Tenten were staying at the University dorms in Ame-U.
Sakura turned on her feet clasping her hands together, face stretched into a mischevious smile, "So! How about we go out for dinner? Kiba's treat."
To: Forehead
From: Princess Ino
02:10pm
Subject: HOW WAS YOUR FIRST KISS LOL
so I heard you had the time of your life today
To: Forehead
From: Princess Ino
02:10pm
Subject: Mine was probably better
also how did the lazy ass know about this before me? Hm? HM!?HMM!?
To: Pig
From: PinkFlash
03:34pm
Subject: The hell
WTF Pig
To: Shika
From: PinkFlash
03:34pm
Subject: Hey
So what's this about you knowing something about my first kiss?
EXPLAIN.
To: Shikamaru
From: Sakura-sama
03:35pm
Subject: Re: Hey
Ask Naruto.
To: Naruto-baka
From: PinkFlash
03:37pm
Subject: IDIOT
Naruto! What is this about my first kiss!?
To: Forehead
From: Princess Ino
03:37pm
Subject: It must have been something if youre so tense
loool, chil billboard brow
apparently, like shika got a text from naruto and he told shika that a deer was like licking your face?
unhygenic forhead unhygenic, i thought you had better standards
To: Naruto-baka
From: PinkFlash
03:39pm
Subject: You're dead meat
I'm going to kill you, Naruto.
End Note: So it has been a week, I think? Can't promise the updates will be weekly but I'll try.
Reviews of any kind are appreciated, especially if you spot any problems, gramatically or otherwise.