Before any of you read this, I'd like to point out that this chapter is quite light-hearted and that we have a chatty Sasuke because Sakura. I need not explain further.

I would also really, really, truly appreciate if you guys review. (Thanks a bunch to yourstruly247!) Reviews help me a lot with my writing. So if you have any comments and suggestions, they'd really be a big help!

I hope you enjoy the next chapter!

.

"Well, well, well." Ino said as she walked by. "What do we have here?"

She was outside, franticly looking for Sakura, when she came upon a delightful scene.

There she was, her best friend, sleeping soundlessly across the lap of a very handsome, albeit arrogant, young man, who looked to be very disgruntled despite his current situation. Ino giggled.

That is so cute.

Sasuke turned his head when he felt someone's eyes on them. His curious gaze immediately became an annoyed one as he realized who was looking. He shook his head and sighed. Why did it have to be Ino?

Ino waved at him, smiling impishly. "Way to go, Sasuke! Already making a move? They've only been broken up for like—what? 2 hours? You sure know the way to a girl's heart, huh? Well, I'm proud of you—"

Sasuke figured Ino was talking about Sakura, what with her suggestive expressions and animated gestures. Other than that, he didn't really get much of what she was talking about. Sasuke only chuckled.

Is she that stupid?

Ino had failed to realize that she was outside, and that there was a glass wall that separated her and her buddies.

Sasuke couldn't hear a thing, but Ino was still talking.

And besides, his mother always taught him:

Never interrupt a lady when she is speaking.

"You're an asshole, you know?"

"I get that a lot." Sasuke chuckled.

It had taken Ino five minutes to realize that she was standing on the sidewalk. She only began to notice when people started leaving spare change near her shoeless feet. She was shoeless, drunk, and talking to a window. People definitely thought she was crazy.

"I just spewed out a fucking essay, and you didn't bother telling me I was out on the fucking sidewalk?" Ino rumbled. "You are such a douchebag; I swear…"

"We've been over this a few times, Ino."

"People started giving me change!"

"Shouldn't you be grateful? It's a lot more than what people regularly pay you for your services."

"I AM NOT A WHORE."

Sakura giggled. Leave it to her friends to help her forget about her worries. She hadn't felt this happy in months. She was glad that even for a short while they could pretend Kiba didn't exist.

Their merriment was cut to a close, though, as the shop manager made his way over to their table.

"Shop's closing up, in case you haven't noticed." The surly manager grumbled, throwing Sasuke the keys. "Clean the place up; it's the least you could do."

The man walked out, slamming the door as he did. They could hear him grumble about teens and their lack of responsibility and what not.

"Guess I'm not getting that raise then."

Ino and Sakura laughed. Sasuke was being unusually talkative, and they both had a fair guess as to why.

"The dude needs to get laid." Ino commented. "He's too grouchy. Why doesn't he get laid?"

Sakura rolled her eyes. "Gee, Ino, I wonder why?"

They watched the large, middle-aged man stumble to his car, his less-than-full head of hair shining under the streetlight. He dropped his keys, and as he went to pick them up, he bumped his head on the side view mirror.

Sasuke chuckled. "The old man's a bit of a nag, but he means well."

"Am I hearing correctly?" Ino feigned surprise. "Is the Sasuke Uchiha actually defending someone?"

"Well, it isn't the first time." Sakura said in a quiet voice, smiling at Sasuke as she did. Her smile dropped as she met the curious gaze they boy beside her was giving.

They stared at each other for a while; one not knowing why she had said that and the other not knowing how to respond.

Ino grinned as she looked at Sasuke and Sakura; there was an awkward silence, which she felt obliged to break, "We better get going now, though. Sasuke still has a lot to do."

Sakura coughed, breaking eye contact. "Yeah, we should." She followed after Ino, who had since gotten up from her place. She offered a quiet excuse me to the boy beside her, who then stood up so that she could pass.

"Do you think I could stay with you tonight, pig?"

Ino's brows furrowed. "I guess I could sneak you in. The dorms don't exactly allow out-of-the-blue visitors." She raised her brows and sighed. "We could go up the fire escape."

"But I've slept over a bunch of times. What's so different now?"

"New prefect. New rules. The bitch is like crazy strict."

"Since when did you care about rules?"

"Since my mini fridge was confiscated."

"Well, fuck." Sakura rubbed her temples repeatedly. "I guess I could call Naruto. He'd be okay with me staying."

She grabbed her phone, "Shit. My battery's dead. Ino, could I borrow yours?"

"Uh, do I look like I have a phone with me? I'm pretty sure you could just pop by and he wouldn't give a fuck." Ino chuckled, lacing her arm through Sakura's. "Come on. His apartments on the way to the—"

"She can stay with me." Sasuke piped in. He was leaning against the booth, eyes trained on the red and white tiles of the floor.

Ino made an 'o' shape with her mouth and backed away towards the door.

Sasuke looked at Sakura dead in the eye. "I have plenty room."

The room was again silent, which only annoyed the male even further. They didn't have to seem so shocked about the offer. Sakura's been to his apartment loads of times; she's stayed over as well. Only difference was it would only be the two of them, and she was single.

"Are you sure?" Sakura looked at the boy curiously. "I'm kinda' unstable and I don't wanna' burden you any further and I might eat a lot of your food and—"

"I can manage."

"You really, really, really sure? You've seriously done enough, and I don't wanna' impose or anything, and I think I owe you a lot already, and—"

"Sakura, you know me." He looked at her sternly. "I wouldn't be offering if I wasn't sure."

Sakura stared at Sasuke, a little bit absorbed in his hard gaze. Of course she knew him, and he knew her; and he wouldn't be Sasuke if he didn't look after her. He's been like that since they first met; and even though she hated how he protected her all the time, she didn't know where she'd be without him. Sakura just didn't want to be Sasuke's problem anymore.

Sasuke sighed. "I'm doing this of my own free will. You aren't a burden, Sakura Haruno." He had said, almost like he read her mind. " And you'd do the same for me anyways."

She was quiet for a while.

"Well, that is if you had a girlfriend to break up with." She grinned. "I mean, come on, how am I supposed to console you if you don't even have a crappy love life to begin with?"

Sasuke chuckled. If you only knew just how crappy my love life is.

"Alright, alright. I don't have a romantic bone in my body. Whatever." He turned around and walked towards the shop's supply closet. "Just wait until I finish cleaning, and you can tell me about it all you want."

Sakura giggled. "You better be ready! I have a whole essay already planned out." She heard him chuckle before he disappeared behind the door.

"Well, I really didn't need to see that." Ino said. For a second there, I felt like a fuckin' third wheel.

"I though you left?"

Ino waved her off, and marched towards the door.

"I wanted to see the show." She batted her eyelashes at her friend as she pushed against the glass. "You just have fun with Sasuke, sweetheart."

Sakura sighed at Ino's antics, plopping down in the booth she had spent hours on. She cradled her head in her hands and giggled.

Why the hell am I so excited?

Ino skipped merrily on the pavement. She was convinced that she was the bestest friend a girl could ever have.

There was no new prefect. There were no new rules. And as far as she knew, her mini fridge was still happily housed between her study table and her bed. Sakura could have stayed with her, then she'd have spent the whole night on Ino's dirty floor, moping around about Kiba when she could have been enjoying the fine male specimen called Sasuke. And now she was.

Ino cackled happily.

Aren't I just great?

It was only supposed to be a quick trip to the convenience store.

It was 2 am. The lights flickered on and off repeatedly, and the streets were devoid of any signs of life. The sky was clear. The city lights blocked out any stars that threatened to make themselves known, and the moon had curiously wandered off behind a large, dark cloud. The whole of the city was asleep. Except for two.

After cleaning the shop and changing into his normal clothes, Sasuke suggested they buy some of Sakura's necessities. What he meant by that was get her a toothbrush. What she heard was, "Buy stuff for Sakura."

"Why'd you get a cart? We're only getting a toothbrush."

"You never know what else we'll need, Sasuke."

"My apartment's fully stocked."

"How can you call it fully stocked when you didn't even have a spare toothbrush, hmmm?" Sakura eyed the boy behind her, giving him a smug look.

He rolled his eyes as he watched her throw some cereal into the metallic crate. "I think you just want to spend money."

She ignored his comment as she perused the aisles.

What was I looking for? Oh, tissue! She sped up and made her way to the toiletries aisle. I should get shampoo, too. Can't have me smelling like Sasuke-kun. That would cause a fucking riot.

Sasuke watched her flit around the store like she owned it, reading all the labels and the prices off the shelves, and calculating the expenses in her pretty little head. Realizing she wasn't going to listen to him any time soon, he caught up with her and pushed the cart for her.

"Lead the way, cap'n." He drawled.

She beamed up at him and speedily scanned the various shampoos, conditioners, and soaps. She was tossing things in and out the cart at lightning speed, and it didn't look like she was going to stop anytime soon. If there was one thing she prided herself in, it was shopping. It was the ultimate stress-reliever; it kept her mind occupied on other things, helped her forget. Now that she thought about it, she always had an excuse to go shopping ever since she and Kiba got together.

Well, isn't that a comforting realization.

She shook her head as she stared down at the two bottles she was holding. This was why she liked shopping. She could push the bad thoughts away and replace them with the current issues at hand, like whether she should get the vanilla-scented shampoo or the strawberry-scented one.

Sasuke leaned against the cart tiredly. He was observing her. He knew what she was doing, as per usual. He knew Sakura like the back of his hand, and he knew that she was just passing the time, prolonging her agony, pushing the problems away like they weren't a big deal. He knew, because that was how he coped as well. But that didn't mean he liked to shop. He liked to more purposeful things. Who was he to judge anyways? If this was her form of release, then so be it. He'd stay and help her, and he'd gladly participate.

"Hey, Sasuke." Sakura turned to look at him, snapping him back into reality.

"You think we could get some hotdogs? Turns out ice cream isn't the best dinner substitute." She smiled at him cheekily.

He rubbed his eyes and forced a smile. "Yeah. Sure." He bumped her with the cart softly. "I'll go pay for these and you go get the hotdogs."

"But I have to pay! These are my stuff. I can't have you do that."

"Yes, you can." Sasuke said. "Didn't stop you the last time."

"Hey! You offered to pay, I was just being nice and so I let you."

"And I'm offering now. So be the nice person you are, and get us those hotdogs."

She laughed. "Fine, fine. But I'm paying for the hotdogs!"

He chuckled. "Didn't say you weren't."

"Do you have any classes tomorrow?"

Sasuke looked at her briefly before answering the question. "Nope."

They were walking to his apartment, which was only a couple of blocks away. He was carrying her stuff, and she was holding the hotdogs.

It was peaceful, and Sakura felt calm; something she thought she wouldn't be feeling for a while. She just knew it was because of the boy beside her. She knew by the way he talked to her; she knew by the way he walked beside her; she knew by the way he'd offered to carry her bags if she would feed him the hotdog. She knew because it's always been like that.

It's always been Sasuke.

She was in love with Kiba, yes; and she might have been too in love. She gave him her heart and soul. And for a while, she thought that that was enough. She thought her love was enough for the both of them. She realized now that it had only been bearable since Sasuke was there with her. And that made her feel a little guilty, it made her feel like she was cheating. It made her feel like she had something to do with the failure of their relationship. But she gave it her all, and Kiba just couldn't do that for her. He wouldn't do a lot of things for her.

But Sasuke.

With Sasuke. Thanks to Sasuke. She chanted in her head, racking her brain for some sort of explanation. Because Sasuke just didn't make any fucking sense.

She looked at the boy beside her. She looked at how he carried her bags; at how he blows hair away from his face; and at how he's looking at her right now with his deep, coal eyes.

Because Sasuke.

"Are you okay?"

This broke her from her reverie.

"Uh. Yeah. What? Why?"

She noticed they had stopped walking, and were now just facing each other. That had made her blush. Wow. Just had a nasty break-up, and now I'm ogling my best friend. I am such a slut.

He looked at her weirdly, before looking straight ahead. "I asked if you have any classes tomorrow." He eyed her again. "And we've made it to my place."

"Oh."

Oh? That's all you've got to say?

He raised a brow.

"I mean—" She coughed slightly. "I mean, no, I don't have any classes tomorrow. Sorry."

"You sure you're okay?"

They had started walking again, up the cement stairs, through the lobby, and into the elevator.

"Yeah." She said, breathlessly. "Yeah. I'm fine. Just thinking."

He looked at her again, and she stopped breathing. "Don't think too much now, we both know you can't handle it."

It took her a while to get the joke. It took another second for her to feel insulted. And he was already out the elevator when she managed to say an affronted, "Hey!"

She heard him chuckle and she followed him down the hall.

"I'll have you know that I am leading a very successful life taking up my pre-med course with a full scholarship, and that—"

"Okay, okay, Miss Pre-Med." He turned to her with a slight smile and his arms extended outward. It looked like he wanted a hug. "Let's see if you can figure out how to open the door. The keys are in my coat pocket."

She rolled her eyes and fished around for his keys. She held them up between them and gave him a smug look. Opening the door, she said, "Easy-peasy, lemon-squeezy."

He had already walked in when he called out to her, "Nice job. Now, get in here. These groceries aren't putting themselves away."

She laughed, looking at Sasuke's slightly smiling face. A rare sight for most, but something she had seen constantly throughout the night.

I don't deserve this. She thought as she left her shoes by the door.

I don't deserve this. She thought as she arranged her things in the spare bedroom.

I don't deserve Sasuke. She thought as he bid her a goodnight and switched off her lights.

But Sasuke.

Lying in her bed, she grinned and let out a breathy sigh.

I'll be fine.

She rolled over on her side, clutching the soft, white pillow to her chest.

Because Sasuke.

Thanks for reading! I'd appreciate some reviews!