Disclaimer: The characters belong to Masashi Kishimoto, the creator of Naruto, and I don't own them. But I do own the plot, so DON'T TRY AND STEAL IT! IT'S MY IMAGINATION! :P

Heyyyyy! It's been a while. Hehe. But this is my first summer update, and I'm sure there will be waaaaaaaay more in the future.

Thank you for putting up with my sporadic updates and annoying author notes - it means more than you will know. (egh, clicheeee, but whatever)

ON WITH THE STORY!

Chapter 6:

~ Sasuke ~

Freaking fangirls.

I know we're both thinking it by the quick glance Neji tosses me. "Can I help you?" I repeat, since she didn't give me an answer the first time.

She bats her eyes in what's supposed to be seducing, but I've never felt more turned off in my life. She starts to say no, but then nods her head. "Actually, yes. Have a name?" Her fingers drum on my bicep and a couple of years ago, I would have brushed it off right away, but something inside me stops me from telling her to stop. Sakura used to do that. It's not the same, but I still miss Sakura's soft fingers on my skin.

"Well, duh," Neji answers for me. I smirk into my glass of orange juice as I take a sip.

"So what is it?" the girl next to me asks.

With an obvious sigh of exasperation, I mutter, "Sasuke." Go away already. I have food waiting to be eaten!

"Ah. I'm Vanessa." The drumming continues and suddenly I can't take it anymore. Her "soft touches" don't even hold a candle to Sakura's. I don't feel a ripple of something I can't describe go through me as her fingers touch me. All I feel now is annoyance, but also longing for Sakura.

"Could you quit doing that?" I say, a little more nastily than I had hoped, shoving her fingers off of me. I see Neji give me a look, silently asking why I'm so angry all of a sudden. But he wouldn't understand; at least "his" is not touching him, otherwise I'm sure he would have a harsher reaction than mine.

Vanessa looks startled, but then quickly recomposes herself, with a hint of irritation. "Why? Aren't you a guy? Don't you have hormones?"

I almost gape at her openness. Is it just me or is that something you really shouldn't ask someone the first time you meet them? Of course I have hormones, you idiot - they're just not raging around you. Instead of answering her question, I state: "I have a girlfriend."

Out of the corner of my eye, I see Vanessa's eyes widen and then look down. But once again, with her never-ending confidence, her eyes flick back up with renewed strength. "So where is she?"

"Not here."

"So then what's the problem?" Her hand's back on my arm and her gaze seems back to how it was when she first came.

I look at her. "I'm not the type to cheat, so if you would kindly," I take her hand off me once again while standing up, "not flirt with me, it would be greatly appreciated."

Neji follows me without a word and after throwing out our trash, we're out the cafeteria door.

"You know, I have a feeling that they're gonna try again," Neji says, breaking the silence between us.

Raking a frustrated hand through my hair, I nod. "I bet they are."

Gosh, Sak was right. Maybe I do need her to protect me. I smirk slightly at the thought of her telling them off. We reach our dorm room and Neji starts to unpack, as we were too exhausted to do it last night, me doing the same after taking a quick shower.

About an hour in, my phone vibrates in the back pocket of my jeans. Checking the caller ID, an automatic smile spreads on my face when I see a picture of Sakura and I on the screen with the caller name: Sak, a red heart next to it.

"Hello?" I say, picking it up.

"Hiiiii!" she answers cheerily.

I'm still smiling as I walk over to the window seat. It's funny how only her voice makes my heart racing, and sends an exciting ripple of feelings through me, making my mind all fuzzy. What has she done to me?

"Hey, Sak. How are you?" I say, sitting down on the window seat.

"Umm...great actually!" She giggles. "My roommate and I just finished playing tennis. I won!"

I hear a groan in the background of "Oh, shut up!" and then "I let you win."

"Yeah, okay," Sakura says sarcastically to the voice and then back to me, "That's Kaori by the way."

"I figured."

"How are you?"

"Uh, good. For the most part."

"The most part? Is something bothering you?"

I sigh, looking out at the trees that are swaying in the wind. "Same as usual."

I hear a small laugh. "Fangirls?"

Instead of answering, I groan and another laugh comes from her. Even though I'm annoyed again at the thought of the girls that tried to flirt with Neji and I, Sakura's laugh eradicates my frustration. It makes me calm, yet the same, panging feeling comes back in my heart - emptiness. "I miss you," I suddenly say.

She stays silent and then says, "Yeah, me too."

Neji, who had gone out of the room a while later comes back and before he sees me on the phone, he asks, "Wanna go play basketball?"

I turn to him and point to the phone in my hand.

"Sorry," he mouths and goes to flop on his bed.

"Was that Neji?"

"Yeah. Wanna say hi?"

"Sure!"

I put Sak on speaker and her voice rings louder, filling the room. "Hi, Neji!"

"Hey, Sakura," he calls back.

Once they're done talking for a bit, I take off the speaker and bring the phone to my ear again.

"One minute."

I say "okay" and the phone goes silent for a while until a rattling comes back on and her voice returns.

"I'm back, but Kaori and I have to go for lunch now. Talk to you later?"

"Sure, Sak."

"Okay. Bye, Sasuke. I love you."

I smile. "I love you, too. Bye."

Once we hang up, I stare at the picture of me and her that I put as my background until the screen dims automatically and I toss the phone on my bed. I let out a sigh and rake a hand through my hair. "Basketball?" I ask turning to Neji.

Neji looks up and nods, jumping up from where he was texting someone - probably Tenten - and puts on his shoes, me following him out the door after locking it.

~ Sakura ~

"Ugh, I totally let you win, you know," Kaori says as we reach our dorm room from playing tennis together.

I roll my eyes. "Sure," I say, sarcasm lacing through my voice. I take a big gulp of water and feel the cold water go through my body. It's so hot! God damn it. "I'm gonna go take a shower."

"Make it fast, will ya? I wanna take one too. It's freaking hot."

I laugh. "Sure." Grabbing a towel and some clothes that consist of a pair of black shorts and a blue shirt, I take a quick cold shower. In ten minutes, I'm drying my hair with a towel as I come out of the bathroom. Kaori almost runs me over as I'm opening the door with a cry of "I GOTTA PEE!" and a slam of a door as an answer to my unspoken question.

I lay down on my bed, swinging my legs in the air when my eyes flicker to the picture on the nightstand - of Sasuke and I. I decide that I should call him. I miss him so much already and I want to hear his voice. It seems too long already.

Getting up from my bed and unplugging my phone that was on charging, I put in Sasuke's number and press call, sitting on the window seat. After three rings, he picks up and answers with the deep, low, smooth voice I've been yearning to hear, the voice that makes me fall in love with him all over again.

I let out a sigh of...relief? Hearing him makes me so much more calmer.

"Hello?"

"Hiiiii!" I answer. What? I'm happy. Leave me alone.

"Hey, Sak. How are you?" Sasuke asks.

"Umm...great actually!" I say. "My roommate and I just finished playing tennis. I won!"

Right then, Kaori comes out of the bathroom, letting steam come into our room. Drying her hair, she groans. "Oh, shut up! I let you win."

"Yeah, okay," I sarcastically murmur to her. "That's Kaori by the way," I say to Sasuke.

"I figured."

We talk for a little longer and I even converse with Neji a bit until Kaori says that she's starving. "Yeah, I am too," I state. "Let's go to lunch?"

"Yes!"

"Okay, lemme just say bye to Sasuke." She gets up and starts putting on her shoes while I turn back to my phone. "I'm back, but Kaori and I have to go for lunch now. Talk to you later?"

"Sure, Sak."

"Okay. Bye, Sasuke. I love you."

I hear in the smile in his voice as he says he loves me too.

"Come on, Sakura!" Kaori whines. I realize that I've been staring off into space for a minute or two now.

"Oh, right. S-Sorry," I say, as I fumble to put my phone into my back pocket of the shorts I'm wearing. I'm still adjusting not being with Sasuke often and it feels so empty. Lonely. And every time I think about how alone I really am in the world, now with my parents gone, Sasuke no longer with me, and all of my friends at different colleges across the world, a strange feeling goes through me and I feel like curling into a ball and crying. But instead, I slip on some flip-flops and close the door to my dorm room and go to eat, with Sasuke still at the back of my mind.

~ Naruto & Hinata ~

"Hinata-chan!" Naruto calls as Hinata comes out of her dorm room. "I was just coming to see you!"

Hinata smiles. "Oh, really? I-I was too."

They both laugh and Naruto holds out his hand to Hinata. "Do you wanna go for a walk?"

Hinata nods and puts her hand in his larger one.

They walk outside of their college and into the park near it, a soft wind blowing. There is only one day until classes start and it's been about a week since Hiashi had come to Hinata's dorm room, stating that they were not allowed to get married.

Hinata glanced solemnly at the ring still on her finger which she refused to take off. "Naruto-kun?"

"Yeah?" he glanced at her.

"What...D-Do you think my father will come back?" Since he had come that day, they both hadn't heard a word and it was making them anxious. Didn't he say that he forbade them to get married? So why hadn't he done anything about it yet?

Naruto shrugged his shoulders. "I...don't know, Hinata-chan. Honestly, I hope not. But, I think it might be better, so that we can all work this out."

Hinata scoffed softly, making Naruto look at her because it was out of character. "Otou-sama would never care for our opinions anyway. He always thinks that his way is right."

"Hinata-chan," he sighed, "he is your father, you shouldn't talk about him like that."

HInata looked down, guilt immediately showing on her face. "I-I know, Naruto-kun, but he has never done anything for me that a real father would."

Naruto sighed again, closing his eyes briefly and looking up ahead of him, trying to find answers in the soft sway of trees. "Still, Hinata-chan."

"Sorry," Hinata mumbled.

Naruto smiled at her saddened face and put a hand on her cheek. "Hey. Keep a smile on your face. Remember what I told you? Your face is too pretty to be sad."

Hinata looked up at him and instead of saying anything, she hugged him. More like jumped on him, but still. Wrapping her arms around his neck, she did the opposite of what he said and started crying, hot tears trickling down her face and dropping off at her chin. "T-Thank you, Naruto-kun."

"F-For what?" he said, as he looped his arms around her waist.

"For everything! For just being there. For being strong. For being supportive. For being so kind and understanding...For being Naruto-kun!" her voice hiccupped as she spoke and she struggled to keep her tears from falling.

Naruto smiled again and put his face in her shoulder, smelling the soft lavender scent she always seemed to carry. "You're welcome, Hinata-chan. But, I think you're stronger out of the two of us."

Hinata laughed. "Yeah, right. I can barely lift a gallon of milk."

Naruto chuckled. "I meant mentally stronger, Hinata-chan."

Hinata smiled as she let go of him. "I think we're equal."

"Is that why we're perfect for each other? The balance?"

She ruffled his hair and kissed his cheek softly. "Yes."

Naruto grinned and lifted her up, spinning around and only putting her back on the ground to kiss her.

Hinata closed her eyes as she felt his lips on hers and the same, but electrifying feeling rip through her as the kiss got deeper. Thank you, Naruto-kun. Thank you so much.

A few days later, Hinata flopped down on her bed, putting a pale arm across her eyes as she sighed. College is so hard, she thought.

It had only been a week since college had started and she was already looking forward for the semester to end. All the homework and confusing high-level education that was college was stressful and made Hinata more tired than ever before.

She heard voices outside her door and groaned, knowing that someone might come in. But what if it's Naruto-kun? Just as she sat up with hope, there was a knock on the door and she said, "Come in!" Hinata's face brightened when she saw her boyfriend and fiance come in and she jumped into his awaiting arms. When he set her down, after giving her a quick kiss, Naruto handed her an envelope.

"A girl was outside and she saw me going into your room, so she asked me to give you it. I think she's the delivery mail person," he said.

"Oh." Hinata hadn't got mail in a while and curiously fingered the flap open. There was nothing on the outside of it other than her name written in neat, steady writing that she hadn't recognized. Sitting down on her bed, she took out a card that was in the inside. It was thicker than regular paper and had a blue, fancy border with a beige background. Written in cursive, typed writing was:

We cordially invite you to join the Hyuuga family in the celebration of the marriage of Yutaka Kazuhiro and Hyuuga Hinata on the 8th of January.

Please arrive at the Yukimura Palace on the 8th of January at 4:00 P.M.

RSVP by the 12th of October.

Thank you.

- the Hyuuga family

And it was only a second after reading it did Hinata faint.

Author's Note:

DON'T KILL ME. This isn't the end of NaruHina, just some complications with her ass of a father. SO DON'T WORRY!

But other than the surprises, did you like it? Was the writing good? I've been taking a lot of time for each chapter because I wanna make them really good and non-crappy, just ask my best friend - she knows.

Hehe.

I want to sincerely thank you for taking time out of your day to read and review my stories.

Thanks again!

~ booklover333

P.S. Do you think I should change my name? I don't really like it anymore...