GAWD I can't believe I finally finished this chapter. XD I swear I wrote EVERYWHERE; in the car, alongside the pool, in the restaurant, on the camping, in the hotel... But finally, it's done!
To make up for the shortness of the last chapter, here's an extra long one!
I do hope the fact that I was tired from a certain point on isn't too noticable...
/EDIT: Thanks for InARealPickle for pointing out that, in America, it isn't legal to drink when you're underage.
The reason for my unbelievably stupid mistake is that, in Holland, it is. From the moment you turn sixteen, it's legal for you to buy drinks like beer. Wodka and other drinks that hold a high percentage of Alcohol, though, you are unable to buy until you turn eighteen.
Please try ignoring my stupidity for at least this chapter.
Please don't drink when you're underage, it is unhealthy and it prevents your brains from growing. Also, drinks holding Alcohol usually hold a lot of callories.
Enjoy!
The days passed in a blur and before Sakura knew it, the Friday afternoon bell rang.
The pink haired girl rose from her chair, looking around groggily. Even though she was good at Math, she didn't like how it was always the same. It was even harder to concentrate because it was the last period before the start of the weekend, resulting in the students mainly being busy throwing paper planes at each other and passing notes.
''-Er, calm down, everyone!'' mr. Sarutobi stuttered in a futile attempt to gaining the teenagers' attention, ''Don't forget to do your homework, I wrote it down on the chalk board- Woah!'' The old man cried as he was pushed aside by the swarm of screaming, laughing students that squirmed their way through the classroom door.
It was a moment that would fit in one of those high school movies: A mass of lunatic teenagers, all yelling. Here and there were tests that had been thrown into the air and now whirled around people's heads, and a few football players -including Naruto Uzumaki- were tossing a football to each other, which only added to the weird scene Sakura witnessed from the back of the class. She was still standing next to her chair, waiting patiently for the classroom to be a bit more empty. She felt with the poor teacher, really. She could only imagine what it must be like to teach a class like hers.
Sakura looked at Naruto. He had stopped in his tracks just as he entered the doorway, earning him a few annoyed looks from the students behind him.
He locked eyes with the girl, and made a gesture she knew all too well. He held up his fist, brought his thumb to his ear and his pinky to his mouth. She nodded at him and took her cellphone out of her bag.
'Incoming call from Naruto' Sakura read on the tiny screen. When she looked up, she noticed that the forementioned boy had dissapeared from the doorway. The last students left the classroom, and Sakura quickly followed them.
She pressed the green button and brought the device to her ear.
''Hello,'' she spoke, careful not to get knocked aside by the students hurrying past her, shouting at each other.
''Hey,'' was the reply she got, ''I've got football practice now. Is it okay if I pick you up around eleven?''
'That late?' ''-Er, sure! See you then, and good luck with football practice!''
''Thanks, bye!'' In the background, Sakura could hear someone shouting something that sounded like, 'Uzumaki! Dude, catch!' and then a soft 'ow!' that was the unmistakable cry of her friend Naruto.
She smiled, snapped her cellphone shut and put it back in her bag. Maybe she could go and see one of his football matches some time.
It was a long walk to Sakura's house, especially since she took a different route from normally. Today, though, Sakura felt like taking the long route, all the way across the school grounds. This way she would pass the sport fields, so she could catch a glimpse of Naruto's training. She had never seen a game before, and wondered what it was like.
She cought sight of the field soon, and made out the football players -nothing more than a few stickmen from where Sakura stood- doing push-ups.
The pinkette thought of sitting down on the bleachers and waiting for the blond to be finished training, but changed her mind when she took notice of the other people using the field; the cheerleaders. They were currently balancing on top of each other, forming a pyramid of skinny, happy-go-lucky and skirt wearing girls. Of course, Ino stood on top of them, being the head cheerleader and all.
The blonde whistled and waved at the exercising guys enthusiastically, just like her fellow cheerleaders.
''Goooo everyone!'' Ino squealed with a gesture of her ponpons. She did a salto and landed gracefully on her feet, blowing the football players a kiss in the process.
The pinkette winced, supressing the urge to gasp in awe. The only time Sakura ever moved that elegant was in her dreams.
A guy Sakura didn't know straightened his back and stretched his muscles. Inwardly, Sakura gagged. The totally opposite reaction came from the cheerleaders, who all let out a high pitched yelp and started clapping their hands together.
The pinkette rolled her eyes. People like them were a disgrace of the female species.
Sighing, she spun on her heels, only to instantly bump into somebody.
''-Oomph! Er, sorry...'' she sputtered, taking a few steps back.
''Oh, Sakura!'' The person she had bumped into said, a smile audible in his speech, ''I thought I recognised you.'' A friendly laugh followed.
She immediately recognised the senior with his pale face, raven ponytail and delicate features.
''Hello, Itachi.'' She greeted him, her mood brightening instantly.
''Why are you still on the school grounds? Are you on your way to a club?'' He craned his neck so he caught sight of the field behind Sakura, ''-Or did you want to see the football training?''
''-Er, I... Ah-no!'' Sakura stuttered, tugging at her sidebangs, ''-I-I was just...''
''Don't feel obliged to answer,'' He laughed, ''I'm just nosy, is all.''
''Why are you here?'' Sakura cocked her head to the side, not entirely sure if he would answer her question if she didn't answer his. Luckily, he did.
''I was chosen vice president last year, remember?'' Itachi replied, ''I had some business to take care of.''
Yes, Sakura remembered the elections. It was hard to forget the festive that was made of it each year, really. The girl, though, ignored the elections as much as she could because, in the end, it was nothing more than a popularity contest.
Sakura looked at the enormous pile of paper and docments Itachi was holding.
''Important business?'' She questioned.
''Not really,'' the senior answered, ''To be honest, I can't wait until the elections begin again. I hope somebody will be chosen for vice president this time.'' he admitted, ''I think I'll be mean to everyone from now on, so I won't win again.'' this was a joke, obviously, ''Last year I didn't even nominate myself.''
Sakura giggled.
''I think I'll bring this pile of unimportant things to the head master, and then watch the last part of my little brother's football practice. I need to give him a ride home today.'' He shifted the weight of the pile of paper in his hands, ''I admit the game doesn't interest me in the least. Care to join me?''
Sakura shook her head in response, ''I'm sorry. I was on my way to my house.''
''That's okay, have a nice weekend,'' He shrugged.
''You too!'' She called after him as he turned around and made his way over to the school building.
Sakura stared after him. She didn't undestand why a person like him would be so kind to her. The pinkette was used to people looking down on her and treating her like crap, but lately nice people seemed to pop up from everywhere!
Her eyes trailed back to the field. The football team was doing some exercising, using many wooden slats that were placed next to each other in a long row all the way down the field. They were meant to jump from one to the other, and were busy doing so.
The chearleaders had lined up alongside the field and didn't bother to keep their voices down.
''~Come ooon, Neji!'' A girl Sakura recognised as Karui cheered, waving her ponpons around happily. A bit too happily, I might add, for she ended up hitting the girl standing next to her on the nose.
Sakura snickered to herself. She looked up at the sky. It was bright blue, not a single cloud drifting about in it. The sun shone and the weather was still warm. Sakura didn't feel the breeze, but the bending of the poplars planted alongside the path revealed the fact that the wind was definitely blowing.
It was half past four pm, she noticed when she took a glance at the clock hanging from the main school building. She sighed deeply and decided she should leave the school now if she wanted to be home before six o'clock. The school grounds were very big you see, and even when one reached the gates all the way at the back, that person would still have to walk about three quater an hour until they reached Sakura's house. And that was if the person walked in a quick pace.
Sakura made it home a few minutes before six. She kicked her shoes off, not wanting to dirty the caper, and entered the kitchen. Humming, the girl walked up to one of the cabinets and pulled out a carton tht held chocolate chip cookies. She took one out and took a bite. She munched away on it eagerly, a satisfied grin visible on her features.
Lately, she had been eating a lot more. It wasn't like she minded, though. She was getting a bit more curvy. Finally.
The teenager looked away from the window she had been gazing out of absentmindedly when a soft 'mew!' sounded form somewhere around her feet, only to immediately lock eyes with her white cat.
''Hello there, Primrose,'' she smiled, reaching down to pet it's soft fur, ''I'm guessing you'd like some dinner?''
The cat didn't answer, of course.
''I'll take that as a 'yes','' Sakura joked. She straightened her back and pulled the bag of cat food out of one of the cupboards. The cat was already waiting for her next to the food bowl when she walked over to it and bent down. She took a few steps back and looked down on the animal, happily munching away on it's food.
It was so tame and happy, totally opposite from when Sakura had first seen her.
A thirteen year old Sakura hurried home through the october rain that crashed down on Konoha. She had hung out at Ino's when it started pouring all of a sudden. When she had wanted to cycle home, she had discovered she had a flat tire. Luckily, the pinkette could borrow a trenchcoat from Ino; they had the same size.
Sakura slowed down for a moment when she almost toppled over because of a damp box lying in a puddle. She regained her balance by waving her arms around, just in time stopping her feet from being swept away from underneath her.
Lately, Sakura noticed Ino seemed to get a bit hostile towards her, but she didn't think much of it. After all, they were getting adolescents. Although it was strange that her best friend seemed to only be like this towards Sakura, and not towards others. Also, she had become closer to that whiskered freak lately. That Naruto Uzumaki!
Sakura pouted angrily. Even his name made her furious. What with him always bothering her and never leaving her alone. He was undoubtedly just trying to get on her nerves. And he was succeeding.
Again, Sakura almost slipped and tried regaining her balance. This time, though, she was less lucky and she lost her footing. She crashed down on the wet pavement, scraping her knees in the process. She remained lying there for a few moments, until she lifted her head up and rubbed her nose. She looked around. There were still people walking here and there, each carrying an umbrella, but nobody stopped to help the poor girl. The sky was dark with clouds and the lanterns were already lit. Each house was decorated with small pumpkins and ghosts, for it was Halloween in just a few days. Sakura was looking forward to it like each year. This year, Ino and her had wanted to dress up as black cats together but Ino had just told her she thought it would be a better idea if they each dressed up differently. To the question on why she had changed her mind, the blonde hadn't answered.
Sakura muttered something inaudible through clattering teeth, replaced the hood of the trenchcoat she was wearing on her head and tried getting up. She flinched, though, when a flash of pain cut through her scraped knees. She looked down and noticed that the wounds looked pretty serious, even though most of the blood was washed away by the rain. A flash of lightning cut through the cloudy sky, enlighting the dark city with an intense, white glow. A roar of thunder followed.
Quickly, another bolt of silver lightning pierced the clouds. Sakura averted her eyes. Even though she hated to admit it, thunder had scared her for as long as she remembered.
She noticed she was standing next to an alleyway. It's darkness stood out among the dark grey of the walls and the reflections of the traffic lights and street lanterns on the damp pavement. A car drove past her, driving through a puddle and splashing it's content in Sakura's direction. She yelped softly and jumped into the alley, trying to avoid getting even more soaked.
Once again, a bolt of lightning zigzagged above town, enlighting the alley. Sakura flinched and looked around in the small street, suddenly finding it's consuming darkness more pleasant than it's enlit appearance.
She tilted her head to the right when something white lying beside a box gained her attention. It appeared to be a ball of some sort and was splattered with dirt.
Indecisive, she took a step in the direction of the ball. And another. And another. And another. And-...
It moved.
Sakura put her hand over her mouth in alarm.
It moved!
She hurried over to the thing and let herself fall to her wounded knees.
The thing was a cat.
It didn't look good, that was for sure. It was curled up into a ball. It's mouth hung slightly open, revealing some fangs. It's eyes were closed and in it's fur hung chunks of soil. One of the cat's paws was held out in front of it almost defensively.
Sakura didn't think twice. She gathered the cat up in her arms, jumped to her feet and hurried home.
When she arrived at her house panting after about fifteen minutes of non-stop running, her mother opened the door immediately. She wore some flower patterned oven gloves on her hands and a red apron, so Sakura asumed she had been preparing dinner.
''Sakura, honey? Did you walk all the way home from Ino's? Where's your bike-'' The red haired woman questioned, wonder written all over her freckled face. Then, her gaze fell on the animal in her daughter's arms, ''-Oh my goodness! Is that a cat, sweetheart?''
Sakura could only nod. She flew up the stone steps and brushed past her mother. The woman closed the door behind her.
''I found it down in town. It wasn't wearing a collar and it looked sick, so I thought I should just take it with me.'' Sakura explained.
''You did the right thing, dear.'' The woman said, ''I'm going to find something we can wrap it up in. The poor thing must be freezing.'' With that said, she rushed up the stairs, leaving Sakura to gape around dumbly. ''Go to the living room, sweetie! I'll be back in a minute!'' She heard her mother yell from upstairs. Sakura obeyed.
An annoying feeling in her throat woke Sakura up from the memory; she was thirsty.
She cast the place where the cat had been sitting just minutes ago a glance. It was empty, just like the food bowl.
Sakura sighed and turned to the sink. She grabbed a glass that stood on one of the shelves and held it underneath the tap. She twisted the knob, resulting in a stream of water pouring down in the glass. Sakura twisted the knob once more and shut the water off.
She brought the glass to her mouth and took a sip.
Her mother had called the vet, and after a whole lot of commotion, they had gotten some medicine for the animal and the advise to give it to her each day plus to care for the cat until it was healthy again. Then, they could decide wether they wanted to keep it or not. Obviously, the former had been the case.
Sakura was the one who thought up Primrose's name. She had wanted to keep the flower tradition that the family had alive. Her grand grandmother was called Violet, her grandmother Daisy, her mother Lily, as you know, and Sakura's name meant 'cherry blossom'.
The pinkette leaned back against the refridgerator, her mind drifting off to later that evening, when she would go to Konoha Headlights with Naruto. She didn't really know what to expect. Would it be how it was in series on MTV; cheerful, crowded and fun? Or... maybe how it was in chickflicks; dramatic and dangerous?
The teenage girl bit her lip. What should she wear?
She put her glass sown next to the sink and went upstairs.
About a half an hour later she came down again, clad in a classy, tunic-like, cherry red top with a v-neck and thin straps that were tied in a loose ribbon behind her neck. The top captured her slim waist perfectly and stopped just down her hips. Around her legs she wore a white skirt and on her feet a pair of red wedges with ribbons on them.
Sakura wasn't really sure about the skirt, for it was really short.
'Nah,' she contradited, 'It's not like anybody is going to notice.'
She pulled open the door that led to the basement and searched for the light switch. When her hand finally found something too smoothe to be the stone wall, she switched on the lights and walked down the old, creaking steps.
The basement was a place Sakura hated. It was dark and dusty there, and when it rained for too long -which wasn't very unusual in Konoha- it tended to flood. The pinkette dreaded the approaching fall, when the rain would fall down almost daily. She didn't even want to think of all the time it would take to tidy everything up.
Sakura opened the freezer and scanned it for anything that wouldn't take too long to prepare. She found a pizza.
The girl grabbed it and hopped up the stairs, two steps at a time. She didn't want to be in the basement for one more minute.
She shuddered to herself as she closed the cracking door behind her.
Oh how she hated dark rooms. She didn't like going up in the attic either. It still worked with one of those old mechanisms that required one to pull a rope attached to the ceiling, so a shutter opened above their heads an a ladder came sliding down.
Back when she was five years old, she hadn't known what the rope did. Of course, like every five year old, she pulled it. This action, of course, had caused the ladder to come down and, unfortunately, hit the small girl on the head. She had fainted on the spot.
Her mom had found her about ten minutes later when she had finished grocery shopping, and nearly had a heart attack.
Now, eleven years later, Sakura still quickened her pace when she passed the shutter, just in case it would magically come sliding down.
She smiled slightly at her own stupidity and entered the kitchen. She put the carton box holding the pizza down on the worktop and walked into the living room. She still had about four hours left before Naruto would come to pick her up.
Letting out a long sigh, she plopped down on the couch and switched on the television using the remote.
''-I mean like, who needs men in this society?'' A woman on the television shouted into her microphone. Sakura's eyebrows knitted together when the audience erupted in loud applause and cheering. ''Say it, sisters-!''
She zapped.
''-Because nowadays nobody can live without a good microwave-''
Click.
''-And the yankees get a homerun! A homerun, people-''
Click.
''-If you want to make really good tomato soup, always remember to-''
Click.
''-new song from Lil' Wayne! Y'all probably already heard it bu-''
With a groan, Sakura switched the television off and let herself fall back first against the soft cushions. Nothing interesting was on.
About an hour before said girl dressed herself for the party she would go to later that evening, a blond boy finished his football practice, panting from exhaustion.
''Well done, Naruto!'' one of the cheerleaders sang. He didn't bother checking who it was, being too focussed on the coach jogging his way.
The blond took off his helmet.
''You're becoming better and better, Naruto!'' Coach Gai complimented, flashing his thumb at the teenage boy in front of him. ''Go on like this, and I might just make you the new quaterback.''
Coach Gai sure was an odd figure, with his raven bowl cut, bushy eyebrows and the spandex suits he seemed to be wearing all year long. Yet, the whole football team respected him.
''Thanks, coach!'' Naruto smirked, wiping the sweat away from his forehead with the back of his hand. He then followed his teammates to the dressing rooms.
The first thing he did when he entered the white tiled room and walked over to the part of the long, wooden bench where he had dropped his bag before training was searching he forementioned object for the bottle of water he had brought and taking a long sip from it. He sighed, letting the refreshening drink stream down his throat, releashing it from the sore, burning feeling the training had left it with. Eagerly, he took another long sip from the bottle.
''Thirsty?'' Sasuke questioned drily. Naruto suspected the question was rhetorical, but answered it nonetheless.
''Yeah. Is it that obvious?''
His best friend shrugged. The raven haired teen took a towel out of his own bag and dabbed his forehead with it. Like Naruto, he still wore his football uniform.
A roar of laughter erupted from somewhere in the dressing room, causing both of the teenagers to look up in wonder. One with an eyebrow raised in annoyance and tthe other with an amused smirk plastered on his face. This smirk, though, disappeared when a group of guys came running past them, chasing each other with a towel. To their teammates' horror, the were butt naked.
Naruto directed his attention on his once more, ''...Idiots.''
When he looked at Sasuke, the raven haired boy was fully clad in his casual clothes again.
The speed of that guy never ceased to amaze Naruto.
''I'm going,'' Sasuke announced, ''I spotted Itachi on the bleachers. Knowing him, he'll be cranky if I don't hurry up.''
''Sure,'' Naruto said, ''Is he going to give you a ride again?''
''He doesn't have a choice, now does he?'' Sasuke muttered, ''My parents still think joyriders crushed into the fence with my car, breaking it in the process.'' He sent his blond friend a glare at the word 'joyriders'.
''You should have told me which one of the pedals was the brake,'' Naruto defended himself, smiling, ''Besides, it was pretty funny.''
Sasuke couldn't help but smile himself. It had been pretty funny. He gave his best friend a small wave before exiting the dressing room.
Naruto didn't move. He stared at the doorway behind which, he knew, were the showers.
'Should I take a shower here?'
His thoughts were interrupted roughly when another group of naked, laughing teenage boys came running past him, holding towels in their outstretched hands.
naruto sweatdropped, took his shirt out of his bag and pulled it over his bare chest.
Nope, he'd take a shower at his house.
He changed into his jeans and sneakers and trudged out of the dressing room with his bag slung casually over his shoulder.
''Bye y'all!'' he called out to his teammates. A few of them grinned, waved or answered. The rest was too caught up in whatever they were doing.
Naruto continued on his way, not really caring.
The bleachers were now empty aside from a few chattering students enjoying the afternoon sun. The field was deserted.
Naruto cut across the patch of grass surrounding the football field, ignoring the dirty look given by the garderer that was crouching beside one of the flowerbeds. He had to admit the man was pretty intimidating nonetheless, with the hedgeshear clutched in his hand like a deadly weapon.
Anxiously, the teen quickened his pace and walked the asphalt until he reached the parking lot.
There, he got his scooter and drove to his appartment.
When he steered his scooter up the sidewalk, he barely missed an old lady with a rollator walker. He gulped when she heaved it from the ground and tried hitting him with it. ''You rotten kid!'' the lady mouthed.
Naruto guessed she did more than only mouthing it, but the helmet he wore made it impossible for him to hear anything.
''Woops, can't hear you!'' He yelled over his shoulder, ''Sorry, mrs Jones!''
Mrs Jones shook her fist at him angrily but continued on her way. As did Naruto.
When Naruto entered his appartment, he threw his jacket in the direction of the hatstand. He didn't check to see if he hit it.
The blond walked over to a wooden closet and hit the 'play'-button from the cd player that stood upon it. Immediately, one of his favourite songs started playing.
He bobbed his head to the beat and walked over to his bathroom.
About ten minutes later he exited the room again, hair dripping and a towel wrapped around his waist. (1)
He entered his own room and threw on some clothes. Then he walked back to the living room and looked around. His eyes trailed to the clock.
It was half past six.
He would meet his friends Shino, Kiba and Shikamaru downtown in ten minutes, to hang out and maybe grab some smoothies. If he wanted to be on time, he'd have to leave now.
'Ring!'
Sakura let out a groan.
'Riiing!'
''...Yeah, yeah... Coming...''
She rolled around and sat up. She rubbed her green eyes and looked around.
She had fallen asleep on the couch.
'Riiiiiiiing!'
''Coming!'' The pinkette repeated, louder this time.
She stood up and walked over to the hallway, almost tripping over the couch in the process. When she opened the door, her gaze was met by Naruto Uzumaki.
''Hey there,'' He greeted with a smile. He gave the girl standing in front of him a casual wave.
''Hell-'' Sakura stopped talking and yawned audibly. He raised an eyebrow at her. ''Sorry,'' she apologised, smiling sheepishly, ''I fell asleep on the couch. What time is it?''
''It was ten to eleven pm when I left town,'' Naruto answered, looking up at the already dark sky. Sakura took this as an opportunity to scan the boy's appearance.
What he wore was not very different from his usual clothes: A black, short sleeved t-shirt, jeans and a pair of sneakers. His hair was spiked like usually. Casual, quite boring clothes. For some reason, though, Naruto managed to pull it off looking very handsome in them.
Sakura mentally scolded herself for thinking like that.
Exactly at that moment, the boy decided to look back at her. Their gazes met. ''What?'' He asked her, a lopsided grin plastered on his face.
''Nothing!'' She answered a bit too quickly and a bit too loudly. He flinched at her sudden outburst. ''I need to go to the bathroom, I'll be back in two minutes!''
Sakura slammed the door shut.
She spun on her heels and jogged towards the mirror hanging in the hallway. Luckily, her make-up still looked good. Her hair was a whole different story. Her bangs stuck out awkwardly to the front and some other locks stood out to the right, indicating the fact she had slept on her right side.
Sakura opened a drawer from the cabinet underneath the mirror and frantically searched it for anything of use. She found a red hair clip. She swifly took the bangs that ended just above her eyebrows and secured them to the side of her head with the clip. Then, she ran over to the kitchen, wet her hair with water from the sink, dashed back towards the mirror, grabbed a hairbrush from the drawer and brushed her hair down.
Sakura arrived at the door and opened it with a swift swing of her slim arms, startling the boy waiting for her. ''Let's go,'' she panted. Then, the girl brushed past him, stumbled down the steps in front of the house and sat down on the back of the saddle of the bright orange scooter.
Naruto stared after her. Why had she become so awkward with him all of a sudden?
He shrugged it off and followed her.
About fifteen minutes later, the vehicle halted in front of a tall building. A large crowd of people stood in front of it, as were big, moving spotlights that shone upon the stone building and illuminated the enormous letters forming the name 'Konoha Headlights'. The muffled sounds of music and thumping of the bass came drifting out through the red, hollywood-like doors.
''Wow,'' Sakura gasped, ''This building is incredible!''
''Yeah, and this is only the outside!'' Naruto said, smiling at the girl's enthusiasm.
''Come on, Naruto! Hurry up!'' Sakura yelled, knocking the blond 'softly' on the shoulder with her fist.
Naruto tried not to wince as she punched him. Her strength surprised him over and over again. ''Yeah, yeah,'' he muttered through clenched teeth. ''I'm trying to lock my scooter up over here!'' But she didn't hear him. Her eyes were glued on the massive building again.
Naruto huffed softly and straightened his back, only to have Sakura close her fists around his arm and pulling him with her, towards the start of the line. He yanked his arm loose. Sakura spun on her heels and placed one pale hand on her hip.
''Aren't you coming?'' She asked him.
''Go without me, I'll come in a few minutes.''
''Why? What are you going to do?''
''I'll see if I can arrange something over there.'' He pointed over to the doors with a jab of his thumb. A small of group pushed the doors open and Sakura caught a glimpse of a dark room with many coloured lights stroking the walls and the floor. Silhouettes of dancing, drinking people blocked her view on the rest of the club.
The pinkette nodded and walked over to the back of the line.
Naruto turned around and looked at her over his shoulder.
Sakura looked good tonight. Beautiful, even. He'd never noticed how long her legs were, or how graceful her stride was.
Naruto forced himself to focus on the doors. He had not just been oggling Sakura Haruno.
He quickly turned his head back to face the two tall men standing on each side of the door. One of them had a goatie, and the other one had tied a bandana around his head. All in all they looked pretty intimidating. Two girls stood in front of the men, jumping up and down happily. A third one seemed to be flirting with the two males, flicking her hair and batting her eyelashes. The men quickly gave in and opened the door for them, to wich the girls squealed and hugged their friend. They skipped inside.
Naruto walked over to them and quickly recognised one of the two persons. It was a friend of Jiraiya's.
''Hey, Mike!'' He called out to him. The man with the goatie turned around, and one of the corners of his mouth turned upwards.
''Naruto!'' He greeted the teenage boy, ''I haven't seen you in ages! How are you?''
''I'm fine, man,'' Naruto replied, ''Have you beaten the pervy old man during poker lately?''
''Of course!'' Mike said as if Naruto could have guessed it. A roar of laughter followed. ''I'm not giving Jiraiya the pleasure of winning against me!'' He ruffled the boy's blond spikes.
Naruto smirked up at the tall man. ''Hey, listen, Mike, I'm here with a friend-''
''-Your girlfriend?''
'Why does everybody think that?' ''No, just a friend. Anyhow, I'm here with her, and I the line's kinda long... Could you, maybe, let us in?''
Mike looked at his colleague. The man with the bandana nodded.
''Sure,'' Mike turned to Naruto, smiling, ''Go get your girlfriend.''
''She's not my girlfriend!'' Naruto replied, annoyed. The man didn't hear him, though, he was busy talking to the next people in line.
Naruto huffed and followed the line of people until he spotted Sakura. She wasn't standing all the way at the back anymore, new people had joined the line.
'Huh?' Naruto started walking in her direction until he had a clear view of the skinny, pink haired girl. Were his eyes deceiving him or- No. There really were two guys talking to her. And judging from their expressions and the way they stood, they appeared to be flirting with her.
Naruto quickened his pace until he reached the trio. The two boys looked up at him with snippy curiosity, until Naruto wrapped his arm around Sakura's shoulders and pulled her with him. ''Are you coming, darling?'' He asked her, looking at the teenagers she had been talking to with narrowed eyes. The males immediately got the message, winced at the blond's dark glare and turned around stiffly.
Sakura looked up at him with confusion in her eyes, ''-Er, what?'' But when she noticed he was taking her away, she turned her head to look over her shoulder and waved, ''Bye Jason, Carl! Maybe I'll see you again sometime!''
She turned to Naruto when they couldn't be heard by the two boys anymore.
''What was that about?''
''I don't trust those guys.''
''Why? They were so nice! They wanted to hang out with me.'' Sakura smiled up at the blond.
Naruto shot her an awkward glance. ''You do know they were hitting on you, right?''
''What? Don't be weird.'' Sakura shook her head at him dismissingly, smiling. Her smile quickly faded as she overthought his words. ''-W-wait,'' she muttered slowly, ''They were hitting on me, weren't they?''
Naruto nodded as if to say ''Duh.''
Sakura cast Jason and Carl a look over her shoulder. She had never been flirted with before. It wasn't strange she didn't recognise their overly friendly manners. In a way, she was flattered. ''Where are we going?''
''We're going straight inside.'' They reached the two men at the doors who guided them inside. Naruto smirked at the jealous looks the people waiting in line gave them. ''Thanks, Mike.''
''Say hi to Jiraiya for me, alright?'' The man asked Naruto with a smile.
''Sure,'' The boy replied, ''Bye!''
After the two men closed the doors behind the teenagers, Mike leaned in towards his companion.
''Naruto's got himself a pretty girl, eh?''
When Sakura entered the club, she immediately plugged her ears with her index fingers, trying to block out the incredibly loud music.
Naruto grabbed her hands, though, and moved them back to her sides.
''Come on, Sakura! The music is what makes everything so much fun!'' He yelled into her ear.
She looked up at him and shouted, ''But it hurts my ears!''
''It's just something you'll get used to!'' He assured her, ''Come on!'' He gestured towards the enormous crowd of people and pulled her with him. Ducking and squirming her way through the mass of people, she looked around in the enormous room.
The walls and the floor appeared to be painted black. In the ceiling, many small lamps were placed every few inches, making it look like an image of the nightsky. Spotlights painted the walls and the upper side of the people in cheerful, bright colours.
A boy that looked about eighteen cheered loudly and rose his hands up in the air, causing beer from the glass he was holding to shower everywhere. Sakura let out a squeek -that nobody heard, of course- and jumped forward, accidentally crashing into Naruto. The blond looked down at her questioningly. She smiled up at him appologisingly, and he walked on.
Sakura continued to look around. On her left, two people stepped aside so the pink haired girl could now catch a glimpse of a long, futuristic bar. Stools were placed alongside it. Sakura couldn't make out colours because the people in front of it shielded the bar from the spotlights. Most of the stools weren't taken, and the guy behind the bar appeared to be very bored, holding his chin in his hand and supporting his arms on a drink machine.
Sakura halted when she noticed Naruto had stopped walking. He turned around and smirked.
''Where's the DJ?'' Sakura asked him over the music. She had been thinking about that eversince she entered Konoha Headlights. She remembered that, when she was a little kid, she used to dream about going to clubs like this one. She couldn't wait until she was old enough to be able to go inside. One of the things she was the most exited about was seeing a DJ. She didn't know exactly why, but she suspected it was because it seemed something that only appeared in movies. Of course, everything seems movie-like when you're a little kid that knows the biggest part of it's knowledge through films.
Naruto could look over the tops of the people's heads if he stood on tip toes, and because of this it was that he spotted the DJ all the way on the other side of the club. He pointed over to that place and Sakura nodded.
A new song started playing.
''I see your dirty face high behind your collar
What is done in vain,
truth is hard to swallow
So you pray to God to justify the way you live a lie,
Live a lie, live a lie...''
''I know this song!'' Sakura exclaimed, ''Come on!'' She yelled, ''Dance with me!'' Playfully, the girl grabbed both of his hands and started twisting him around. Naruto was caught of guard and almost toppled over, but quickly regained his balance. Sakura chuckled at his clumsiness, and Naruto answered her chuckle with an anxious smile of his own.
He bent down and shouted, ''I don't dance!''
Sakura cocked her head to the side and opened her mouth to yell a reply, ''Then why did you come to Konoha Headlights?''
''Maybe that wasn't the right way to tell you,'' Naruto figured. He smirked. ''I meant I don't dance when I'm sober.''
Sakura laughed and shook her head. "I'll get us some drinks!'' She turned around and dissapeared behind a snogging couple.
This was one of those moments the girl hated being scrawny. She yelped when somebody accidentally elbowed her in the back. Immediately after, Sakura was stuck between two chubby men. She dove forward desperately and landed face-first on a bar stool. Her position sure was an awkward one. She lay there in a weird angle, her arms spread out and lingering in mid-air, her legs dangling from the bar stool.
Feeling pretty stupid, she looked up. She looked straight in the face of the bartender, who didn't look that bored anymore. His arms were propped up on the iron surface so he was able to look over the bar and down at Sakura. One of his eyebrows was raised in question.
''-Er, a beer and a coke please.'' Sakura muttered, getting up. The bartender shrugged and reached down to grab two glasses. He placed them on the counter as the girl waited.
The brunet ruffled his hair. He looked down when his phone started to vibrate in his pocket.
''Just a moment!'' He yelled at the slightly odd girl in front of him. She didn't seem to hear him.
The bartender walked through the iron doors in the back of the bar. His footsteps seemed to echo on the floor and the walls of the storeroom. He fished his cell phone out of the pocket of his jeans.
''Hey.''
''Hi, Sander. Temari speaking.''
''Temari! Haven't talked to you in ages!''
''I know,'' The girl emphasized, ''The last time I saw you was during Kankurou's New Year's Eve party.''
''So what's up? Do you want to meet some time again?''
''Yeah, sure! But that's not why I'm calling.''
''Really?'' Sander leaned back against one of the big boxes filled with drinks.
''Yeah, I was wondering... A friend of mine asked a favour of me.''
''Yes?''
About five songs later, the girl was still waiting for the bartender to get back.
Sakura looked around the bar. She had been waiting quite some time now. It shouldn't take this long just to get some drinks, right?
Just when she wanted to just return to Naruto, the doors in the back of the bar went open. The bartender walked through them.
His right hand gained her attention. His fingers were clasped around something that looked like a bottle. When the brunet noticed Sakura was looking at it, he moved his hand behind his back.
''Sorry it took so long!'' He yelled not very convincingly.
Sakura waved it off, ''It's okay!''
He bent down behind the counter, put Naruto's glass of beer on top of it and then crouched behind the bar again. He stayed down there a little longer than necessary, making Sakura worry a little bit. What was that man doing behind the counter? Why had he been trying to hide that bottle?
He stood up and placed Sakura's glass of coke next to Naruto's drink.
''How much?'' She yelled over the music.
The bartender shook his head, ''They're on me! Sorry I made you wait!''
Sakura smiled up at him, ''Thank you!''
Kindness always made her happy. How could she have doubted this man? He was so nice!
She grabbed the drinks and zigzagged her way through the crowd of dancing teenagers, miraculously arriving on the place Naruto stood without tripping or bumping into somebody. He was talking to two giggling brunette girls that looked like they were about eighteen years old.
Sakura walked towards the trio, glaring at the girls. Naruto noticed the girl and took his drink from her.
''Hey, thanks, Sakura!'' He grinned, ''Here, meet Susuki and Tamaki. They're college students.''
The girls looked down at her snippily, but bit back a squeak when they came face to face with the petite girl's glare. They said goodbye to Naruto and walked away quickly.
