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It was dark when they walked home from their night shift. Unusually dark. The only light shining on the lane was found in hazy patches of street lamps and a few stray fireflies. However, the sharp click of their heels on stone was hardly the only sound echoing through the streets.
“If I end up strangling him, you two are giving me an alibi,” Karin vented through gritted teeth while releasing her hair from its ponytail. Sakura laughed easily, but Ino merely stuck out her tongue.
“We better be getting decent bribes, loser.”
“I can’t believe this. What happened to sisterhood?” Karin’s voice was two parts teasing, one part exhausted. Red eyebrows twitched as she lowered her glasses expectantly. Before Ino could sneak in another retort, Sakura elbowed her swiftly in the stomach. Ino shrieked and instantly pouted as Sakura wrapped a consoling arm around Karin.
“Okay, I’ll bite,” Sakura began, only to be immediately shushed by Karin.
“Not literally, please.” There was a mischievous look in her red eyes, and for a brief moment she didn’t look so exhausted.
“We’ll save that for Suigetsu!” Ino chirped cheerfully from behind them. Sakura couldn’t but let out a quiet giggle, and she could’ve sworn she caught the corner of Karin’s mouth twitch slightly. Even if she instantly turned up her nose at the thought.
“As if I’d ever let him!”
“What’d Sui do this time?” Sakura continued. Karin easily leaned into her arm, huffing quietly as Ino fell back in step with them.
“Nothing different from the usual,” Karin began, letting out an unabashed snort. “Little shit.”
Realizing that was probably all she was going to hear on the subject (for now, at least), Sakura whipped her phone out of her pocket. There was a missed text from Naruto (he was only mildly concerned that he may have broken a rib) and a few random Instagram likes. At the top of her notifications, however, was a new iMessage from Sasuke Uchiha.
You still at work?
So he’d been listening (and remembered) when she told him she’d picked up a few more night shifts. It was so simple, but embarrassingly enough she felt her face warm.
On my way home now. You’re still up? It was well past two in the morning, and she knew he probably had to work the next morning. Sakura had an impeccable memory...especially when it came to Sasuke.
“Who the hell is texting you at 2 am?” The sharp sound of Karin’s voice suddenly shook her from her thoughts.
“Oh, um.” Sakura attempted to look distractedly up at the sky, but the clouds made stargazing impossible- there wasn’t a single one in sight. “Sasuke. Probably just wants to talk.” He never did sleep that well; it wasn’t the first time he’d texted her at an odd hour.
Karin, however, seemed to have other ideas.
“That, my friend, is a booty call.”
“Oh please. No, it’s not.”
“Sakura, no one could blame you for going after that booty,” Ino teased from her opposite side, her pale face illuminated from the light of her own phone. She scrolled through her own messages, a glint in her eye as she seemed to reach one that pleased her. “Welp, I’ll see you bitches later. Love you.”
And Ino set off in the opposite direction, a skip in her step despite the gruelingly long shift they’d just completed.
“Ino doesn’t live that way,” Karin said in a complete deadpan.
“Nope.”
“Kiba lives that way.”
“Yup.”
At that moment, Sakura felt her phone go off in her coat pocket.
Naturally. If you’re not too tired, can I ask you something?
“‘Just wanted to talk,’ huh? ...I’m going to die alone.”