Doesn't want to be a flower.
Chapter 1. can't be a flower
Her pink hair blew around as she sat on the roof of her house, looking down at the village. She took a deep sigh; this was the kind of thing Naruto would have done as he screamed down to passer-byes how he would be the next hokage.
Yet those days were over now. Sasuke was in Orochimaru's grasp, Naruto gone training. How long had it been since he left? Sakura racked her brain to remember. Around a year? It already seemed like so much longer than that. Would see ever see him again? Just how long would he be training? How much would he have changed when he returned? They were all questions she couldn't answer.
Another sigh. She looked up at the full moon, the faint shin reflecting off her headband.
"I'm the only one in my team left," She thought aloud, her sweet voice bitter with sadness. "There's no one to protect me anymore..."
"Don't tell me you're whining about that!" A voice yelled from below. It was a voice that was all to familiar to her-the voice of her long time friend and rival Ino Yamanaka.
"Leave me alone, Ino." She muttered, hugging her knees to her chest and looking up at the sky, avoiding those pale blue eyes that could only bring back memories of another pair of baby-blues.
"Do you know what time it is?" Ino called up to Sakura, her voice concerned.
"No." Sakura answered simply.
Ino sighed. Sakura hadn't been the same since her partners abandoned her. At first she had acted with twice as much vigor,excited to gain power and do anything to help save Sasuke. Yet slowly, like a flower that was going out of season, it's petals falling one by one, Sakura had lost her enthusiasm. Not only had it died, but it seemed to also take any trace of happiness she had bared with it.
"Sakura..." Ino's voice trailed off as she considered what to say. Sasuke leaving hadn't effected her as much...yet she knew the reason for that full well.
"Sakura, why don't you come down here." Ino urged her.
"I don't want to Ino." Sakura said In a quiet, detached voice as her inner self considered all the horrible things she could yell at Ino in order to receive some peace and quiet.
Ino sighed, jumping from a low tree branch and then onto the roof next to her friend.
"You can talk to me about it." She offered, sitting down next to her.
"I'd rather not." Sakura insisted.
"You're always like this-you're still a crybaby, Sakura." Ino laughed half-heartedly.
"You're right..." Sakura agreed.
Ino paused, not used to this passive Sakura.
"Go away, Ino-Pig." Sakura added sourly.
Ino ignored the insults and look Sakura up and down. She had grown so much in only one year, her pale legs longer and arms no longer devoid of muscles as they once had been. Still, Ino could only connect this scene to the one of long ago, when the two had first meet. Sakura had sat crying then, her knees hugged to her chest as they were now. Even then, Ino couldn't stand Sakura's bawling face. This face was far worst, empty and heavy with stress and unspoken emotions. Where had the passionate, angry Sakura disappeared to?
Ino placed one had tentatively on Sakura's smooth, bare shoulder. The pink-haired kunochi turned her head to glance at Ino, her anger just about at it's breaking point.
All of the sudden there was a warm sensation on her lips, the taste of Ino's plum lip-gloss filling her mouth. Ino gripped her shoulder, placing one hand on the back of Sakura's head so that she couldn't turn away. She pushed closer to Sakura, deepening the kiss. Sakura's eyes were wide, but caught in the moment and paralyzed by shock there was nothing she could do. Finally Ino released her, a sly smile on her face as she licked her lips. Sakura opened her mouth to speak, but the words refused to come to her. In moments Ino had jumped from the roof to the branch and then to the street.
Sakura sat on the roof in a daze, her hand touching her wet lips. Ino had gone, and all she had left behind was the taste of plums in Sakura's mouth.