VitaminWater Fact Number 14: Defense is probably the best, hands down. That is all.

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x. by ANGELforSHOW

Chapter Thirteen: Formula 50.
Purpose: Fuel.

-

It was nearing the end of November.

The weather had long since rained itself out, and it had settled to be bitingly cold instead. Exams were in one week. Winter break was in two. Her first semester as a university student was nearly over, Sakura realized on a particularly freezing morning, and she had been with Sasuke for nearly a month. Now that was some scary shit.

Looking back at late August to now, Sakura realized with slight horror that her life really had changed since starting college. It wasn't even because of material things like, how she got a new laptop, or intelligence wise (because hey, she was a beast at chemistry now). Even Sasuke didn't attribute to this strange amount of change Sakura had found herself undergoing.

The difference between the August-Sakura and the November-Sakura was a gap of personality, maturity, and growth. By discovering how to care of herself, let her feelings go, and learn how to forget and move on, Sakura had changed.

She liked to think that she was happier.

She liked to think that she was smarter.

She liked to think that she was, perhaps, a bit prettier.

But she mostly like to think that she had grown up, even if it was just by a little bit.

For once in her life, Sakura had become comfortable with who she was. Yes, she still had some issues, and yes, she still had piles upon piles of things to learn, both about medicine and about life, but for the first time, she was truly content with who she was.

It thrilled her to no end that she was ending the first chapter of her life without regrets.

Memorandum.

All students are reminded to sign up for spring semester electives as soon as possible.

Registration begins Saturday!

Remember, the earlier one signs up, the better the chance one gets into their preferred course!

-Staff

There was a lot to be said about grape flavoring.

On one hand, grape flavoring was absolutely disgusting. Like the cough syrup grape, or the nasty nausea-inducing grape. But grape was different when it came to other things. Sakura found that grape lollipops were quite enjoyable, as well as grape sours.

Formula 50 VitaminWater fell into the latter category, thank God. It was perfect – Formula 50 balances water and flavor perfectly. That rapper dude really knew his stuff.

"Sakura, you're freaking insane for thinking of these things," Ino informed her that morning as they loitered around campus. It was sunny, although still bitterly cold, so most of the student body was still outside.

Sakura brushed some of her hair away from her face with gloved fingers. "I am not," she protested. "You'd say the same thing about coffee, and how Starbucks is better than Seattle's Best or something," she huffed, producing a small puff of white condensation.

Ino grinned like a fox (she had really been spending too much time with Naruto). "Probably, but still. Grape flavored water sounds disgusting anyway." She started walking on her toes, searching for the rest of their small group. "Sasuke and Naruto are over there, let's go, Forehead!" Ino smiled and waved a good distance away. Naruto jumped up and waved back enthusiastically. Sasuke blew out a small burst of white breath and nodded his head ever-so-slightly. Ino rolled her eyes. Typical...

A few moments later, all four of them were gathered together beneath the administrations building.

"Signing up for classes?" Sakura asked, while scooting closer to Sasuke and leaning into his black coat. Sasuke nodded, while Naruto smiled brightly. "Yeah! What are you guys taking this semester? Like, I know we have to have our major classes, but what electives are you taking?"

Ino pursed her lips and fiddled with the thick blonde braid she had set her hair in. "I think I might actually take ballroom dancing. It's supposed to help a lot with grace and movement. And it just seems fun." She paused for a moment. "You should take it with me!" she suggested to her friends.

"I have the grace of a small elephant," Sakura reminded Ino, while Naruto pretended to make retching noises and Sasuke gave her a deadpan look.

Naruto fished through his coat pockets and produced a booklet of classes their university offered. "We should take cooking!" he said, practically cooing at this course book. "Fooood!"

It was Ino's turn to give a skeptical look.

Sakura rolled her eyes. "Why don't we just take Psych. II?" she asked. "Psychology I freakin' rocked this year."

The two blonds immediately jumped at that thought and starting to discuss what they thought Psychology II would be like. "Do you think Ibiki teaches it?" Naruto pondered, while Ino leaned in to read the course description.

Sakura turned to Sasuke, and looked at him. "What about you?" she asked, her voice growing a touch softer. "Are you going to take Psych. II with us?" she rested her head on his shoulder. Despite the sun, the cold was really starting to get to her. She should have worn a thicker coat.

"I..." Sasuke started, his words disappearing as thoughts began to enter his mind.

He really didn't know if he actually like psychology, actually. Yes, Sasuke had a good grade in the class, and yes, he found some parts interesting, but did he enjoy it enough to take Psychology II? There was a line between doing well in something and liking it, and even after several months of studying the subject, Sasuke still did not know where he stood.

