nothing on you
Callista Miralni
disclaimer: always
Oh wow! I'm overwhelmed by your reviews! Thank you to everyone who took the time to leave a comment—it means a lot to me!
I'm excited to begin this section of the story so I hope you are too. :D
If anyone wants to design cover art for nothing on you, let me know! Shoot me a message either in a review or PM and we'll work something out.
.:loop00.4_1:.
.:growth:.
Sakura breathed in the familiar and comforting scent of the library.
Nothing could ever go wrong here. This was her sanctuary away from the tension of her club officers waging war against each other, away from the pressure her parents put on her, away from the expectations her friends held her to. Here, Sakura was allowed to concentrate and focus on her studies.
It was odd, the relief studying brought to her. Sakura never enjoyed studying but the sense of preparation she got from actually doing her assignments and reading over the material helped alleviate the anxiety she felt walking into class every day.
Across from her, Ino spread her books and papers out, focused entirely on the paper she was in the middle of writing for one of her classes. The two cousins had been sitting at this table for almost three hours without a break.
Ino stretched and yawned. "Hey Saki, do you want to get coffee?"
She couldn't have been more thankful for the break. Standing up, Sakura buttoned up her peacoat and slipped on her favorite pair of gloves. Ino did the same, flexing her fingers in an attempt to accustom herself to the odd sensation of fabric surrounding her fingers.
Nodding to her cousin, the two set out from the library towards the coffee shop in the Student Union. On their way, Sakura saw Sasuke and Shikamaru Nara, a boy in AASA she tutored in Chemistry II last semester, heading towards them. She smiled at them, stopping in the middle of the sidewalk to greet them properly and introduce Shikamaru to Ino.
"Hey guys. Had a good break?"
Shikamaru surprised her with a tight hug. "I owe you, Saki. I passed Chem because of you and my mom left me alone the entire break because I passed all my classes."
Sakura laughed. Shikamaru never changed. "Shika—you're brilliant but so incredibly lazy. If you actually went to class and paid attention, you wouldn't need my help at all."
She moved to give Sasuke a hug so he wouldn't feel left out but the other man picked her up by the waist and spun Sakura around in a circle. She held onto his shoulders tightly, laughing hysterically at the sudden and highly uncharacteristic move.
"Who are you and what have you done with the real Sasuke Uchiha?" Sakura laughed when she was back on her feet.
Shikamaru rolled his eyes. "Ignore him. He's been in a sickeningly happy mood all day. I dunno why... it's the first day of the semester."
Although he never said it, Sasuke was too happy to get out of the house. It was still tense between Itachi and their father, despite Itachi's moderate success.
"Sasuke appreciates true genius when he sees it. He gives me deference. You could learn from him, Shikamaru."
"Uh-huh. Whatever."
Eyes twinkling with mirth, Sakura squashed her laughter long enough to invite the two of them to dinner later that night for a welcome party for Ino and Tenten. They promised to be there before parting ways.
When she was sure the two males were out of hearing distance, Ino seized her cousin's arm with a mad grin.
"Saki, what was that? You and the Paper Boy... oh my gosh, you and the Paper Boy! That was like a dream come true! Oh, Saki, you're growing up so fast, I can't keep up with you!"
Sakura rolled her eyes. "We're just friends, Ino, and not very close for that matter. You're reading too much into it."
Ino's blue eyes shone. "Am I? People, especially Asian people, don't go around hugging other people like that. Sakura, he obviously has a particular attachment to you."
Her own protests to the contrary even sounded weak to her ears.
It wasn't until they sat down at a table with Sai and David did Shikamaru ask Sasuke why he was in such a good mood.
"Wait," David interrupted the conversation before Sasuke could respond. "You hugged Sakura Haruno and lived to tell the tale?"
"She's not a scary monster," Shikamaru sighed. "We both hugged her and we're obviously still breathing."
David glanced at Sai in surprise. "The last—and only—time I hugged Sakura, she looked uncomfortable and told me to get the fuck off of her. I've known her for years."
"Don't be jealous," Sai said candidly. "It's not their fault their personalities are so much more agreeable to my sister's. You remind her too much of-"
He abruptly broke off his sentence when he saw Tenten come up the staircase. His cousin waved once she spotted him.
"Of?" David prompted him to finish.
"No one," Sai answered as he made room for Tenten next to him. "Forget I said anything. So Sasuke, what's this I hear about you spinning around campus with my twin in your arms?"
