Prompt 01: the smell of fresh paint

Summary: Admittedly her apartment is small and barren and smells of fresh paint but it also smells of new beginnings.

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto

The sound of footsteps against granite echoed as the two girls made their way up the steps of the seemingly ancient building. They were walking far from each other and if one would see them in the early hours of Konoha, one would assume they just so happened to be going up the same floor.

"Sakura, dammit, slow down. Your apartment's not gonna look any better no matter how excited you are."

Sakura merely looked over her shoulder through cropped pink tresses as she smirked at her friend lagging behind.

"God, Ino, hurry up! Whatever happened to that super expensive gym membership?"

Ino blew a stray of blonde hair off her face as she glared up at her.

"Excuse you. I'll have you know I am in tip-top shape. And unlike you who's wearing those run-down Chucks" she spat the word as if it was poison "I'm wearing heels. Jimmy Choos, mind. Thus, I must do them justice and walk the walk." The unmistakable sound of clip-clopping heels against the floor highlighted her statement.

Sakura rolled her eyes at that. The walk is what Ino calls that slow tiny grandma steps she takes whenever she's wearing heels that are way too high to be possible for walking.

(Okay, so that's not entirely true. Ino is the master of wearing heels. She can probably run a marathon on her tippy toes without stumbling. Ino says she's been wearing heels since before she was born. Sakura would call her off but goddamn, the girl could walk on heels as easy as breathing.)

"What's wrong with my Chucks? They're comfy and they don't make me walk like I'm eighty."

She ignored the way Ino huffed, the way she does when she's about to prattle on about the importance of good shoes and all that jazz, because it doesn't matter how many times Ino lectures her about wearing "proper" shoes she will never understand. And it's not like she doesn't wear good shoes anyway. She has those Chanel boots and the Gucci pumps that cost half of her life savings and a part of her soul and that cute kitten heels she bought from the thrift shop last summer. She snickered as she saw Ino scowl as she is met by another flight of stairs.

"For god's sakes do you really have to get an apartment on the seventh fucking floor?"

"It's the only available unit left and anyway the elevator's just down today. Look! We're here!"

Sakura waited until Ino was beside her before walking along the halls of the seventh floor and reaching her door. There are only two apartments per floor and a fire exit at the end of the hall so it's really not that hard to find.

"Let's see...7B. Ah! Here it is!"

Sakura jiggled the keys that her landlord gave her looking like Christmas just came early and ignored the way Ino openly rolled her eyes.

"Brace yourself, pig. This is gonna be awesome!"

"I'm holding my breath and my fingers are crossed."

Sakura unlocked the door pushing it open and was greeted by the sight of her new home.

"Well, it's..." Ino looked around trying to find the right word to describe what her best friend would call home from now on "barren."

It's a tad too small for Ino's liking and there is only one room and it doesn't even have a walk-in closet. The kitchen is outdated and the bathroom doesn't even have a proper bathtub. The wallpaper is an awful floral pattern and not all of it is taken down yet and there is visible crack on the wall. She cannot find a single positive thing in this hobo box her best friend calls an apartment.

'And, ugh, what is that smell?'

Sakura remained oblivious at her friend's apparent distaste of her new place.

"It's perfect." She gushed.

"Yeah. Perfectly ugly."

She just laughed as she turned to see Ino's face.

"Pig, don't be like that. Now c'mon, help me with these." Taking off her sweatshirt and tying it on her waist, she started taking out the cans of paint from the large bag she's been carrying. "The landlord did say it might be a bit shabby but nothing a good old fashion paint job can't fix!"

"Hmm. Yes, your land lord. He's hot."

"Hot? Ino, you can't even see half of his face!"

Her landlord, who goes by the name of Kakashi, is a tall lanky man with a shock of silver hair who covers half his face with a surgeon's mask and his left eye with a patch. "An accident", he says about his eyes. And when she asked about the mask he just smiled (at least she thought he did, it's hard to tell except for the crinkling in his eyes...er, eye) at her and handed her her keys. He's weird she thinks, if not a bit creepy, but he seems nice and allowed her to repaint the place so he's cool.

"Whatever. I know an attractive man when I see one, even if he does cover half of his face. But can you just imagine what must be underneath that mask? Pure hotness I bet."

"Or a horribly distorted face."

"And the eye patch just makes him look badass and mysterious."

"He reminds me of a pirate actually. Maybe he has a pet parrot."

"God, you are so weird."

Sakura just rolled her eyes as Ino sighed dreamily over her weird eye patch wearing landlord.

"What's weird is you thirsting over my freaking landlord like a bitch in heat. If anyone's weird here it's you. Now come help me with these!"

Ino arched a brow as she watched her friend take out cans and cans of paint, brushes and rollers from the bag.

"What exactly am I supposed to help you with?"

"Painting my apartment of course!"

Ino made another face as she wrinkled her nose.

"Aren't there people to do that for you?"

"Yeah, but I can't afford to pay anyone to do the paint job and besides, I'd like to do this on my own." She started putting news papers on the floors and opening the cans. "Now, c'mon! I already did a part of the wall yesterday. We can pick off from that. The movers will be here the day after tomorrow with my stuff so I have to get the paint job done before they move my stuff in."

Oh, so that's what the awful smell was, Ino mused, a DIY paint job and the smell of manual labor.

Ino didn't move from where she was standing with her arms crossed and an unimpressed look on her face. Sakura seriously didn't expect her to handle paint in her Chanel top and Jimmy Choos, did she?

Sakura, knowing what her friend was thinking, just smirked and pulled an extra shirt from her bag. "Why'd you think I was dressed in sweats and cut-offs?" She tossed her the shirt. "Here. Change into this and take off your precious Choos."

Ino huffed and grumbled a few choice words under her breath.

"I knew I shouldn't have talked to you that first day of Kindergarten."

"So when do you start your internship?" Ino asked as she rolled her roller up the wall beside the door.

At least Sakura has a good color palette she muses as she dipped the roller back to pastel pink paint.

"The day after I move in!" Sakura called her voice sounding distant from the bedroom as she finished up her baby blue wall. "My shift starts at one in the afternoon after my work at the bookstore." As she said this, a huge smile spread on her face. Just thinking about her internship under Konoha General's Tsunade Senju (the Tsunade Senju!) is enough to make her giddy and squeal in excitement.

She put down her roller and surveyed her new bedroom. Her walls are painted baby blue while her ceiling is painted white. Simple just the way she likes it.

(She's thinking of painting a mural of the sky on it. Maybe some other time when she gets the chance.)

Sakura's smile didn't waver as she picked up the roller and the tray of the now dried paint to put away. She exited the bedroom and walked the short hall to the living room where she found Ino sitting in the middle with her legs crossed at the ankles , also done painting, and with a contemplative frown on her face.

"Working all day? Are you sure about that? What about sleep?"

"My work at the store starts at nine. I have plenty of time for sleep. Don't worry about it." She heaved a sigh as she sat beside her and leaned back. "Besides, I have to pay rent and I have to eat somehow. I guess I can manage that with my internship" Konoha General does compensate their interns generously "but what about shopping, right?"

So, maybe she's stretching herself a bit thin with her work schedule but a girl's got to earn money to pay for shopping you know?

Ino smiled as she nudged her. "Why do you even have to rent your own place? I told you, you can just live with me. It's nearer to the hospital and you're crashing there now anyway."

True. Ino offered her a place to stay. It's in the West part of Konoha where all the swanky condominiums and apartments are and is only a half hour travel to the city. She's offered her the spare room in her place and she's crashing there until she moves. All in all it's a nice offer. It's closer to her work, in a good neighborhood (meaning, she won't need to worry about being mugged when she walks home from work) and all she has to do for payment is cook for Ino because god knows she'll burn her whole building down if she ever so much as touch the stove.

But then that will defeat the whole purpose of going to Konoha.

"And I told you it's fine. We can't all be lucky princesses and have a daddy that buys us a new penthouse."

"That's why I told you to just live with me you bitter bitch! Just come and room with me. Daddy won't mind, he adores you. We can throw a party every week!"

Sakura laughed. "And that's exactly why I should not live with you. You are a bad influence" plus they already finished painting her apartment, duh "and bitch please, I do not want to be your care taker every time you get drunk off your pretty sky-high heels and, ugh, walk in on you doing the nasty."

God, she really wishes there's a way to bleach the brain. High school was a very traumatic experience.

"Oh my god that was one time! Get over it you little prude."

