...sorry. I realize there's a bunch of other stuff i probably should be doing *cough* paint with words *cough* Into the Black *cough* Meet Cute *couch*

But sometimes, I just dont care.

Much love,

Inky

P.S

I was in a mood while writing this. There's more swearing in it than usual. Sorry-not sorry- etc.

The trees outside had turned into a solid ice sculpture. Each whimsical tendril of life was encased in the freezing touch of winter and she wondered if the wind blew through it if it would jingle like glass.

Jaw tight she tried to draw strength from the ice, wondering if it could like the tree encase her and keep her face still, calm, impassive.

Staring out through the whispering steam rising from the library building she could see them standing at the window. Her friend had her back to her, and was leaning up to look closely at the blonde, his blue eyes not just fixated.

Enamored. That was the word. He was enamored.

They said something, back and forth, a tennis game of sounds and then he reached up and rubbed his neck sheepishly. His laughter rang out and bounced off the glass, leaving her in the silence of the falling snow and melting ice, without it touching her ear drums.

The warmth of the library beckoned. It was the coldest day in winter and she had not thought she would be standing outside like an icicle staring instead of heading indoors, but there she was, five minutes into turning to stone.

Her back pack slipped slowly off her shoulder and she heard it hit the snow covered ground with a muted crunch of icy water.

Startled to feel heat traipsing down her cheeks she reached up and winced, the icicle composure she was trying so hard to hold on to cracking at the feel of tears on her face.

"No." She wasn't sure what she was referring to. It could have been the tears, out in public where anyone who happened to come along could see, or perhaps the way that her friend leaned in to the blonde in the window, making his escape impossible between her and the book shelf behind her.

She watched, the way one would observe a plane coming to crash upon the earth with her heart still in her chest and the air sucked out of her lungs as his mouth disappeared beneath the other girl's lips.

At the contact she turned around, and ran, shedding the cold of the ice and the snowflakes that tangled in her hair as she waited for her dream to end, abandoning her bag to the furious touch of winter.

Walking out of the library into the bite of the the ice actually made him shiver for once. It wasn't typical of him to feel the weather much. He was usually too focused, head phones on, eyes down, reading or in some cases sketching out something that caught his eye and held it. The weather, unless being put into his sketchbook by his pencils and pens was hardly noticeable enough.

Today was a different kind of day however. The wind had been blasting like it was trying to freeze hell and with it in the evening came the furious flight of snow, first fat and thick like feathers on the wind and then the sharp biting almost hail that meant business.

Shuddering a little he raised the collar of his shirt against the nibbling breeze and started down the campus library steps, carefully avoiding the traps of slippery ice that had accumulated on some of the corners.

"Sasuke!" Behind him the loudest being in existence burst out of the library behind him, shattering the surreal stillness of the winter night.

If Sasuke was born in the quiet of twilight, Naruto had been born in the dizzying explosion of midday fireworks. Like a sunbeam he scampered down the stairs after his best friend and room mate, managing to nearly kill himself on several of the icy bits until he was grabbing him in a hug that pinned both of Sasuke's arms to his sides as he picked him up and gave him a shake.

Looking bored Sasuke waited for the jostling to stop. "Dobe, for fucks sake." He grumbled and Naruto rattled him one more time for good measure, practically shaking in his boots and clearly not from the cold. It took a lot to get Naruto blushing, and his face looked like it had walked headlong into an open rouge powder in that moment.

"She kissed me!" He took Sasuke's shoulders and shook him hard, rattling his headphones from his ears and his back pack from his shoulder onto the ground with a clatter.

"Naruto, stop it." Sasuke tried to say calmly, but the shaking was making his voice come out like his teeth were chattering. Giving his friend a push back for some much needed personal space he sighed. "What are you talking about?"

"Sakura! She just kissed me, holy crap... I never thought that would happen." The look of actual disbelief on his face attributed to that fact and Sasuke just wrinkled his eyes at him a little, his version of a smile. "Good for you." He muttered flatly, moving to pick up his bag again only to have Naruto's hands grabbing his lapels and shaking him again.

"Do you realize what this means!?"

Sasuke let his eyebrow form an almost quizzical expression while forcefully restraining one of his fists from slamming into the blue eye nearest to it.

"I... Naruto Uzumaki... have Sakura Haruno...as my girlfriend. My willing. Self appointed girlfriend."

There could not have been a more ecstatic person on the planet in that moment and Sasuke let out a sound that was equal parts relieved sigh and consternation. "Fantastic. Congratulations."

Keeping his eye on the blonde in question he picked his back pack off the ground and slung it on his shoulder again. "I have to go, if I don't sleep at least part of the night I will be writing a contemporary artists test in the morning with nothing but hope."

"How can you possibly talk about sleeping?" Naruto looked incredulous, eyes wide, hair standing on end against the beat of the snow coming down. "We're going to get some beers, we're not sleeping!"

"No, Naruto, I really can't-" Sasuke's attempt was cut off by the swift pull of his arm getting nearly ripped out of his socket while Naruto stormed away, phone to his ear as he called Shikamaru, Choji, Kiba, Shino, anyone it seemed who might be interested in having a beer. Even if they didn't really care about the new relationship that the blonde had finally wriggled himself into.

Sighing, Sasuke allowed himself to be kidnapped. He supposed at least one of them should celebrate a lack of loneliness.

"I found it."

Tenten dumped the soggy mess of a backpack on their couch and sighing walked over to where Hinata was laying in bed. Their tiny dorm room had barely enough room for the two twin beds, a coffee table and couch and their desks. Besides that there was a lot of shelves that had literally everything they owned, from undies to the small cactus flowering in the pot next to Hinata's bed. Beautiful, yet potentially painful. Like Naruto.

The owner of the cactus didn't bother raising her head. Cocooned in her covers she breathed in deeply and let out a wet shaky breath. "Sorry, Tenten. I just... couldn't go back and get it...what if they were... what if I..."

"No, no." Tenten shook her head at her and slumped on her own bed, pressing a fist to her forehead with dislike. "No way, I wouldn't have wanted you to go get it either. I'm sorry, Hinata." She sighed and wandered around the bed to see her face half hidden in the blankets.

"You know... it probably wouldn't have been so bad if you had just got the courage to tell him, you know?"

Hinata didn't raise her eyes up, dazedly she looked out and sighed. The truth didn't feel any better than her current reality which was one in which Naruto Uzumaki the crush she had had since first day of first year at Konoha U was now dating one of her closest friends. She should have talked to him. She should have at least tried.

But Hinata wasn't great at even looking at the opposite sex, let alone speaking with them and so despite having close mutual friends she had ended up here. Three years in and still pining. Still just "Sakura's friend, Hinata."

"I'll be fine." She murmured quietly, and Tenten's brown eyes softened. "Of course you will. You're a Hyuuga. You're tough as nails underneath all that pretty." She smiled and rubbed her shoulder over the cover of her white duvet. "He's a great guy, Hinata. I don't blame you for crushing, just don't let it overwhelm you, k?"

"...I think I'm past overwhelmed." Hinata mumbled, feeling pathetic. A deep breath later she pressed her face into her pillow and pictured them in the library window, smiling at each other until their mouths met.

Well what had she been expecting anyway? He didn't really know her so the chances of him even having an opinion on her were pretty low. And he had been rather vocal about Sakura... for ages.

Shuddering a little she buried deeper into the mattress and decided out loud so her room mate could hold her accountable. "I'm giving myself 24 hours to feel sorry for myself."

"Oh?" Tenten grinned, knowing if Hinata was putting a deadline on the thing then that would be it. There was nothing that inspired her to get her butt in gear like deadlines.

"Yes. 24 hours, as of right now. And then... I'm over it." The sentence had started off solid, determined and calm, and by the end of "over it" had become increasingly soggy with tears.

"24 hours, Hina-chan." Tenten sighed, rubbing her shoulders again over the fabric. "Go ahead and cry." So Hinata sobbed, and decided she was having cinnamon rolls and ice cream for dinner.

This was the worst hangover of his life.

Head pounding and feeling more cross eyed than usual he stared up at the ceiling and wondered why it was so damn bright out. Who had approved the use of sunlight on a Tuesday? Not him, that's who.

"Fucking asshole." He grumbled, rolling onto his side and glaring at the snoring blonde half dressed in the bed across the room from him. He looked dead, except for the deep heavy breaths that were raising and lowering his chest rhythmically. For a moment Sasuke pondered if he could just put a pillow over that face and press...nah.

It'd be too quiet without the occasional screaming from the loud mouth.

Drawing in a deep breath he looked around, catching sight of the clock on his nightstand and freezing.

"No." He told it, determined it should listen. "No. You're wrong."

And in a huff he launched off his bed, scampering to change and grab his bag, throwing a textbook as he opened their dorm room door on the smooth relaxed stomach of his room mate.

The grunt of air and the gasped breathless curses from the blonde were payment enough for the hangover. "You're going to be late, you moron!" He shouted and slammed the door closed before sprinting down the hall, hoping he was fast enough to get to his test on time.

Five minutes later he realized. He was not.

"Damnit." He hissed, biting one of his knuckles as he stared at the closed door of his class. For a moment he considered going in there, begging for forgiveness and doing the test way too fast to get a proper grade.

But he was Uchiha, and taking a breath reminded him how begging was simply not part of the repertoire for his breed. Also, there was the distinct smell of liquor on his breath and probably on his person. He had the vague recollection of someone throwing up last night although he was pretty sure it wasn't him.

Well, since he had nowhere to be, he could go back to his dorm and do something awful to Naruto's stuff as payback. That might just cheer him up.

A sound made him jump in the dimly lit hall and surprised he looked down at himself, realizing rather quickly that the wind chimes he was hearing were coming from him, somehow.

"What the...?" Quietly he examined himself, touching his pockets and turning in a half circle before realizing it was coming from his back pack.

Puzzled he brought the item to the front and paused, seeing the ramen bowl key chain that Naruto had put on his zipper was gone...and the bag itself looked cleaner...and smelled like...girl.

Feeling a headache coming to land on top of his already pulsing one he ripped the straps of the gray bag open and rummaged inside.

"Shit."

This was not his back pack. There was a water bottle in teal blue, a stack of books, all of them for History and Literature and several notebooks in various sizes, as well as hair bands, chapstick and at the bottom, glowing in the dark, a bright white cell phone with the Kanji for Peace across the back in swift strokes of black.

In his half inebriated state he let out a groan. "No." How had he managed to grab someone else's bag? And from where?

Confusedly he looked around, as though his own things would suddenly materialize at his need and he could dump the back pack on his shoulder and be done with it. Finding nothing, he turned back to the now silent phone, flicking the screen on and finding nothing but apps and a pale purple screen looking back at him, the icon for texts flashing bright.

Licking his lips he opened the icon and peered at the last number to send a message.

It was his number.

"What?" Frowning he patted down his pockets again and realized he had not looked at his phone since the library. "Ugh." Shaking his head he began to walk back to his dorm, rubbing his face as he opened the text.

Hi, I hope that whoever reads this has my back pack as well as my cell phone... I am not sure how I got your stuff, but I have it here.

And then, after that, making his heart stop.

Your sketchbook is full of very beautiful things.

Up until that point, Sasuke Uchiha had been a good sport about the entirety of the day, and the evening preceding it. Now fuming he stormed out of the building, heading to his dorm to tear through the bag on his shoulder.

No more mister nice guy.

"Wow." Hinata breathed softly. Laying in bed looking up at the sketchbook in her hand the light of the winter sun filtering over the pages only made the image drawn on the surface even more amazing. A pair of brilliant dark eyes stared at her, the rest of the face hidden by fabric with folds that covered up to the nose and brows. It didn't matter that it was such a small thing to look at, there was detail even in the way the lashes fell from the eye, the way that the moisture condensed at the corners making you wonder if maybe the person hiding their face was about to cry.

She had originally checked the book to see if there was a name somewhere but was disappointed and after searching the phone realized her one hope was to get in touch with whoever had her cell phone. Hopefully it happened to be the person who took her bag too, and lost theirs. The bags did look almost identical, pale worn gray and with leather buckles at the front.

The dark phone buzzed beside her and curiously she rolled onto her tummy, kicking her legs as she carefully closed the sketchbook and peered at the screen. Instantly she felt her face heat through like she was suddenly hit with a vicious fever and gasping sat up.

I don't recall allowing you to look through my things. But since permission isn't required, I'm just going to have a quick look through the notebooks in here. Specifically the two that are marked Private.

"Oh no."

Her fingers could not type fast enough. First it was an apology and then, as a bit of the Hyuuga spitfire began to pump through her veins she deleted it and demanded they not do such an awful thing, and then, remembering that this person now held her books hostage she back tracked, considered apologizing and then just floundered, staring at the phone like it was betraying her.

Sucking in a deep breath she moved her hands slowly, carefully.

I am sorry if I offended you, I will not look through it any more. I was looking for a name. Please do not pry in my things.

She waited with bated breath, trying to remember which of her journals had been in that back pack. Frantically she scrambled to her feet and began to tear through her drawers and shelves, searching for the bright blue and green notebook with the peacock on the front that was her diary.

It was rare that she ever took that out and about but lately things were not going her way so...

"Yes!" she gasped, and finding it tucked between two of her textbooks on her shelf she hugged the item to her chest, bouncing up and down like a maniac.

A burr of vibration drew her eyes back to the black phone on her bed and she grabbed it, sinking back onto her tummy with a bit less panic.

Open and close, eyes broken blue

Skies of the heavens, seeking for you

There's nothing and everything between those two lips

Speaking and sighing and wishing

And nothing is amiss

Recognizing one of her poems Hinata gasped, clutching at her chest like she had been stabbed. And then the real killing blow came after, vicious and to the point.

You call this poetry?

The blood was pumping in her face so loud and hard she could feel it at the tips of her ears and at the edges of her lips, thumping with her heart. For sure she was red, the kind of red that you can't get rid of unless you have a cooling shower, and not because she was embarrassed, although she was.

She was also angry.

With trembling fingers she pulled the sketchbook back onto her lap, flipping past the first few pages she had gazed at, looking for flaws, and although finding none stopped at the image of a tree that was half finished. Without giving herself time to think she pulled the cell phone up and took a picture.

For a moment she hesitated, wondering what would happen.

You call this poetry?

Deciding to go ahead anyway she sent the picture and added a message, frowning a little, ignoring the knot in her throat threatening to make her cry.

Don't make me finish this for you in crayon. I am a terrible artist.

He stared.

As he stared his room mate waltzed in the door and let out a snort at the look on his face. "You look sick. Can't handle a couple beers? What's the matter?"

"N...nothing." Sasuke managed, tossing the phone on his bed and throwing his pillow over it and all the contents of the backpack spilled on the blanket.

Whoever had his things was more evil than he had anticipated. Finishing one of his drawings in crayon was like mutilating one of his children. It had taken him over 8 hours to get the tree where it was and it would take another 8 likely to get it to where he deemed it passable. He wasn't a meticulous person for nothing so if someone touched crayon on that paper...

"Yo." Naruto put a hand on his shoulder, studying his face with more care. "Are you okay?"

"Yes." Sasuke rubbed his face and stood up. "Just... thinking." Then remembering the way his day had gone so far he gave his friend a shove that sent him nearly out the door. "I missed my test because of you, by the way."

"Aw damn." Naruto grunted as he caught himself. "I'm sorry... except for you're a grown ass man and should be able to set an alarm, ya know?"

An alarm. Sasuke grimaced. He had not had his phone so, naturally, slightly intoxicated Sasuke had decided to screw it and go to sleep.

"It was fun though, last night." The blonde flashed him a grin and began dumping his books on his desk by his side of the bed. "Thanks for coming with."

"Hn." Sasuke muttered, rummaging around under the pillow until he pulled up the phone and froze, trying as hard as he could not to gasp as another picture of his sketchbook with a 100 piece box of crayons on top of it came onto the screen.

"I'm taking Sakura out today, Itachi was saying there was a really nice restaurant that just opened down town, do you know what it's called?"

His friend kept on going and Sasuke muttered something half intelligible in reply, typing on the phone as fast his fingers would go.

You would not dare. I will find out who you are, I will hunt you down and end you.

"Hello, earth to Sasuke?" Naruto peered at him over his shoulder as he rummaged in their closet.

"Fuck." Sasuke whispered, staring at the reply, which was another picture with the crayon box open and his sketchbook at the page of the tree he had agonized over for hours and a question below.

Should it have cherry blossoms or green leafs?

"What is that?" Naruto's hand on his shoulder made him jump and the phone nearly fell out of his grip, making him flail to catch it.

"What are you up to?" The blonde's voice took on a teasing tone that made Sasuke's eyebrows twitch. "Let me see."

"No."

"Sasuke."

"Dobe, back off."

"All right, well. I asked." Naruto shrugged and moved to turn away. Sasuke relaxed for a moment, until the full weight of his 180 pound football scholarship room mate slammed into his chest and down they went on the bed in a tangle of arms and legs as he wrestled him for the phone.

Swearing and other creative forms of profanity ensued until Shikamaru opened the door, looking exhausted as usual and peered at them.

"Nothing out of the ordinary!" He shouted down the hall as he slammed the door closed, Choji sighed with relief, he had been pretty sure that the duo was finally killing each other.

It wasn't often that either of them won, usually one or the other would run out of time to waste in a wrestling match and they would call it quits, but occasionally someone would have the upper hand. Like when one had a worse hang over than the other, for instance.

In this case, Naruto had to sit on top of Sasuke's back, pinning his arms with one hand and peering at the phone in his hand with another, squinting.

"Is that your sketchbook? That's that damn tree you keep looking at by the library!"

"Get off me. I will pass out." Sasuke threatened, a little annoyed and starting to see spots.

Sliding off like it was no biggie Naruto flipped up on the conversation, studying the texts with a growing Cheshire cat grin. "Oh man you fucked up."

"Ugh!"

"You did. This person has your sketchbook hostage and you told them their poetry sucked." He turned to look at him. "Here I thought you were smart."

"Give me the phone." Sasuke grumbled, still flat on his bed, feeling more like a pancake and less like a person. Unlike his thicker more muscular counterpart he was the running and swimming type and despite having a black belt was still feeling the effects of his friend's girth on his rib cage.

"How did they get your stuff?" Naruto blinked, tossing the phone at him. "Is this an angry fangirl?"

"I have no idea. But... I have their junk so I'm guessing mistake."

"Hm." Naruto smirked at him as he threw on a clean shirt. "So, because you're not going to ask my advice I'm just going to tell you, and save your sketchbook."

"Tch." Sasuke glared, but didn't interrupt.

"Apologize."

"Ugh."

"Say you're sorry and that you actually found the poems really interesting which is why you were looking at them, and please do not hurt my sketchbook." He made a pout face. "Pretty please."

Sasuke stared at him, unmoving. "Jesus, please never look like that again."

"Copy that. No, but seriously." He nodded at the phone. "They sounded like a nice person. Until you messed it up."

Frowning a little Sasuke scrolled up and stared at the first messages he had received.

Your sketchbook is full of very beautiful things.

"Beg." Naruto pointed at him, throwing on his jacket before stepping out the door. "Beg for mercy." And he was gone, leaving Sasuke to stare at the phone as it vibrated, four crayons showing on the screen.

Pink, purple, green or grass green? That's what the crayon says, grass green. I'm not making it up.

Smirking a little at that he sighed and wincing began to type.

Please don't hurt my tree.

Part one of hopefully two.

Hopefully. But we all know how I can never seem to do one shots or two shots properly. So we shall just call it Part One.

leave me some love, ne?

Inky