But Psychology meant a lot more to him than just brains and behavior.

It meant VitaminWater and MacBooks and the library and dusty volumes of encyclopedias all about the cerebellum and the neural networks and what sensation and perception really were.

It meant late night projects, and partner work, and those damned numbered index cards that started everything.

It meant the lecture hall, and Ibiki, and those silly projects, and the silly essay about emotions.

It meant Sakura.

He looked down at her. Sakura was still propped up against his shoulder, and he could see tendrils of carnation peeking out from beneath the brim of her black beret, ringlets of confetti pink that she hadn't bothered straightening that morning.

Sasuke had learned a lot more then just "the study of mental processes and behavior". Indirectly, he had learned how to cooperate, how to nurture, and how to love.

Sasuke looked at this companion again. She was fragile, adorable, and the one person who made him feel alive.

"Sasuke?"

Sakura's soft, breathy voice brought him out of his reverie. "Mm?"

"Are you taking Psych. II then?"

Sasuke looked into Sakura's vibrant green eyes. "Yeah, I am," he answered, and a rare smile passed over his lips.

For her.

"We should go see a movie on campus," Naruto suggested after they had signed up for their electives.

All four of them had decided to take Psychology II, but in addition to it, they had each decided to take up their own personal elective. Naruto signed up for his culinary arts class, while Sakura chose to begin a creative writing course. Ino, on a last minute whim, decided to take modern dance instead of ballroom, and Sasuke's elective was business management. (But it was Sasuke, so that counted as an elective to him.)

And even though Ino whined about popcorn being too greasy ("It''ll go straight to my thighs, augh."), and Sakura whined about popcorn being too expensive ("Ten dollars for a medium popcorn. WHAT."), and Sasuke hn'd in annoyance at the price of movie tickets ("...what happened to movies being cheaper on campus?" condensed into an irritated grunt), they went anyway to see a freakish scary movie which consisted of a serial killer who favored the chainsaw too much.

They pooled their money, got a giant bin of popcorn and a monster sized Diet Coke and passed both down their row of four like true best friends. Naruto screamed like a little girl whenever someone's head got cut off, and Sasuke muttered things about how the blood looked like watery ketchup. Sakura and Ino held each other and buried their faces into their arms.

At the end of the movie, Sasuke and Naruto proved themselves to be true men and finished off the rest of their food in three minutes flat. Sasuke chugged the gigantic soda, while Naruto practically emptied the popcorn bucket into his mouth and vacuumed up every kernel in the pail.

And then, laughing together, they exited the theater with sore throats, full stomachs, and warm hearts.

The next day, Sunday, was equally as relaxing as the previous day.

Everyone on campus, even the administrators, seemed to sleep in, and then wake up lazily, treating themselves to waffles or pancakes for breakfast, and drinking cappuccinos before starting a peaceful Sunday.

Over the breakfast table, the group of four made plans.

"Rock Lee is having a birthday party," Ino suggested. "We could go there tonight." She rip a slice of toast into pieces, shredding the carb with manicured, French tipped nails.

Sasuke barely concealed his grimace, while Sakura cringed in the open. Lee was nice, but he was very...forward about how "the young Sakura burned with beauty and cheer". "I'd feel bad about crashing Lee's party," Sakura told Ino. "And we should probably study for finals," she pointed out.

"Yeah," Naruto agreed, "But you know how the last study session we tried turned out. We have ALL WEEK to study, so go have some fun." He spooned some Captain Crunch into his mouth and chewed noisily.

Sakura twisted the cap off of her VitaminWater – Formula 50 – and shrugged. "It's really up to you. I think I might spend my night studying though...y'know, for the exam in chemistry that I have tomorrow." She rolled her eyes and took a sip of her drink. "Honestly Naruto, I don't know how you managed to get decent grades when you don't even study."

After some bickering, it was decided that Ino and Naruto, being the ever consistent party animals, would attend Lee's party, delivering regards from the other two. Sasuke would help Sakura study for her chem. exam, and then take her out to get ice cream (although he insisted it was too cold, but Sakura's pouting face convinced him otherwise.).

Until the night though, the four decided to spend time together, walking across campus, visiting the campus shop (Sakura wanted sweatpants), and pausing to visit Hinata, Shino, and Kiba, whom they met in the grassy common area.

Sakura smiled the entire time, and, for some reason, felt extremely grateful for having time to spend with her three best friends.