''What was that for?'' Naruto asked her when the girls had left. His grin turned from gentle to Chesire-cat like, suddenly, ''Jealous?''
Sakura shook her head fiercely, ''I don't trust those girls,'' she joked, referring to what Naruto had said earlier that night, ''I was just protecting you.''
Naruto laughed. ''What took you so long?'' He asked her, glugging down some of the beer.
Sakura shrugged. She took a sip from her coke, but was too busy focussing on the girls' dissapearing figures too notice the strange, unfamiliar taste the coke gave off. Even if she noticed it, she liked the taste too much to think anything of it.
She finished the drink more quickly than usual and dropped the plastic cup on the ground.
''Dunno why,'' She yelled into Naruto's ear, ''But that drink tasted good!'' She stretched out the word 'good' in a manner that didn't fit her at all. ''I'm gettin' some more! You want another beer?''
Naruto nodded, even though his cup was only half empty. He probably thought it would take her as long as it did the last time to get some drinks. If he thought that, he was wrong.
About two minutes later, she walked back towards him, not holding two but three cups. She held a new glass of beer out to him, only a few inches away from his face. He backed away slightly.
''Here, Narutoo~!'' She said, grinning. ''I hope it'll taste good!''
The blond took the glass from her with a, ''Thank you?'' He looked down at the two cups she was still holding and asked, ''Who'se the third cup for?''
The pinkette looked down a her hands and exclaimed, ''For me!'' She smiled and pointed at her chest, emphasizing her words.
Naruto watched, mouth hanging agape, as she clugged down the content of the cups one by one. She held the cups in front of her lips, trying to let even the last drop pour into her mouth. When nothing poured out anymore, she looked down at the cups. Then, the girl looked back up at the blond in front of her.
''They're empty.'' She said.
Naruto nodded stiffly.
''What'd you order?'' He asked her suspiciouly, recognising her strange demeanor.
''Coke, silly!'' The girl giggled.
Naruto's eyebrows knitted together, ''You sure?''
''Duh! I'm getting some more! For some reason, it tastes even better today!'' She gave him a small, girlish wave and walked away, dissapearing in the mass of people once more. Naruto reached out, trying to grab her arm, but she was too fast. He tried going after her, but pushing these people out of the way was different than shoving your way through sophomores and freshmen. Some of these teenagers were bigger than him.
He felt pretty stupid for letting her go at that moment. And he felt worried. A bit.
He flinched when the music pumping through the speakers he had been enjoying just moments ago suddenly changed into mocking laughter when it reached his ears. He frowned and followed the pink haired girl.
When he finally arrived at the bar, he found the girl sitting on one of the stools. She clugged down another drink. The bartender was busy preparing something that -Naruto suspected- also was for Sakura.
The only thing he didn't understand was why the bartender poured quite a large amount of liquid from a glass bottle into her cup before adding the Coca Cola.
The bartender shoved the drink over to the girl with a push of his hand and placed the bottle on the counter. At first, he had done so secretly, but now he thought she wouldn't notice even if he splashed the content of the bottle in her face.
It wasn't until then that the brunet noticed a blond guy standing a few feet away, looking from the girl to him suspiciously. Sander backed away slightly when the unknown guy stomped up to his bar.
''Hey!'' He said. The bartender guessed the 'hey' was not a greeting.
''Yes?'' The brunet asked innocently.
''What'd you pour into that girl's drink?'' He asked in a demanding tone.
'Uh-oh.' ''I don't know what you're talking about.'' Then, unwillingly, his eyes trailed over to the bottle standing to the counter.
He had forgotten to put it away.
''Loss of memory?'' The blond asked him, blue eyes narrowed, as he snatched the bottle from the counter and showed it to him. Then, he read it's tag.
The boy tore his eyes away from the label and directed his gaze on the bartender. He opened his mouth and spoke with such venom in his voice that not even the music could drown it out, ''Wodka? 40% alcohol?''
''Please give that back, sir. It belongs to the bar.'' The bartender tried. Just when he thought the unknown blond would throw a punch at him, the pink haired girl tugged at said boy's sleeve.
The odium in the stare he had been giving Sander melted away and worry took it's place. He looked down at the pink haired girl, ''What is it, Sakura?''
''Naruto, I feel kinda sick. Can we go outside for a moment?''
''Sure,'' He replied, ''Here, I'll help you.''
He threw one hate-filled look Sander's way, and then assisted the girl he had called Sakura into the direction of the back door. As soon as the duo was out of sight, he turned to the water tap and threw some of the fresh liquid in his face.
Temari's favour had almost delivered him a black eye.
''Guaaaaaaaaargh!''
Naruto threw Sakura a worried glance over his shoulder. She was supporting herself on the wall, face turned towards the stone tiles from the pavement.
The teenagers had exited the building just in time before Sakura threw up all over the floor. She had immediately stormed over to a place that wasn't as crowded -or at least came pretty far- before she couldn't hold it in an longer. Naruto stood in front of the puking girl, back turned towards her because he figured she wouldn't like somebody watching.
He was just preparing on helping her walk back and taking her home, when the urge to puke crept up to the girl for he umpteenth time that half an hour.
The blond looked up at the sky and was surprised by the big amount of the stars beating their light down on the city underneath them. Maybe he could go stargazing later that evening.
Naruto winced when Sakura let out a pained groan.
Oh how Naruto'd love to go back into the club and give that bartender a good punch... But he couldn't. He couldn't leave Sakura alone in the state she was in.
He woke up from his thoughts when he noticed Sakura had stopped throwing up.
''-N-Naruto?...''
The blond turned around and walked towards her. She removed her hand from the wall and wiped her mouth.
''Feel better?'' Naruto asked her.
''A bit.'' Sakura replied.
''Want me to take you home?''
Sakura didn't answer. Instead, she turned around and flashed the blond a flirtatious smile.
Naruto took a few steps back, caught of guard by how out of character the girl in front of him was at that moment.
''I dunnooo~'' She started, her tone of voice sounding as if she had not just been puking half of her stomach out just minutes ago, ''I'm having fun over here, to be honest.''
''Sakura, you're drunk. You need to get home.''
''No way, I'm not drunk, silly.'' She slurred.
''Yes you are,'' Naruto sighed, massaging his temples with his fingers.
''No I'm not,'' Sakura repeated.
''Yes. You. Are.''
''Am not.''
''Are too.''
''Am not.''
With a final snarl, Naruto took a step forward, grabbed her by the waist, lifted her up and carried her over his shoulder to his scooter, muttering uncoherent words under his breath. To his surprise, Sakura stopped being childish. Although the low cackling that came from her kind of gave him the creeps.
''Hey, Naruto,'' She slurred into his ear.
''Yes?'' He asked her, forcing the blush that crept up his cheeks as her hot breath touched his neck to dissapear.
It didn't work.
The girl giggled, causing a few people that passed them to give the duo awkward looks. Or maybe it was the fact that Naruto was carrying her over his shoulder.
...Yeah, it was probably that.
''How could this have happened, anyway?'' He asked nobody in particular. Sakura, though, answered his question.
''I dunno, but I'm hungry. I didn't eat at all.''
Something clicked inside Naruto, ''What?''
''I fell asleep on the couch, remember?'' The girl slurred.
Naruto groaned, ''Never drink alcohol on an empty stomach!''
''I didn't drink alcohol!'' The girl argued.
Naruto kept silent, knowing the girl wouldn't understand even if he explained it to her in the state she was in right now.
''You know,'' Sakura whispered into Naruto's ear, waking him up from his thoughts, ''You're kinda hot.''
Naruto gulped audibly.
''Okay, time to get you home,'' He said quickly, trying to get her as far away from him as possible. Which wasn't easy, with her being carried by him and all.
It wasn't that those words surprised him. He didn't like to brag, but it was true that people told him he was goodlooking often enough. It was more who the words were coming from.
It was strange how, about four years ago, he would have done anything to hear her say that. Three years ago, he would have laughed at her. Two years ago and one year ago, it was the same story. But now... -Now, it sent shivers down his spine. And that scared him.
He was glad to see the unmistakable image of his bright orange scooter, illuminated by the street lantern it stood underneath, popped up when they rounded a corner. Konoha Headlights had it's seat at a very busy street, in the centre of town. It was a very popular street for clubs and pubs, and most teenagers liked to go out in this part of town.
Naruto quickened his pace.
Luckily, he wasn't drunk. Not even a little. He would be able to drive.
Then another problem came to mind; how was Naruto going to take Sakura to her house when she was drunk? She could fall off the vehicle, or distract him while driving.
In a sudden inspirational impulse, he figured out what to do. He put Sakura back on her feet, gesturing towards his scooter.
She looked from the vehicle, to him, to the vehicle.
''Sit down,'' Naruto clarified.
She nodded and tried sitting down. She almost toppled over and then giggled at her own clumsiness. When she finally succeeded in sitting down, Naruto sat down behind her and placed his hands on the steering gear, trapping Sakura between his arms.
He started the vehicle and drove down the street. The rest of the journey went quite flawless, all though Naruto didn't notice why until he arrived at Sakura's house. He pulled back his arms. Then, just when he wanted to get off the scooter, he noticed Sakura was slipping off the vehicle. She had been leaning against his arms. He let out a strange, high-pitched sound and jumped off his scooter, catching Sakura just in time before she hit the ground.
''-S-Sakura? Hey, Sakura!''
He turned her around in his arms, only to come face to face with a sleeping face. Her mouth hung slightly open, and a soft snoring sound came drifting towards him.
He sweatdropped, ''...Unbelievable...'' and carried the slim girl up the steps. He searched her bag for her keys, luckily finding them in a matter of seconds, and tried them one by one. The third one fit the lock. He carried the girl inside and up the stairs, only to find he didn't know where her room was.
No matter how rude it was, he saw no other option than just pushing open every door and see what was behind them, in the hope that he would be able to recognise Sakura's room.
The first room he entered was quite a big room, with a double bed in the middle. The curtains were closed, but the bed was empty aside from two pillows and a plain, violet coloured blanket. The room was pretty empty, only the basical bedroom furniture being present. Naruto noticed that there was a layer of dust laying on top of every object in the room, indicating the fact that nobody had been here in a while. The boy guessed it had been Sakura's parents' room. This also explained why every place in the house was clean and neat, except for this one room; Sakura hadn't dared to enter it.
He looked down at the girl's sleeping face. She looked so peaceful... He could only imagine what kind of sadness must be lying inside of that girls mind.
He could barely remember why he had once bullied her... Those days seemed to be months ago. Why would he have done so? How could he not have been able to see what kind of pain the girl felt?
The cast the gloomy room one last look before closing the door again and walking further. The other rooms he came across were a study, a bathroom and finally a room that, Naruto guessed, belonged to Sakura. The colours used in it were white, pink and red; Sakura's three favourite colours. With a sigh, he entered the room and carefully put the sleeping teenage girl in the white varnished bed.
Then, he draped the thin, soft pink blanket over her and left the room.
When he stepped into the cool, night air and walked over to his scooter. He grabbed his helmet with both of his hand and couldn't help but look up at the house one, final time.
It wasn't until he had crossed well over a half of the distance between his and Sakura's homes that he remembered he had forgotten to try and make the girl fall for him like Ino had wanted.
Naruto shook his head and let a chuckle escape his lips. Sakura sure was troublesome.
(1) Take short showers, people. It's good for nature. ;D
(2) The reason these girls, unlike my other passerby characters, have Japanese names, is because they actually appear in Naruto. Their appearances are unimportant and stuff, but still. ;D
Phew, quite a long chapter, eh?
Please let me know what you think in a review! Also, ideas and suggestions are always welcome. I always try to fit in as much as I can.
~Lion3queen