"Excuse you!" Sakura nudged her bare feet with her own. "Shikamaru was one time. Kankuro was another and Genma was a third. I mean seriously? Genma? The dude was twice our age!" And Ino was still a minor when they were...yeah.

"Hey, don't judge! I'll have you know that Genma was a gentleman and he had a nice ass. Ask Temari, she agrees."

"Yeah, I guess." Well, the man did exude sex appeal with his bedroom eyes and boyish smirk and—yeah, okay, he was hot.

They giggled for a bit before Sakura sobered up and said "But seriously, pig. You know why I can't room with you."

Ino sighed and put her hands up in surrender.

"Yeah, yeah. You and your space and independence and whatever. But seriously, Forehead, you're the most independent and self-reliant person I know. You really don't have to prove anything."

They were silent as they sat side by side in the admittedly small apartment with their bare feet touching. Sakura looked around to admire their handiwork.

It looked better now compared to how it did when they arrived. The tacky floral print wall papers were all taken down and the living room looked better after it was finished painted with pastel pink. They agreed to just cover up the small crack in the wall with a nice painting or a picture frame. The bathroom was painted in different shades of green, her bedroom a relaxing baby blue and the kitchen a neutral peach. Taking it all in, Sakura couldn't keep the smile off her face. There's just something about the place that makes her so proud.

This is her own place. It's not in the swanky part of town like Ino's place and it's an hour travel to the hospital but it's close to her work at the bookstore and a ten-minute walk to the station so she'll be fine. It's in a building that looks to be older than her father (but no, it is not as ancient as Ino likes to point out and it does not look like it will cave in any minute) and its elevator is broken. It's small and it doesn't even have a walk-in closet and she had to do her own paint job.

But it's hers. She paid the down payment with her own hard-earned cash and the same will apply with the coming rents. And tomorrow when the movers come and all her stuff are unpacked it's going to be her new home.

She heared Ino sigh beside her as she hauled herself up and walked towards her shirt and shoes.

"I'm hungry. Let's have dinner at that Italian restaurant near my place." She said as she changed into her previous shirt and slipped on her heels.

Sakura stood up as well to put the cans of paint and brushes in the cleaning closet beside her bathroom. "Yeah, sure. You'll come help me move too right?" she asked as she tugged on her shoes.

"Yeah, whatever. But you're buying dinner. Hurry up so we can leave. I think I'm starting to smell like paint. You still need to pack your stuff at my place, yeah?"

"Meh. I can do that tomorrow. It's not like I have a shit ton of clothes like you."

Shoving her hands in the pockets of her sweatshirt, Sakura smiled as she took one last look at her still barren apartment. It looks good and cozy and admittedly it smells like fresh paint still (even if she made sure to buy the ones that didn't have a smell in them) but the slightly acerbic smell also smells of new beginnings (as sappy as that sounds).

She's got an internship under one of the most renowned surgeon across the five nations (the Tsunade Senju!) She found a part-time job that pays well and has a really nice boss and to top it all off, she's got a place she could call her own.

She's finally in Konoha now and far away from the barren desert that is Suna. She's finally doing what she's been wanting to do all her life and she's slowly making her dreams come true and she is almost there.

They walked out of her apartment with Sakura locking the door behind her while Ino got a head start down the flight of stairs. She turned her head to look at the door across hers with '7A' on it in mild curiosity.

Ino was halfway down the fourth floor swearing up a storm when she caught up.

"Hey, Forehead. Do you know who your neighbor is?" she asked before muttering "Goddamn bloody steps" under her breath.

"Nope. But Kakashi did say he's been here long."

"Ooohh. A 'he' huh? Maybe he's hot."

Sakura rolled her eyes as they continued to go down with Ino cursing all the way until they got to the first floor. She's got other things to think about than whether her neighbor is hot or not.

And not like she cares, unlike Ino who only seems to have fashion and boys on her head like a little schoolgirl. She swears the girl needs to evaluate her priorities in life.

The sun is starting to set as they exited the building and Sakura absently noted how she's got the perfect view of the sunset on her apartment window.

And as they drank wine and talked over dinner, Sakura can't help but think that everything is finally falling into place.

A/N: Because I had a productive June that's why.

This is a multi-chap yo! Check out my drabble prompts on Tumblr too! Read and review, my lovelies and happy Sasusaku Month!

-Angeline

edit: 062615