Two years after Sasuke returned from the ever delightful, self-imposed mission of killing his older brother, he got drunk with his team.
Two years and six hours after Sasuke returned from the ever delightful, self-imposed mission of killing his older brother and gotten drunk with his team, he got married to Haruno Sakura.
Currently, the two of them are lying, appendages entwining, on Sakura's bed, in Sasuke's apartment. Don't ask. For now, let's rewind and let the newly wed couple continue sleeping for a while longer… they have quite the day ahead of them.
::Sixteen Hours Earlier::
"Oi, Teme, we're going out tonight. Sakura-chan, too." Sasuke grimaced. Just his luck. All he wanted to do was go home and spend a nice evening alone with his thoughts… but no, he had to be on a team with two of the most social nin in the bloody village. However, he still owed them and he knew it.
"Fine." He shouldered his pack and continued on his way, if he were lucky he would have enough time to shower before heading out to the bar with Naruto and Sakura.
"I'm coming to get you in twenty minutes! I want to get there before Happy Hour's over!" Sasuke rolled his eyes and made a silent wish to the Gods asking that please, please could they maybe, just this once, burn the bar down so he could stay home?
Of course, he was cursing those same Gods thirty minutes later when he and Naruto arrived at said bar and it was still bloody standing. Flashing their papers at the door, the two headed in and found a table where they could observe the rest of the bar.
"We'll take a 3 bottles of Sake please." Naruto ordered from a waitress who seemingly had appeared out of nowhere.
"Three? Aren't you pushing it, Dobe?" He cocked an eyebrow at his idiot friend,
"We can do a bottle a piece, are you kidding? Haven't you ever seen Sakura-chan drink?"
"Are you calling me a lush, Naruto?" There she was, Haruno Sakura.
"Woah, Sakura-chan!! You look beau-" He cut off in mid-compliment, staring at something behind her, and then, "HINATA-CHAN!!!" Sakura grinned and shook her head, sliding into the booth next to Sasuke.
"I can't believe he couldn't even finish the sentence… although I guess Hinata deserves the attention."
"Considering she spent all that time besotted with him in the academy, I'd say so." Sasuke surprised himself by contributing to the conversation. He must've inhaled some of the curious smoke they'd passed on the way to their table and now it was taking over his mind. Yes, that had to be the reason. Even more surprising was that Sakura didn't even blink at his contribution, but rather took it in stride and continued.
"I know! He's so blind sometimes!"
"Sakura…" while she had been talking, he'd finally noticed what Naruto had seen immediately. Sakura was dressed nicely. In a dress. She was wearing a dress. And make up. "What are you wearing?"
"Oh, this? I saw it in the store today and I figured, why not. Maybe I'll find my future husband." He had to stop himself from spitting out the sip he had just taken. Future husband?? They were only 22. It was far, far too soon for marriage. However,
"You're too little." Is how that came out when he vocalized the thought. And, predictably, Sakura turned to glare at him.
"I'm too what?" Well, he knew enough not to repeat the sentence, so what to do… what to do…
"Hn."
"I hate you sometimes, Sasuke-kun." Score. "I'm not too little to be thinking about it, which is all I'm doing really. Besides, we're not getting any younger, buddy." This time he did spit out his drink. He whipped his head around, ready to postulate on every reason why they were too young, but she'd already gotten up and was sauntering… yes, sauntering… towards the bar. And some guy at said bar. Oh, hell no.
"Saku-"
"Oi, leave her alone, asshole. She's got to get it somewhere." Unfortunately, his blond haired bimbo idiot of a quote-unquote best friend chose this moment to interfere.
"Excuse me?"
"Listen, I… and Kakashi-Sensei, both wish that Sakura-chan was still twelve years old and that no one was touching her and that she would be content pining over you and playing with her dolls, or whatever. But… I figure if I need it, she definitely needs it."
"If the 'it' you're referring to is what I think you're referring to… then you're a bigger idiot than I thought and I'm putting a stop to this right now." It had to be the alcohol that was making him so damned talkative.
"Go ahead and try it, bastard. I'd love to see how this goes." And with that slightly out-of-character snide remark, Naruto threw his arm around Hinata and sat back as if to enjoy something incredibly entertaining. Sasuke decided right then there he would do whatever it took to make her stop. He was very well aware that he couldn't just walk over to her and demand it… as much as he wished that were the case. He wasn't stupid, he knew how stubborn she was, if he did that, she'd probably just end up with the guy at the bar out of spite. Bloody harpy.
However… if he played his cards right… she wouldn't talk to any other male for the rest of the night (barring Naruto) and he could rest easy with the fact that she was still as pure and safe as ever. This being rationalized, he turned back to his table, grabbed two of the bottles of sake and headed towards his former teammate.
"Suji-kun, you are too funny!" Unfortunately, the closer he got, the better he could hear how she was … 'talking' with that Suji guy. This was not okay … he'd heard her laugh, that giggle, that fake, falsetto giggle was not her laugh. "Suji-kun, I would love-" This was probably the opportune time for interfering.
"Sakura." She spun around in surprise, as if never in a million years would she have expected Uchiha Sasuke of all people to talk to her at a bar… even if they had been speaking minutes before. She tilted her head sideways and he really couldn't help but notice the pink strands fall against her shoulder in a way that was almost (but not quite, of course) pleasing.
"… Sasuke-kun…?" He held up the two bottles in front of her face and put on the most irritatingly confident smirk he had in his arsenal,
"I bet you can't finish this bottle of sake before I can."
"Excuse me?" In response, he placed one of the bottles in front of her. All thoughts of her precious Suji-kun were completely out of the door as the thrill of competition swept across her face in an array of expressions. Disbelief, acceptance, and then, pure and utter knowledge that she had to beat him. He could see it. "Rationally, I know this is a bad idea. But I also know that I can beat you. Let's do this. On your mark, get set… go!" That being said, she gripped the neck of the bottle, tilted her head back, and kissed the mouth, welcoming the drink with open lips.
A/N: So I'm an idiot. No really. I was convinced that for the past 4 months, ff-net alerts had not been working. Turns out, gmail was just sending all alerts directly to my spam folder and I just realized this … two days ago?
… Did I mention that I'm an idiot? Because I'm an idiot.
So anyhow, I've been sitting on this puppy for a while… the birth of this idea actually stemmed from a one-shot Nazaliasan asked me to do (which I will get to, I promise-promise!) and kind of somehow took on a life of its own. Of course, I've been so crazy busy with life (but no boys :( ) that I hadn't had a chance to finish the first chapter until a few days ago.
I know this chapter is short, but that's only because this is the introduction and subsequent chapters will be longer (mark my words…)
I'm also (kind of) working on the second chapter of Shrinks… which Misa (HPBabe91) will attest to considering she's read some of it.
Aye dios – I'd go on, but this a/ns gotten long enough (did I mention that I'm in grad school, getting my masters? Bahahaha) so read and review my darlings. I've missed you so!