Tenten dropped her notebook in surprise. "No. Way," she said, leaning forward in excitement. "Tell me everything."
Sasuke looked around the table—from Shikamaru's hooded gaze, to David's surprised face, to Sai's nonchalant expression, to Tenten's expectant smile—and sighed. "It's nothing. I was just excited to be back at school and see you all again. Momentary lapse in judgement."
Sai wisely chose not to comment but Tenten frowned and asked, "Didn't you come over during the break? I remember seeing you at the house."
"He came by to give me something and didn't stay long," Sai lied. "That doesn't count, Tenten."
"Oh." She looked disappointed. "And I thought Naruto acting like a jealous prat all night was because Sakura practically ignored him in favor of hanging out with him."
Both Sai and Sasuke froze.
"Oh well." Tenten shrugged. "We stopped hoping for something on that front a long time ago."
"Really?" Sai laughed weakly. "What were you hoping for?"
She waved a hand to dismiss his inquiry. "Not saying anything." Tenten zipped her lips shut. "You wouldn't like it."
With a sinking feeling in his stomach, Sasuke felt like he already knew what Tenten was referring to.
In her ear, Lily Southward turned their weekly catch-up call to their favorite hobby.
"Saki-chan, I know you're ridiculously busy, but won't you think about it? I can't go onstage without you."
Sakura leaned back in her chair and scoffed. "Don't be stupid, Lily. You and Sempai have been competing without me all throughout college. You don't need me at all."
"But Saki!" Lily exclaimed. "This is huge. The first place winner gets an all-expense paid trip to Japan."
"You know I could get that without entering a cosplay contest."
"But I can't! C'mon, we always said we'd go to Japan together."
She glanced at her calendar. "When is it?"
Lily squealed. "You'll do it?"
Sakura knew she was going to regret this. "Just tell me when the con is, Lily."
Her best friend breathed out the date in a rush of excitement. Checking her calendar once more, Sakura saw she was technically free that weekend in the summer. She consented to going and yanked her phone away from her ear to spare her eardrums from Lily's excited screams.
"Lils-"
"Yes, Sakura-the-Awesome?"
She smiled involuntarily.
"You're driving first."
A pause.
"Dammit!"
Tenten was Skyping with Hinata when Ino came home from her part-time job as a research assistant.
"Really?" The Hyuuga girl asked. "You're friends with the Anime Paper Boy?"
"Kind of?" Tenten shrugged. "Though Sai said something weird the other day. Say, Hina-chan, you know how we couldn't find Sakura for like five hours on Christmas?"
Hinata frowned. "What about it?"
"Well, I made the passing comment about how we thought Sakura had disappeared with Sasuke that night and that's why Naruto was being a dick and Sai just froze. Then he said something about how Sasuke was only there for a short amount of time but I swear to you, Hina-chan, I saw him during dinner."
Hinata rubbed the back of her neck in a way vaguely reminiscent of her childhood friend. "Now that you mention it, I thought I saw him during dinner too. Sai has to be lying then."
"Why would Sai lie about that?"
Hinata's eyes—a gorgeous natural gray that ran in her family—took on a devious sparkle. "Maybe he lied because what you said was true—Sakura and Sasuke were together when she went missing and they don't want anyone to know about it. Sachiko-oba-san would have a fit if she found out."
The more Tenten thought about it, the more it made sense. She never saw Sasuke during the time Sakura went missing and Sai spent most of the night with the rest of the guys playing video games. If Sasuke was anywhere that night, it was with Sakura.
"Speaking of Christmas, did you see how jealous Naruto was that night?" Hinata laughed. "I swear, all Sasuke had to do was smile at Sakura and Naruto would have a fit."
Ino laughed with them. "They say your first love never really dies," the Yamanaka said mischievously. "Maybe it's time to see if Sakura and Naruto were meant to be after all."
Even though Hinata laughed and schemed with the two cousins, she couldn't help the dull ache in her heart. She could relate all too well to Ino's statement.
Unfortunately, her first love, the boy she's loved since she was three, happened to be the same boy she conspired with her friends to set up with the person she looked up to the most.
Naruto Uzumaki.
"Here."
Sakura looked up from her notes and saw the steaming cup Sasuke held out to her.
"Is that tea?"
He sank into the seat beside her. "It sure as hell isn't coffee."
Delighted, Sakura grabbed the cup and greedily took a sip. Pomegranate Oolong flooded her tongue; Sasuke must have come from the Student Union coffee shop.
At least, that explained why the tea was already the perfect temperature.
"You're my hero," Sakura told him. "I was about to fall asleep."
Sasuke tried not to feel overly pleased by the praise. Instead, he pulled out his organic chemistry textbook from his bag and tried to concentrate on reviewing his notes.
Sakura watched him with interest as she drank her tea. She knew Sasuke was a chemistry major and the chem majors shared many classes with the biochem students but she never actually studied with him before.
Why didn't she think of that earlier?
"Sasuke, we're in Orgo II together, right?"
"Hn."
"I'll take that as a yes," Sakura rolled her eyes. "Why didn't we ever study together last semester?"
The man looked up from his book, dark eyes mirroring her wide-eyed expression. "I... don't know..."
He knew Sakura got an A in Orgo I last semester and he barely scraped a B in the class. Why didn't he think of studying with her earlier?
She giggled. "It's only two weeks into the semester; it's not too late to start now." She gave him an understanding smile. "I'll definitely need your help because these aromatic reactions are totally over my head."
"You're exaggerating," Sasuke sighed. "Look, there's only three types of basic reactions. Every thing else are derivatives..."
Sai wiped the sweat away from his forehead and took a long drink of water. On the ground next to him, Sasuke tied his shoelaces before accepting the water bottle David tossed at him.
"Sasuke," Sai muttered out of the corner of his mouth. "Pull yourself together, man. You're so distracted."
Redding at the tips of his ears, Sasuke looked at the ground. There was no denying he was distracted and loosing focus during their soccer game. Behind him, his cell phone vibrated loudly on the metal bench. Swiftly, Sasuke picked up his cell phone, read the text message, and threw it back on the bench.
Noticing his distress, Sai called for someone to substitute for the two of them. He sat his friend on the bench.
"Sasuke, what the hell has you so distracted?"
He clenched his jaw and turned away. Sai let out a soft sigh.
"Look, I'm trying to respect your privacy but at the same time, you look like you need someone to talk to."
Sasuke relaxed his jaw and opened up his cell phone. After a moment, he tossed it at Sai.
"My brother and father have been texting me about each other," Sasuke summarized as Sai read through both message threads. "It's really getting on my nerves. They can't snipe at each other without bringing my mom and me into it."
He tossed Sasuke his phone when he was done reading it. "That sucks."
"No kidding," Sasuke agreed. "It's just irritating. I'll get over it."
They watched as David scored another goal.
"If it's any consolation, my dad does that with Sakura too," Sai said. "When he's done yelling at her, he goes and yells at me next. Sakura always gets pissed whenever he tells me not to be like her."
Sasuke winced. "That's rough buddy."
"Yeah..." Sai's attention was on the game before he realized, "Wait... did you just quote Avatar?"
The Uchiha hid his embarrassment by taking a long drink of water.
When Sasuke sat down next to her at their usual table on the second floor, he was surprised to see the normally focused Sakura working on something unrelated to school.
"What's this?" He picked up a piece of paper lying next to her elbow.
Sakura snatched it out of his hands. "Nothing," she replied, cheeks pink. "Don't worry about it."
Leaning over for a glimpse at her laptop screen, Sasuke chuckled. "Finally lost your focus, Sakura?"
Her cheeks darkened. "It's Lily," she finally explained. "She wants me to compete in this competition with her so we can win a trip to Japan. Now the idea's in my head and the only way to make it leave me alone so I can study is to do the research for it."
Sasuke's heart lurched at the mention of his homeland. The last time he was there, he was twelve. It was a somber occasion for the Uchiha family—the dual funerals of both his maternal grandparents was emotionally taxing.
"Japan, huh?" He said instead. "Have you been there before?"
Sakura nodded. "My grandparents on both sides still live there. We go back every three years or so to see them. What about you? Have you been there?"
Sasuke smirked. "I was born there," he answered, smug. "Though the last time I visited, I was twelve."
That little tidbit about his life made Sakura push away her cosplay research. "Really?" Her eyes sparkled. "When did you move here?"
"I was almost seven. My parents wanted a new life so we came here."
Something about that simple statement said volumes to Sakura.
"Do you ever miss it?"
He gave her a wry smile.
"Sometimes. But then I realize, I wouldn't have all of you."
She grinned at him. "Maybe you should come with Lily and me. It'll be fun, I promise."
"Have I met Lily before?"
Seizing her laptop, Sakura logged into facebook and pulled up a photo of the two of them from their summer birthday party last year. "This is Lily. She's my best friend."
Sasuke recognized her from their frequent visits to the sushi shop. She was the girl Aaron talked about—the one with big hazel eyes and an interesting hair cut. Now, Lily's hair grew out past her shoulders, curling at the ends.
"She's a fashion design major at SCAD," Sakura babbled with pride. "I think she wants to make movie costumes. After all, her girlfriend is a film major and wants to be a director."
Lily was a pretty girl, no question about it, but she paled standing next to Sakura. Perhaps that was Sasuke's bias speaking, but no one could compare to a genuinely happy Sakura.
"I've seen her," Sasuke admitted. "She's usually with you at the sushi restaurant during the summer."
It was an unspoken rule between him and the Haruno twins to never speak of the three years before their formal introduction. Sasuke seemed to have difficulties keeping to it, but Sakura didn't seem to mind the momentary lapses in judgement.
"It's our favorite place and we go every time she's home from school." Sakura closed her laptop. "You should go with us sometime!"
"Wouldn't I be intruding on girl time?"
Sakura scoffed. "Don't be ridiculous. Lily's always wanted to meet you."
Reflecting on it, Sasuke wondered if she realized how strangely intimate meeting the best friend was. Though, he supposed, it was only fair that he meet her best friend since she already met his.
"If you say so."
Ino linked arms with Sai as they walked into the library.
"Hey Sai-kun," Ino began in Japanese. "What do you think is going on between Sakura-chan and Sasuke-kun?"
Her cousin snorted. "Something's going on between them? News to me."
"Oh come on!" Ino protested. "You're far from stupid, even though I question that sometimes. Sasuke-kun and Sakura-chan are practically glued together."
"Ino-chan, half their schedules are the same. Of course they're always together."
Ino wanted to strangle him.
"He's making a move on your sister! Don't you have any kind of protective brotherly feelings?!"
"Of course I do," Sai responded airily. "I also happen to trust Sasuke. He's not going to do anything I won't approve of. Besides, why are you complaining, Ino-chan? I thought you wanted them to get together."
She sputtered. "That's—well—gah! I hate you!"
When Sai came home around three in the morning after staying all night at the architecture building to finish a project, he was surprised to find Sasuke and Sakura fast asleep on the couch. Notes were scattered all around them—he surmised they had an exam coming up this week.
He had three options. One, he could wake both of them up, send Sakura to bed and drive Sasuke home. Two, he could carry Sakura to bed and grab a blanket for Sasuke. Three, he could leave them both there and enjoy their guaranteed embarrassment over their sleeping arrangement in the morning.
As much as he wanted to go with option three, Ino's words from a few weeks ago echoed uncomfortably in his head.
"Let it be known that I acted upon these so-called protective brotherly feelings," he grumbled as he easily lifted his twin sister from the couch.
He tucked her into bed and grabbed the extra blanket folded at the foot. Sasuke was awake and rubbing the sleep from his eyes when he returned to the living room.
"Sorry—I'll leave." He yawned.
Sai tossed him the blanket. "Stay the night," he said. "We're all too tired to be going anywhere."
After batting away Sasuke's weak protests, his friend caved and thanked him before curling up on the couch under Sakura's blanket and falling back asleep. A bold print on a sheet of paper caught his eye—the class syllabus. Someone—probably Sakura—highlighted the exam dates in green. The next test was Friday next week.
Sai shook his head. These overachievers, pulling late nights to study a week before.
Who the hell does that?
Hinata laughed at something Naruto said before picking up another hat.
"What do you think of this one?" She modeled it for him. "Think Saki will like it?"
Naruto shook his head. "It looks great on you, Hinata, but it'll clash with Sakura's pink highlights."
He took it off her head and placed it back on the rack. "Why is this so hard?!" He groaned. "Buying Sai's present wasn't hard... why is Sakura so difficult to shop for?!"
Hinata threw a scarf around her neck. "That's why I'm here, silly."
It was the beginning of March and the twins' birthday was at the end of the month. Naruto was determined to buy something amazing for their twenty-first birthday. He couldn't buy them alcohol because he was still underage but that didn't mean he couldn't get them an awesome gift.
That'll show you, Sasuke Uchiha, who's the better friend!
He didn't hate Sasuke per say... Naruto just didn't like him. The dark haired man fit too easily in their lives like he was supposed to be there.
He and Hinata went to Eastern Michigan University along with Kiba, Neji, and Shizune. It was close enough to home that driving wasn't a big deal so all of them lived at home to save money.
Naruto never understood why Sakura and Sai didn't do the same. U of M was only half an hour away... why bother paying for housing? He supposed it had to do with the college dorm experience Sachiko-oba-san insisted they go through.
They had gone through the entire department store with no luck. Hinata suggested they try some of the boutiques in the mall.
"If all else fails, you can always buy her a book," Hinata said.
Naruto gave her a mock glare. "Really? A book?"
"Don't give me that!" Hinata threw her hands in the air. "Sakura loves books. She'd appreciate anything you'd give her, Naruto, so why are you stressing?"
"Because it has to be perfect."
The woman sighed before directing his attention to Forever 21.
Sasuke was lying on his bed, reading, when his phone buzzed violently. It rattled off his desk and hit the floor. Grumbling about being bothered on his designated relaxation day, Sasuke picked up the phone.
"Sasuke!" A familiar voice chirped in his ear. "What are you doing today?"
"Nothing..." He dragged out the word. "Why?"
"Because!" Sakura said, excited. "Lily's home and wants to go out for lunch! Get dressed; I'll be there in five minutes."
"Sakura!"
She already hung up.
She must have already been on her way to his dorm because there was no way Sakura could make it from her apartment to his door in exactly five minutes.
His roommate opened the door when he was in the process of putting on his shirt. Sakura didn't even wait for his arm to be in his sleeve; she grabbed his hand the moment it peeked out from the cuff and pulled it through.
"Come on!" Sakura bounced on her heels. "We still have to drive home!"
Digging his heels into the floor, he stopped her. "I need my wallet and keys, Sakura."
She let him go and tapped her foot as he grabbed his belongings. Waving goodbye to his roommate, the pair made their way to Sakura's Prius parked at the curb.
"SCAD has a two week spring break that's earlier than ours," Sakura explained. "Lily arrived yesterday."
Sasuke chose another song on her iPod. Did this girl have every genre under the sun on it?
"Are you sure I'm not intruding?"
The woman laughed. "Positive."
Lily Southward sipped her Sierra Mist while watching the television mounted on the opposite wall. She was early and wasn't too concerned that her best friend wasn't there yet.
So much had changed in three months. The regular hostess was still there and greeted her with a familiar smile but the tall Korean waiter no longer worked there. The Anime Paper Boy was also nowhere to be seen.
She sighed in disappointment. The Paper Boy was one of the reasons Lily always looked forward to eating at the sushi house. It was so much fun to rile up Sakura, the infamous Ice Princess, about him.
The front door opened and a petite Japanese girl with raven and cherry blossom pink locks stepped through with a dark haired man at her heels. Lily waved them over to her table.
Even though Sakura mentioned in their weekly call that the APB befriended Sai and her at U of M, nothing could quite prepare Lily for their next meeting. This time, she would be introduced to him as a friend, not as her favorite waiter.
"Lily!" Sakura swept her into a tight hug. "It's been forever!"
The APB knew her habits well; he automatically moved to the empty seat on Sakura's left so she could take the corner outside chair.
"I know!" Lily enthusiastically returned the hug. "I haven't ordered yet 'cause I was waiting for you. The usual?"
"You know it!"
The APB grabbed a sushi menu and a pencil from the cup and scribbled their orders down without asking what they wanted. Lily watched him write with interest.
"Oh," Sakura realized. "Lily, this is Sasuke Uchiha, a friend from school. Sasuke, this is Lily, my best friend."
When Sasuke slid the order form to the end of the table, Lily took a cursory look at it. "You really are the Anime Paper Boy," she remarked. "You know everything we want to order."
Sasuke shrugged. "Habit, I suppose. Does that weird you out?"
Lily laughed. "No way! It's just further proof that we have no lives and practically live here. So tell me, Sasuke, how do you like Ann Arbor so far?"
Lunch was enjoyable, much to Sasuke's surprise. Lily was a fun conversationalist and had millions of stories to tell about her work in the fashion industry and on indie film sets. He could see why she was Sakura's best friend; the two girls were like two sides of the same coin.
Sasuke was sure it was going to be awkward, but Lily had a way of loosening up people and making them feel comfortable. By the time their food arrived, with an ecstatic Ms. Chu serving them and saying how good it was to see him again, Sasuke felt like he had known her forever.
After lunch, they went their separate ways, and Lily promised to drive down to Ann Arbor next weekend for a visit.
"That wasn't so bad, was it?" Sakura prodded him once they started driving.
"It was fun," he admitted. "She's a nice person."
Sakura beamed. "Lily's the best," she said with a note of pride. "So, what was it like being the customer instead of the employee at the restaurant?"
"Weird."
She laughed.
Karin sat in the library at Eastern, browsing facebook, while Suigetsu tried to do his homework. The two of them, along with Juugo, transferred to Eastern last fall to finish their bachelor's degrees. Karin and Juugo were microbiology majors and Suigetsu was a chemistry major like Sasuke.
Sasuke's status update made her giggle, distracting Suigetsu from his homework. He looked over her shoulder and laughed as well.
Sakura Haruno is the bestest bestest bestest person ever! You all should bow before her greatness!
Forty people liked the status, most of them people Karin never heard of. A lot of people left a comment stating the obvious: Sasuke had been foolish enough to leave his facebook logged in and the Haruno girl hijacked his account. Somewhere in the middle of all the comments, Sasuke left his own, grumbling about how evil the girl was and she didn't need to rub it into his face that she scored higher than him on their last Orgo II exam.
"He's gone soft," Suigetsu mused. "He never left his facebook open before."
Karin hit "like" before opening up to Sakura's profile. She sent in a friend request and contemplated Suigetsu's last words.
Did Sasuke go soft? She scrolled through his timeline before deciding that no, her best friend was still the same stoic, know-it-all, soccer-obsessed jerkface.
At the same time, he wasn't. Something in Sasuke changed since Christmas and Karin was hard-pressed to find out what.
"Sasuke spends a lot of time hanging out with people," Suigetsu noted.
Karin scrolled back up to the top and looked through the last month again. Suigetsu was right; Sasuke was tagged in about fifty photos, most of them from intramural soccer matches, a few of him studying in the library, a couple random photos, and dozen group shots of the AASA kids. Additionally, he had been tagged in thirty different status updates about various things from soccer-related posts to studying woes.
In every post, he had been tagged either with or by a Haruno. Obviously, the soccer posts were done by Sai and the studying posts by Sakura.
"Oh look, he's been tagged in something else."
Karin clicked on the new update. Sakura Haruno posted: Sasuke Uchiha is the most awesome being to grace the universe. I am nothing without him.
Suigetsu roared with laughter. "That's got Sasuke written all over it!"
She liked the status and noticed Sakura accepted her friend request. A notification popped up and Karin clicked on it.
サスケ！てめはばかですよ！
She giggled and liked the comment, adding one of her own in the same language to support the other woman's claim to Sasuke's stupidity. An Ino Yamanaka also commented in English that Sasuke was also the sexiest being the grace the universe.
The idea brewing in her head was going to get her yelled at by Sasuke later, but Karin didn't care. This was too much fun.
Have you seen Sasu-cakes without his shirt? Nothing to look at. Now, his friend Sai is a delicious specimen of the male gender. ;)
This Ino instantly replied: Woman, you lie! Sasuke is definitely a hotter man than Sai... that's my cousin you're talking about! UGH! I don't want to think about him naked!
Suigetsu was on facebook using his iPod touch. Whistling, he scrolled through Ino's profile. "Damn, she's hot! Sasuke totally lied about not knowing any hot women."
She ignored him. Well, he's not MY cousin so I'm allowed to think he's hot.
Finally, the person she waited for signed in.
Karin, stop posting your disturbing fantasies on my facebook.
On the morning of their twenty-first birthday, Sai and Sakura were rudely awakened by being pulled out of bed.
"Pig, get off of me!" Sakura screeched.
Next door, they could hear Sai swearing as he wrestled with Naruto. A loud thump! made the girls wince and Naruto cussed loudly.
"Get the hell out of my room!" Sai slammed the door shut.
It was Spring Break again and contrary to popular belief, the twins were not hungover even though they did go out to the bars at midnight. Years of underage drinking taught Sai to hold his liquor. Sakura, on the other hand, seemed to possess an unusual tolerance.
"Get dressed!" Ino sang as she opened the blinds. "Everyone's meeting us for lunch at Olive Garden!"
She wondered who everyone was.