Eventually, however, nighttime came, and they parted ways. Ino put on her party heels and Naruto changed into a button down shirt (obnoxiously striped orange), and after wrapping up a pair of leg warmers for Lee, the two went on their way to the party, held at Tenten-the-ice-cream-girl's house.

Ten minutes into their study session, it had become quite obvious to Sasuke that Sakura knew the chemistry textbook and her notes as if she had swallowed them whole, and she clearly did not need help studying. So, after reviewing some vocabulary, they decided to treat themselves to a walk around campus.

"Sasuke, you didn't really need to take Psych. II y'know," Sakura said to him, lacing their fingers together as they started down the brick pathway that linked the campus together. "I mean...I know you hate it." She blew some hair out of her face and looked up at him knowingly. "Seriously."

Sasuke shrugged. "It's not that bad." Sakura took a moment to take in how the moonlight (and the orangey street lights) seemed to make his black hair shimmer blue. Then she gave him a look of disbelief. "Please. I saw you either text, fall asleep, or attempt to give Ibiki the finger at least once every class."

Sasuke did not object to this.

"And," Sakura continued, "we all know that the subject matter bores you. Why did you even sign up for it if you hate the teacher and the content?" she stopped, and decided to sit on a bench near the dining hall.

Sasuke sat himself close to her. "It's not that bad," he repeated.

"Lies."

"It really isn't."

"Liessss."

"..."

"...seriously, tell me why you decided to sign yourself up for another semester of Uchiha Sasuke's personal hell."

"For you."

Sakura's eyes widened a considerable amount. "Uh...pardon?" she asked. She took a moment to shift positions, bringing her legs onto the bench with her and crossing them Indian-style. "You can't be serious."

Sasuke looked into her eyes. "I'm quite serious," he told flatly. "You don't believe me?"

"No, no, I believe you," Sakura told him, "I'm just surprised that that's why you decided to do it. I mean, I thought maybe it'd be because you need the class for your psycho business management major or something." She leaned into him, smiling against his shoulder. "I'm quite touched," she informed him.

"I'm glad, but I hope you know there's no such thing as 'psycho business management'," Sasuke said, a hint of a smirk edging his voice. "I'm majoring in business and economics."

Sakura made a face at him. "I know that," she replied. "What kind of girlfriend-slash-best-friend would I be if I didn't?"

"A horrible one," Sasuke responded dryly. "On the contrary, I must be a wonderful boyfriend-slash-best-friend for choosing to take a class I absolutely despise to be with you." A ghost of a smile – a real smile – started to appear on his face as he looked at Sakura.

"Nope, you're absolutely awful," Sakura said cheerfully. "Only poopheads sacrifice happiness to be with their girlfriends."

And then she tilted her head upwards and started to kiss him.

Giggling slightly, Sakura led Sasuke into her dormitory building. She knew she must have sounded like a silly little girl, but Sasuke was so refreshing to her. It wasn't because he was absolutely adorable (Ino thought he was the best piece of eye-candy on campus) or because he had a warm presence, but his personality was endearing to Sakura, once you got him to talk, and, as cliché as it sounded, Sasuke was just like a breath of fresh air.

She honestly loved just being with him.

They stepped into the elevator and Sakura pressed the button with the large 4 printed on it. After a few moments, the elevator began making it's creaky ascend upwards.

"You think we'd learn to take the stairs by now," Sakura commented to Sasuke while the lift crawled towards the fourth floor.

Sasuke nodded slightly in agreement. "This thing is so slow."

"And once you think about it, the chances of the cables snapping on the stairs are a lot slimmer than the ones on the ele – !"

Sakura was cut off by an irritating "Ding!" from the elevator. She stepped out into the common area of the floor, Sasuke in tow. "And y'know, in case of fire, always take the..."

She stopped.

She stopped talking, she stopped moving, and hell, she probably even stopped breathing for a while there.

A woman sitting on one of the couches in the common area stood up abruptly. She pushed dark red hair out of her face with quick, nervous swipes, and her eyes, shockingly light blue, even paler than Ino's, widened. She licked her lips and swallowed hard, then seemed to hesitate for a second. "Um...Sakura?"

Sakura backed up slowly until she ran into Sasuke, who held her steadily by the shoulders. She squinted a little, and then bit her lower lip as pieces finally came together in her head. She gasped softly, and one, single word fell from her lips in shock.

"Ma...ma?"

Thank illusioned/Ailey/MY WONDERMOUSE for this update. Without her persistent asking, I probably would not have written this until Christmas time, hahaha.

(Also, I have some new oneshots up, if anyone's interested.)

Review. (: