[Party] RollOutBoy: Were you really going to let it go if you lost?
[Party] Sm1rkMeister: Absolutely
[Party] RollOutBoy: What the ****?
[Party] Sm1rkMeister: I only said I'd let the matter go
[Party] Sm1rkMeister: I never said anything about MDW
[Party] RollOutBoy: MDW?
[Party] Beowulf69: What's that?
[Party] Tournesola: Sakura-chan?
[Party] RollOutBoy: Wait a minute...
[Party] Sm1rkMeister: Who else would be my dear wife?
[Party] Beowulf69: ayyyyy
[Party] Beowulf69: you guys are so abusive to us single dogs :(
[Party] OldRamenMan: The video and forum posts are down
[Party] OldRamenMan: You should be good to go, 3SIL
[Party] Beowulf69: Boooooo, so fast
[Party] SakuraBlossom: Thank you all ^_^
[Party] SakuraBlossom: That's a relief
[Party] Tournesola: Why do you sound so disappointed, Wulf-san?
[Party] Beowulf69: Well if he didn't move fast enough we could...
[Party] OldRamenMan: Hack his computer?
[Party] Beowulf69: Seduce his woman!
[Party] RollOutBoy: ....
[Party] SakuraBlossom: ...
[Party] SmirkMeister: ...
[Party] Tournesola: Oh, so you study computer science?
[Party] Tournesola: What a coincidence! We do too

"Hina-chan," Sakura groaned. She wished she'd stopped Hinata before she said anything, but it was too late now.

"H-Huh?" Hinata looked at her. "A-aren't they your friends?"

"Yeah, but....," Sakura struggled to explain it, "I just want to keep a boundary between my online life and my real life. Just in case."

"O-Oh," Hinata pondered. She wasn't sure what exactly that meant, but she made a note of Sakura's feelings for future reference.

[Party] OldRamenMan: Yep, we're graduating this year
[Party] OldRamenMan: That's cool!
[Party] OldRamenMan: Maybe then you're our junior sisters then
[Party] Beowulf69: Given the odds in CS, you're probably our junior brothers
[Party] SakuraBlossom: Haha :)
[Party] Sm1rkMeister: We should go do a mission, Sakura.
[Party] Sm1rkMeister: The tournament's coming up soon

"C-couples' mission? Tournament?" Hinata looked up at her, puzzled.

"Meister and I are going to participate in a couples PVP tournament in a few months, so we've been trying to level up our intimacy level with these special hidden missions. They have romantic themes and everything. At max intimacy, we get a pretty hefty stat boost fighting together, but we only got married a week ago in-game, so we're pretty far behind our opponents."

"So he's not your real online secret boyfriend that you were hiding from your real online fake husband?" Tenten looked a bit disappointed, "But he's so sweet to you!"

Sakura looked at her weirdly, "You watch way too many soap operas. No, he just approached me one day. But we've been spending a lot of time together, and we get along pretty well."

"Does that mean Uchiha-senpai's place in your heart has wavered?" Tenten teased her.

"Oh, be quiet!" Sakura blushed, feeling unusually shy. She turned back to the game to avoid Tenten's knowing gaze.

[Party] OldRamenMan: Psh, I bet 3SIL does most of the work when you guys do couples missions
[Party] Beowulf69: Sm1rk's definitely a ...
[Party] Beowulf69: Do you still call the guy a sugar baby?
[Party] Sm1rkMeister: Let's go, Sakura
[Party] Sm1rkMeister: Leave the sour people jealous of my sweet ride behind
[Party] Sm1rkMeister: They're bad influences
[Party] Beowulf69: ***hole
[Party] Beowulf69: rub it in, why don't you
[Party] RollOutBoy: You're definitely the worst influence

"W-Wow, I thought that only happened in TV-dramas," Hinata giggled, watching her screen.

"What's happening?" Tenten demanded as she tried to get up, then hissed in pain.

"Sakura's hubby is dragging her away by the wrist," Hinata explained for her benefit.

"I didn't even know that was a couple emote," Sakura said, oddly embarrassed. Her character was even auto-following Meister. However, she could tell from her status bar that she could easily break free, and he could only do this once every half hour.

Hinata was about to log off when a message popped on her chat bar

[Whisper] OldRamenMan: Are you going to keep playing, Sola-chan?
[Whisper] OldRamenMan: Wanna do another mentor mission?

Hinata hesitated over her answer. She really should go get something to eat, but...

"Do you have any painkillers, Hina-chan?" Tenten asked her, "Or do we have an ice-pack in the fridge?"

"N-No, Temari-chan took the last one when she had her period," Hinata apologized.

"Do you mind getting me an ice-pack and some more drugs when you go for dinner?" Tenten asked, "Sorry, but my butt is killing me."

Hinata shot her screen one regretful look before she smiled at Tenten, "S-Sure, no problem. I'll be back soon. J-Just let me log off."

[Whisper to OldRamenMan] Tournesola: I would really like to, but I need to go eat my dinner and grab some painkillers for my roommate
[Whisper to OldRamenMan] Tournesola: Is next week still a convenient time?
[Whisper] OldRamenMan: Oh shoot, I gotta do that too
[Whisper] OldRamenMan: Dinner, not painkillers :P
[Whisper] OldRamenMan: ****, I'm out of my ramen stash
[Whisper] OldRamenMan: But yeah, next week's good!
[Whisper] OldRamenMan: Seeya then
[Whisper] Tournesola: Goodbye

As Hinata closed her laptop and took her purse to leave, Sakura found that Meister had led her to the side of the mountain, looking down on a sunny bucolic scene of a giant herd of cows scattered all over the green, rolling hills as far as her camera could pan.

Sakura gulped. That's a lot of cows. She scanned the area to look for the item to trigger the mission, but couldn't find it no matter how hard she looked. Sakura frowned. That's odd. Normally it's interactable. Just as she was about to suggest to Meister that they might be in the wrong place, he picked up a whip lying by the edge of the field, and the mission triggered.

[Couple] System: Looks like the cowherd left his charges alone for a while. Take this [Cowherd's Whip] and round up the cows before he gets in trouble for sneaking away to spend some time with his lover.
[Couple] SakuraBlossom: That's weird, I couldn't see it
[Couple] Sm1rkMeister: You can afk for a while
[Couple] Sm1rkMeister: I'll handle this one
[Couple] SakuraBlossom: Are you sure?
[Couple] SakuraBlossom: Or are you thinking too much about the guys calling you a sugar baby?
[Couple] Sm1rkMeister: There's a genjutsu element to this mission
[Couple] Sm1rkMeister: It makes more sense for me to do it
[Couple] Sm1rkMeister: You've had a long day
[Couple] SakuraBlossom: Thanks then, I will
[Couple] SakuraBlossom: I need to check up on my roommate, she's not feeling well
[Couple] SakuraBlossom: I'll be back soon, just ping me if you need something.
[Couple] Sm1rkMeister: Okay

"Tenten-chan, do you want to use some of my sprain spray?" Sakura asked, getting up from her computer.

"The one that smells like a weird herbal voodoo shop?" Tenten side-eyed her, "I'm not getting off your bed right now."

"Fine," Sakura rolled her eyes at her, "I'll put a towel under you. Take your pants off."

"Pffft," Tenten snickered, "You say that to me now, but we both know you wish you could say that to your husband right now."

"Shut up!"

(≧▽≦)(눈_눈)

From 3rd Bro: Can you get me some cold medication? I just sneezed
To 3rd Bro: You sure it wasn't someone thinking about you?
From 3rd Bro: Just get me the medication, idiot
To 3rd Bro: fine but you owe me

Of course that asshole texts me after we've already bought our stuff at the convenience store. Naruto put his phone back in his pocket and called out to Kiba and Chouji, "Hey guys, I gotta go back into the convenience store. You guys go ahead."

"More Ramen, Naruto?" Chouji eyed him disapprovingly, "There isn't going to be any left for other people."

Naruto waved a laughing Kiba and Chouji off with his middle finger, then turned on his heel and headed back towards the only late-night convenience store open on campus. Whistling as he walked, he absent-mindedly swung the huge bag of emergency ramen that he'd just bought to replenish his much-depleted supply.

Naruto's mind wandered as he retraced the familiar path back to the convenience store. Sasuke had been furious during that duel. Column-stomping in the first fight, then a taijutsu takedown without his armour in the second? Brutal. Even if that bastard was cold, rude and indecipherable to the rest of the world, Naruto knew Sasuke, almost as well as Itachi did. He'd never seen him that mad. And he was practically glacial towards women. What was it about this one? I wonder what makes her special...

Granted, Naruto didn't think he'd be very polite either if it'd been his girlfriend in the same position as SakuraBlossom, but as much as they joked around and called her their sister-in-law, she wasn't Sasuke's actual girlfriend or significant other, just a duel partner. Come to think of it, it's kind of weird Sasuke let us keep going with the joke...

Naruto stopped abruptly when he realized something: they didn't even know if SakuraBlossom was a girl!

Bam! Someone crashed into Naruto, sending him sprawling. He was more upset about the fact that he'd dropped his emergency ramen refill, and it rolled all over the place. Dammit, that's what I get for thinking too deeply about that asshole's love life.

"Crap!" Naruto swore loudly, rubbing the spot where he landed. He looked up, and the scolding he was about to give the person who crashed into him died before he could open his mouth. The person who'd crashed into him was a pretty girl with long hair and tiny tears forming in the corner of her pale eyes. That instantly made him feel guilty, since he was the one who stopped abruptly, so he apologized awkwardly, "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have stopped like that. Are you okay?"

"I-I'm f-fine. I-I'm sorry, a-as well," she stuttered.

"No, no," Naruto mumbled, a bit self-conscious as he started shoving his stash back into the dropped bag, "Let me just get my ramen out of your way, "

"A-Ah, please wait," The girl protested, "I-I dropped my ramen cup as well."

At that, Naruto paused, a bit baffled. He was embarrassed to admit that he didn't really know what flavours or even exactly how many cups he'd bought - he'd just swept all his favourite flavours into his cart and paid for it without checking the total.

"Which one is yours?" Naruto was forced to ask.

The girl paused before she responded, "Th-the shrimp one over there."

"Ah, that's one of my favourites!" Naruto enthused, trying to defuse the awkwardness, "I especially like the chunks of freeze-dried whole shrimp in there - it's kind of like magic when they swell up again."

"I-It's not my favourite," she admitted, "B-But everything else I like was out of stock, s-so it was my next best option."

Oops. Naruto wanted to wince. He'd been the one to clean out the campus convenience store.

"Why don't I swap you one then?" he offered.

"O-Oh, you don't have to if it's too troublesome," she refused, flustered.

"It's okay! I like shrimp! It's the least I can do since I knocked you over in the first place, anyways."

She looked like she was going to refuse again, so Naruto just put all the shrimp ramen into his bag and grabbed a different flavour. "Do you like pork better?"

"Y-Yes, but-," She tried to refuse, but she was too slow and he shoved it into her hands.

"Great! Take it as an apology then. I gotta go!" Naruto finished grabbing his stuff and left before she could refuse again.

Dizzy from the speed the stranger with spiky blond hair did things, Hinata didn't get another word out as he jogged away, fast as the wind. She could only bemusedly stare after him, hair tousled by the fall, her favourite tonkatsu ramen clutched in her hand. She felt like she'd just been hit by a hurricane.

Wh-who was that?

(・・ ) ? ε=ε=ε=ε=┌(;￣▽￣)┘

When Hinata returned with her dinner and the painkillers, Tenten and Sakura were bickering back and forth. Hinata smiled as she put her coat away in her closet near the door. Filtering their loud voices out, she quickly dipped into the bathroom at the front of the room to grab a glass of water for Tenten to take with her medicine and turned on the electric kettle for the ramen.

"Oh come on, Sakura-chan!" Tenten complained, "I know you're strong enough to lift me up to my bunk, so why are you leaving me down here? Please, please, pleeeease?"

"I told you, I'm not going to risk jostling you unless you have to be moved," Sakura shot back. She looked up at Hinata, who was making her way towards them diagonally across the room, to the back right corner of their dorm room where Sakura and Tenten's bunk bed was. "Oh thank everything that you're back, Hina-chan. Please tell me you bought the painkillers that will put her to sleep."

"I just want to rest in my own bed!" Tenten protested.

"S-Since you're injured, you should probably switch bunks with Sakura-chan tonight," Hinata disagreed as she handed Tenten the pills and water.

"Not you, too," Tenten complained.

"I promise I won't stick my hands down the side of your bed and find your diary, okay?" Sakura rolled her eyes at her.

Tenten gasped, "How did you know?!"

Sakura gave her a significant look to get her to look up, "I can see it between the slats when I'm lying down. Come on, Tenten-chan, give it up for tonight."

"Fine," Tenten grumbled as she took the pill, "But you promised!"

"Yeah, yeah," Sakura said as she watched Tenten take her medication, make herself comfortable on her stomach and on Sakura's favourite pillow, and finally, finally close her eyes to sleep early.

"I-I'll borrow her desk and keep an eye on her," Hinata told Sakura in a low whisper as she dimmed the lights. She eyed Tenten's single desk, which was the desk near the head of Sakura's bed against the back wall, separated from her own desk by the patio door. It was covered in papers and debris, which, considering Hinata and Sakura were both pretty neat, and Temari wasn't home most nights including tonight, made Tenten's desk the odd one out. Hinata still found a place for her laptop and her noodles, so she settled down to eat her dinner and watch some videos.

Sakura glanced around the room, thinking about where she would sit. Since Tenten was sleeping with her head at the foot of the bed, near Sakura's desk against the rightmost wall, Sakura decided she'd just stick with where she'd been sitting at the large central table and turn on Temari's desk lamp for illumination, as her desk was on the leftmost wall. Decision made, she finally settled back in to keep playing.

Just as she was about to let Meister know that she was back though, the system chimed the sound that told players a mission had been completed.

[Couple] System: Congratulations! All the cows are back where they should be, and the cowherd's supervisors are none the wiser. You have completed the [Cover for the Cowherd's Romantic Rendezvous] Couple mission!
[Couple] SakuraBlossom: Back!
[Couple] SakuraBlossom: You worked hard ^_^
[Couple] Sm1rkMeister: Thank you
[Couple] Sm1rkMeister: Is your roommate okay?
[Couple] SakuraBlossom: She'll be fine with some rest
[Couple] Sm1rkMeister: That's good

They'd been doing couples missions together for long enough that she was comfortable being alone with him. Still, after that duel, she knew she had to say something to him about it. She just wasn't sure what.

[Couple] SakuraBlossom: About the fight earlier.... Thank you
[Couple] SakuraBlossom: I think that's the first time anyone who wasn't my family stood up for me like that
[Couple] SakuraBlossom: And it was a really good couple of fights :P
[Couple] Sm1rkMeister: You're welcome
[Couple] Sm1rkMeister: and of course they were

Sakura snorted. She then asked him the question that had nagged her since his second fight.

[Couple] SakuraBlossom: For the second fight
[Couple] SakuraBlossom: What did you spend your 30 seconds on?

Sakura didn't think it'd take as long as it did for Meister to respond. She tapped her fingers impatiently against her keys.

[Couple] Sm1rkMeister: Punching the ground
[Couple] Sm1rkMeister: I was trying to get an uneven terrain
[Couple] Sm1rkMeister: Like you did when we pvped

Ohhh. I'm so used to seeing that technique when I do it that I didn't realize... Given that he was an allrounder and didn't have her chakra control, the fact that Meister had gotten cracks at all was not bad. Wait a minute. Was he trying to use my techniques in that fight? No way... She smiled a bit, pleased at the thought. Even if she hadn't been the one to punch Fries, this was the next best thing.

At this point, Sakura should have just said goodnight and logged off, since it was getting pretty late, but she wanted to confirm her suspicion. She hesitated, not sure how to broach the topic, but before she could say anything, Meister beat her to it.

[Couple] Sm1rkMeister: I'm sorry
[Couple] SakuraBlossom: ?
[Couple] SakuraBlossom: For what?
[Couple] Sm1rkMeister: The duel earlier
[Couple] SakuraBlossom: ?
[Couple] SakuraBlossom: I appreciate you standing up for me though
[Couple] Sm1rkMeister: You're my wife, that's what I should do

Sakura turned bright red at that again. Shannaro! It's one thing when he's just playing for the party, but it's just us now. He doesn't have anything to prove to anyone else.

[Couple] Sm1rkMeister: But your clan is getting quite a bit of blowback from the fight
[Couple] Sm1rkMeister: I didn't consider that possibility
[Couple] SakuraBlossom: