title: mad love
author: ohwhatsherface
note: here's a taste of what fracturedtales is going to be like :D
warnings: college!au; cursing; karinsaku which i like thank you very much so kindly keep your "ew"s to yourself; possible implications of shecks if you've got a dirty mind
disclaimer: i do not own Naruto
song: i kissed a girl

Sasuke found it hard to concentrate on his video game with Sakura moving so much. Quietly sighing, he pressed pause to look up at her.

She was sitting cross-legged at the edge of his bed, a pensive expression on her face. She kept frowning, opening her mouth and immediately closing it, fidgeting, twitching—all in all, being so bloody freaking annoying.

The comic (graphic novel, she would vehemently correct) she'd spent days begging his older brother to give her after she saw it strewn in Itachi's comic collection, was sitting on her lap but she showed no signs of bothering to read it.

Something was obviously trouble his girlfriend.

"What's wrong with you?"

Sakura jumped at the sound of his voice. "U—uh…" She then smiled and rubbed the back of her neck as though she was nervous. "Ah, nothing's wrong, Puddin'!"

"Of course." He rolled his eyes at the blatant lie and the nickname. "And stop calling me that."

She had picked up the annoying habit of calling him Puddin', much to his chagrin, when for Naruto's Halloween party a few months ago, she had dressed up as Harley Quinn and forced him to be The Joker so they could match (he'd protested, saying that he'd rather be Batman, but then she'd begun some speech he wasn't in the mood for and relented).

Sakura merely laughed, returning to her usual happy demeanour. She picked up her comic and crawled up to sit beside him and lean against the headboard.

They sat together, Sasuke resuming his video game and Sakura…

Fidgeting.

"Something is obviously wrong," he pointed out. Scowling, he pushed the pause button once again. "What is it?"

He really was concerned. Ever since they school started again, their schedules were completely different from each other's and they only managed to hangout on weekends or when Sakura slept over at his house. They used to go on dates and attend parties together, but lately, things between them had gotten a bit stale.

"Um…" Sakura pursed her lips thoughtfully, looking down at her book. "Hey, you know when Harley was crashing with Ivy because the Joker kicked her out for a bit? Do you think that like, the two of them ever got together? Harley and Ivy, I mean."

Sasuke raised an eyebrow. "I don't know. Ask my brother. I never really cared for Batman."

"O—oh, okay!" She then went back to chewing her lip and twiddling her thumbs.

He wasn't going to get to the next level anytime soon with all the annoying distractions Sakura was making, that much was for sure. Annoyed, he turned the PSP off and put it on the night table. He then grabbed her hands, making her to jump.

"What is wrong with—"

"I cheated on you."

"—you… what?"

Sakura sniffled and looked down at their joint hands before ripping away. "I'm so sorry!"

"You…" He couldn't find it in himself to tell her to stop calling him that because he was too shocked, frankly. "With who?"

She cringed and he heard her suck in a nervous breath. "See, now this is where it gets bad."

His eyes widened for a moment before he narrowed them to glare at her. "It was Itachi, wasn't it?" He cursed under his breath and glared at the wall that stood between their two rooms. That stupid bastard of a brother was probably thinking about his girlfriend—

"Um… when I say 'bad', I mean really bad, Puddin'—er… Sasuke."

"Who?" Sasuke exploded. He couldn't come up with anyone else that would make such a blow to his male ego other than Naruto and he knew for sure his best friend would never do that… but he still had to ask. "What is it Naruto?"

"Ew! No!"

Sakura was extremely nervous. He was being surprisingly calm about the whole issue and that was making her very, very uncomfortable.

"It was Karin," she admitted quietly.

"Karin… the girl, Karin?" Sasuke blinked, suddenly feeling lost. "As in Karin, my ex, Karin?"

"Yes."

"Karin… my lesbian ex, Karin."

"Yes."

"…you're shitting me, right?"

For Naruto, the situation was more amusing than he thought possible.

Sasuke would never admit it, but when word got out that SasuKarin was a done-as-in-done deal and Karin was seen heatedly making out with some girl at a party, his ego was rather wounded. He was never really one to care what others thought, but when the rumours that he turned girls to girls came about (via Naruto), he wasn't all that pleased.

Karin was Sasuke's first girlfriend. Sakura was his second and current (at least he thought so) girlfriend.

It simply would not do for these two girls to get together.

"Stop. Laughing. Idiot."

Naruto ignored Sasuke's order and clutched at his sides. He was surely going to asphyxiate with how much he was laughing.

"I—I don't get it!" Naruto said between cackles. "How do you turn two girls into lesbians?"

"Shut up," Sasuke spat as he threw a pillow at Naruto's head. "I did nothing of the sort. And Karin says she's bisexual, not a lesbian. Get the fuck out."

The blond rolled his eyes and naturally, ignored all that Sasuke just said. "Sasuke, when Karin came onto our team we all just thought it was a fluke, but when Sakura suddenly came over, too..." Naruto shrugged, grinning wildly. "Well then that's no coincidence, dude. You think they'll make out for me if I ask them to?"

Sasuke chose to ignore his best friend and rub his temples instead.

"You're something else," Naruto drawled, shaking his head in disappointment. "Sasuke Uchiha, the Guy Who Turns Girls to Girls." He smirked. "Has a ring to it, huh?"

It was at that moment that Sasuke's brother chose to walk by.

"...what?"

"Itachi!" Naruto yelled enthusiastically. He put an arm around Sasuke's neck and pulled him into something akin to a headlock. "Itachi! Sakura cheated on Sasuke with a girl."

"She didn't cheat on me," growled Sasuke as he pushed Naruto away. "She just kissed her. Once."

Naruto snorted. "That doesn't change the fact that she liked it."

"How could you possibly know that she liked it?" Itachi asked, taking a seat on the edge of Sasuke's bed. Normally he would leave Naruto and Sasuke to their usual scuffles, but this—this—was too much to just ignore. Even Itachi had to hear about it.

"Why else would she be feeling guilty?" Naruto was too amused by the situation. "Really, Sasuke... how do you do it?"

"Fuck off," Sasuke spat, throwing a pillow at the blond. He looked over to his brother. "You too. Both of you get out."

"So you can emo in solitude?" Naruto mocked. "Yeah, no way, dude. You might kill yourself or something if no one stays around."

Sasuke rolled his eyes. "I'm not suicidal, you retard."

"Not now, fine, but when it finally sinks in that you turned not one, but two girls into lesbians, yeah," Naruto grinned, "then you will be suicidal."

"Bi," Sasuke repeated only to go ignored.

Itachi frowned. "Suicide is a bit much. Perhaps celibacy."

Naruto looked positively appalled. "Celibacy?" He snorted. "He may as well be suicidal then!

Sasuke growled and stood up. "Screw you guys." With that said, he left the room.

There was a certain evil bitch he needed to find.

Karin did not like commitment. She did not like it at all.

She also did not like sappy movies, clingy people, and well... all that emotional stuff.

Which is why she dumped Sasuke. He was the epitome of all things emotional with all his Issues and whatnot. She shuddered, remembering how often he would ruin dates with his sulking because of some family problem or Naruto problem or school problem or problem problem.

...wow. He was pretty irritating, now that she thought about it.

And, of course, insensitive. Karin pouted. He never once opened the door for her or told her she looked pretty when he picked her up to go out.

Damn. What did she see in that guy?

He was really hot, she remembered. Oh, yeah.

She found it funny that their breakup beat his fat ego down a few notches. With Sasuke's so-called best friend—oh, now he was annoying, Karin thought—spreading rumours (though really, they technically weren't rumours since they were true) that "Sasuke turned Karin into a girl-lover (DO YOU THINK SHE'LL LET ME WATCH?)," it was no wonder that Sasuke hated her guts.

But this—what she did last night...

Karin grinned.

Oh, it was unforgivable.

"You bitch."

She rolled her eyes. "Hello to you too, Sasuke," she greeted sweetly, not once looking up from her work. She'd been expecting this encounter all day. Though she didn't think Sasuke would confront her in the library; that'd just be making a scene, something Sasuke wouldn't do unless he was really riled up.

Karin didn't kiss Sakura Haruno out of spite. Really. They were both drunk, and Karin thought she was pretty, and rumour had it that Sasuke and Sakura were on an off at the moment, so technically, she was free game! And besides, it wasn't like Sakura was unwilling. She seemed rather curious, actually.

"You kissed my girlfriend," he spat. Sasuke sat down in the chair across from her, never once pausing in his glaring.

"Did I?" she replied innocently.

"Yes."

Karin dropped her pen and returned Sasuke's dirty look. "Listen, Sasuke, I'm sorry that you two are having problems but that doesn't give you the right to start taking out your insecurities on me. It's not my fault that you can't keep a girlfriend," She paused, smiled and then continued lowly, "...straight."

"Shut. Up."

Sasuke pinched the bridge of his nose, thanking the gods that Naruto wasn't there to hear her barb. The idiot would be laughing his ass off by now.

Karin's smile began to falter when she noticed how agitated he was. He was more pouty than usual and he just seemed so utterly... put out. She tilted her head observantly.

Sasuke Uchiha was a mess.

She sighed. "Wow, you're actually hurt." It wasn't about his pride, she realized. He actually really liked this girl.

...and she liked Karin better. Last night, at least. Karin kept that thought to herself though, lest Sasuke start crying or something else completely irrational and embarrassing.

"Damn," Karin muttered, feeling the telltale signs of guilt. She looked at Sasuke solemnly. "I'm sorry I kissed your girlfriend."

He raised an eyebrow. "Are you?"

Karin paused. "Well, no, but it seemed like the appropriate thing to say." She smiled at him wryly. "Sasuke," she began, wanting to explain to him just what happened the night before. Really, the boy was taking things out of proportion. It wasn't like Sakura had sex with her! Karin took a deep breath. "Sasuke, we're in college." At Sasuke's deadpan stare, continued, "She was just experimenting."

That wasn't all too comforting, in Sasuke's opinion.

"So were you," he reasoned. "And now look at you—you're stealing my girlfriend."

Karin sighed. "Look." Her smile grew strained. "If you tell anyone this, I will kill you, okay? I don't want to look like a bad kisser or whatever but..." At his curious look, she went on. "She freaked out midway through."

"...what exactly is 'midway'?"

"You're missing the point," Karin muttered. "She felt bad. She couldn't go through with anything because she was thinking of you, idiot." She shook her head in frustration and shoved her textbook in her bag. Karin stood up and glared at Sasuke. "Just talk to her!"

It took him the entire day to find Sakura. He'd found her in her dorm room, much to his annoyance. Why hadn't he thought of that earlier?

"Sasuke!" She seemed surprised to see him. "Uh, come in," she said, stepping aside so he could enter.

Sasuke spared the second bed a curious glance. He met her roommate a few times before. It was some girl in Sakura's life sciences program named Shiho, with big glasses and straight hair and... What if she was just another curious college girl? Sasuke shook his head to get rid of the thought.

Just. No.

"Look," Sakura began, staring at her feet. "I know you probably hate me, and I understand. It's fine if you want to break up—"

"I don't."

She raised her head at that and gaped at him. "What?"

"I don't," he repeated. Sasuke sat down on her bed and she joined him, still staring at him curiously. "I... talked to Karin." He found it cute how red her face got. "She said I should talk to you—"

"I didn't like it!" Sakura blurted out. She shook her head miserably. "I don't even know how it happened, I swear! We were just talking and people kept giving me drinks and then..." Her shoulders drooped in defeat. "And then for whatever reason, her lips started to look pretty. So I kissed her. Or she kissed me. Whatever. And it went on for a bit until—" Sakura stopped, and if it was possible, she blushed even more. "Until she..." After much struggle to continue, she scowled at him. "Do you know what I'm getting at?"

"Not at all," he replied smoothly, finding her embarrassment amusing.

"Fine," she hissed. "It went on for a bit until she... touchedmyboob." Sakura cleared her throat loudly and Sasuke looked away to hide his amused smirk. "And, well... I thought of you."

Sasuke's smirk seemed to widen. "Having your boob touched makes you think of me?"

"...that's not what I mean!" Sakura yelled, hitting him with a pillow. She dropped back onto the bed and stared at the ceiling mournfully. "I'm glad that you forgive me and want to work through this but... well what if it wasn't just me experimenting. What if I really... well, you know."

"Like girls?"

"Yes."

Sasuke shrugged and leaned back at well. Their shoulders touched and he turned his head to look at her. "You don't."

"Say that to last night," she whined, covering her face with the pillow and groaning into it.

"I don't care," Sasuke said firmly. He wasn't about to back out of their relationship, so why was she?

"But what if I'm one of those girls?" she asked. Sakura moved the pillow away and turned onto her side. "Sasuke, what if I'm that girl who marries her college sweetheart, ends up a housewife, and when she's at home cleaning and cooking and taking care of her kids, she thinks about some girl she made out with in college all the time, so she's totally unhappy, which then makes her husband unhappy, so he cheats on her, and really, she doesn't give a shit but she uses that as an excuse to finally get a divorce, which then makes their children unhappy!"

"You talk too much."

"Sasuke, I'm serious!"

"So am I." He snorted. "You actually talk too much."

"But—"

"Do you want to break up?" he asked firmly. Sasuke brought his hand to her face and stroked one cheek.

"No," she mumbled, "but the guilt is going to eat me alive. Seriously. It's killing me. I haven't eaten all day because I feel so terrible that I've lost my appetite—"

He cut her off with a kiss.

It wasn't like Karin's, Sakura mused against her better judgement. That kiss had been a bit sticky from their respective lip glosses mingling, and the redhead had been a bit forceful. Of course, not to say Sasuke was gentle, but he wasn't as demanding as she was. He actually asked—via body language and such—before shoving his tongue down her throat.

Sakura pulled away to laugh when his hand began to creep up her side, knowing where it planned to go.

"We'll be fine," he mumbled against her neck. "We can get past this."

"Are you sure?" she asked guiltily.

He raised his head and smirked at her. "I'll make sure you never think about another girl again, that's for sure."

Sakura stared back at him warningly. "Sasuke, if you use this as an excuse to start groping me more often I will beat you."

When he failed to listen and she had to swat him away, Sakura sighed. He was right.

They were going to be just fine.

fin