Sai couldn't believe his cousins put this together. A long table at the back of the restaurant was filled with faces Sai knew. There were people from his high school soccer team, David included, the AASA kids, the Anime club, Sakura's high school cosplay crew, their childhood playmates, and Sasuke and his friends. Everyone clamored around him and his sister, yelling "Happy Birthday!"
Stealing a glance at Sakura, she wore a similarly shocked expression. Ino steered them to the middle of the table and sat them down. Sai took a long look at the table. Karishma and Nikki sat at the end of the table, chatting with Shikamaru and Chouji Akimichi. David was catching up with Shino Aburame and Kiba, who were both on the Bishop's soccer team. Neji was trying to catch Tenten's attention, but she ignored it to talk to his cousin, Hinata. Shizune sat serenely next to her long-time boyfriend.
On the other side, Tommy had his arm around his girlfriend Sarah, the two of them chatting with Joseph, Reagan, and Paul. Kira talked with Christine, Scott, Rick, Mark, and Katy before introducing herself and her friends to Karin, Suigetsu, Juugo, and Sasuke.
Across from them, Ino and Naruto wore smug smiles.
"Pretty good turn out, don't you think, Naruto-baka?" Ino elbowed him. "I can't believe you thought of this in the first place."
"Hey! I have good ideas, you know."
During dessert, the twins stood up.
"Guys, we don't know what to say," Sakura said. "We can't believe you all came together to celebrate our birthday with us. It's hard to believe this room contains the people who have shaped us into who we are today and who are most precious to us."
Sai let her talk. Sakura was always better with words; anything he said would come out sounding callous and sarcastic.
"Shizune, Naruto, Hinata, Neji, and Kiba were with us since we were toddlers. You guys have seen us at our very best and absolute worst and you've always been there."
While what she said was mostly true, he knew to anyone who knew them during high school, those words were a lie when applied to one particular person.
"David and Shino—you guys have been with Sai on the team since middle school. You've always got his back."
"Hell yeah we do!" David cheered.
"My crew," Sakura smiled at Kira and the others. "What would I do without you?"
"Crawl in a hole and die?" Christine offered.
"Probably," the Haruno girl laughed. "You guys are always there for me and I can't tell you enough how much I love each of you. Sarah and Reagan—I know I can count on you two for anything. Joseph, Paul, and Tommy—get your heads out of your asses."
They laughed.
"Nikki, Shikamaru, and Chouji: you guys always brighten up our day and have been some of the best friends we've made in college. Karin, Suigetsu, Juugo, even though we've only recently met, we can't thank you enough for thinking of us and being with us today."
Karin turned a little pink at her words.
"Ino, Tenten."
The two faced her eagerly.
"I tell you this all the time and Sai will never say it." The others chuckled. "But you two really are the best cousins anyone could ask for and we're proud to share blood with two extraordinary people."
Tenten dabbed at the corner of her eyes with a napkin.
"Finally, Sasuke and Karishma..."
Everyone looked at the two people who had yet to be mentioned.
"In college, they say if you meet that one right person, you will meet many more," Sakura said. "For us, Karishma is that one person. She introduced us to everyone we know at U of M and has been an invaluable friend. I know I say everyone is my best friend, but you, Kari, you're one of the best."
Karishma looked like she was going to start crying.
"Sasuke."
The Uchiha looked up at the sound of his name.
"Sai's never had a best friend before, no one individual person he singled out," Sakura smiled. "But I think you're the closest thing to a best friend he'll ever have."
Sakura may not have caught it, but Sai definitely noticed the darkening aura around Naruto.
So did Ino, if the furtive looks she kept giving him were anything to go by.
It didn't matter if what Sakura said was true. Sai did consider Sasuke to be his best friend—the two of them spent almost all their time together. Sasuke was the only person, aside from Sakura, Sai spoke freely with.
Once upon a time, Naruto may have been that person but not anymore. The rift between him and Sakura affected Sai as well, torn between his twin sister and his oldest friend. He too noticed the changes in Naruto after he started dating Caroline Raskovich and they were changes Sai couldn't forgive him for.
"To us," Sakura raised her glass. "And to the years ahead."
Clink!
Author's Note:
I don't know why, but after writing that last line, I just thought, "Oh to hell with it, let's stop." There's so much more I could have written and probably should have written but I'm honestly fried from spending the last two days writing this.
Also, I realized I've unconsciously set up a naming scheme for chapters and a basic timeline. But I'll leave it to you to figure it out. XP
Thank you again to all my reviewers and readers!
Ja ne!
Callista Miralni