"I think that you still like Sasuke-kun."
Sakura winces at the remark, looking over her shoulder and throwing her best friend a dirty look. What's up with this talk and where did it come from? As far as she is concerned, Ino gave up on Sasuke long ago and decided to pursue a career in pharmacy. So why would she start this sort of talk again?
"No, I don't."
"Well, that doesn't sound too convincing to me," Ino says with a not-so-subtle wink and Sakura internally groans. Oh, here they go again.
"I'm not trying to convince you - I'm simply stating the fact. No. I. Don't. Like. Uchiha. Sasuke."
The look on Ino's face is still full of suspicion, but it seems like she decides to drop the subject for the time being and Sakura is so thankful for it. As it is, she isn't entirely comfortable discussing her personal life with anyone, let alone Ino, even though the latter one is her best friend. Although, there is no 'personal life' to begin with, she thinks to herself - she is completely and utterly alone and will continue to be so for the rest of her life.
Wow. How depressing.
"Do you find anyone attractive?"
"Ino, if you don't stop talking about guys right this moment I will personally strangle you and send your corpse as a present to your teammates," Sakura says, moaning in frustration. Today happened to be an extremely exhausting day: apart from sorting out her paperwork, she had to check up on her most annoying patients - Kotetsu and Izumo - and, with a help of a few older nurses, kick them out of the hospital as they refused to leave. After all of this Sakura found out that Tsunade is missing, so she had to call up a team of chuunins in order to find her.
"Pff, as if you would do that," Ino huffs, shaking her head in resignation. "And this doesn't answer my question, so I'm still waiting for an answer. I won't judge you if it's someone ugly, you know."
Sakura looks away and feels her cheeks burning up in pure anger. In fact, Choji can burn bacon on her cheeks for all it's worth! How dare she imply this sort of thing?!
But Ino seems persistent, and Sakura has no idea what to do. Repeating 'no, I don't like anyone' over and over again seems like the best solution, but she knows Ino and knows that this nagging isn't going to stop any time soon.
Maybe... if she tells Ino that she likes someone.
It doesn't have to be true, right? She can even hide her mysterious lover's name, if she wills! And then this questioning will end and she will be able to carry on with her normal life, pretending that she likes someone but not 'adventurous' enough to tell them.
Yeah, this definitely seems better than her previous plan.
"Um, actually... I do like someone."
Yamanaka abruptly stops and slowly turns her head to get a better look at her friend's face and figure out if she's lying, or so it seems to Sakura, but the latter one is trying her best to pretend that the reason for her ferocious blush is her pure embarrassment.
A few seconds later, Ino coughs and Sakura tries not to raise her eyebrow; why the heck is she so unsure now, of all times? She expected Ino to rush at her with millions of questions all at once, but now this idea seems silly.
"So... Is it someone I know?"
Sakura reminds herself that she supposedly likes someone, and does her best at fidgeting and nervously intertwining her fingers. "Y-yeah, but I can't tell you the name."
"Why? Are you afraid that I will go up to him and tell him that my best friend has taken an interest in him?"
"Partly that, but I also don't want you to intrude into my personal life," she says and takes a deep breath, lying her way through. "I have liked Sasuke-kun for such a long time that moving on turned out to be much harder than I thought. But when I finally did, I noticed that I keep watching this... guy and I occasionally catch myself thinking about him when he's not around."
Ino nods, but she doesn't look too convinced. In fact, Sakura can see how she squints her eyes and frowns; no, this sort of look definitely doesn't belong to someone who trusts you.
"About this guy... if I can't know his name, can I at least hear more about him?" Ino says cautiously and continues walking alongside Sakura, her gaze firmly set on her friend's face.
"You see, he's a great guy..." What is it that girls like so much about guys, again? Rather, what is the exact opposite of Sasuke, so that Ino doesn't have any more suspicions? "He's funny, he's really talkative and open-minded... He has lots of friends and helps everyone, plus he is energetic all the time and-"
"Wait, did you just describe Naruto?"
Sakura's eyes widen - only slightly, but it's enough for Ino. Haruno thinks back to what she said a moment ago and panics because, yes, she has described Naruto. In fact, every single thing she has mentioned fits him perfectly.
Oh, crap.
How is she going to get herself out of this one?
She can't lie to Ino and tell her that there are two people in Konoha who fit these characteristics while one of them is her teammates. Cra-a-ap can't she say that she has simple exaggerated and her crush isn't actually all that great to begin with?
It's either this, or...
Can she really tell Ino that she likes Naruto, of all people? What is her reaction going to be like?
Dear Mum and Dad, I'm sorry for being such a dumbass and blurting out the first thing that comes into my silly head.
"Yeah," gulp, "I like... Naruto."
"YOU LIKE HIM?!" Ino shouts and Sakura winces because that went right into her freaking ear. She is overly aware of the stares: people - most of them are complete strangers - are looking at them and Sakura hopes to get out of this sticky situation as soon as she can.
"It's not like I planned it," she whispers back and notices that her cheeks finally decide to cool down. "It just... happened. One day I woke up and realised that I like this... loud and hyperactive idiot."
"But you haven't seen each other in, like, two and a half years, how can you be certain that you actually like him?" It seems like Ino is more willing to believe her, now that she knows the name, and Sakura fervently thinks of the best answer. But really, how can she be certain?
"I think I simply know," oh good gods what am I blabbering? "He's always been there for me, hasn't he? And- ughh, it's embarrassing."
"I bet it is," says Ino with a chuckle but doesn't stop with the questioning. "Are you going to confess to him when he comes back? And how are you going to do it? Will it be in private or will you confess in front of everyone? Either way, I will support you, seeing as you don't like Sasuke-kun anymore."
Oh, right. Confession.
She told Ino that she likes Naruto but, knowing Yamanaka, she will want the two of them to get together. Or something.
"I think it will be too early," she begins cautiously. "I mean, Tsunade-sama told me that he's coming back soon but approaching him and telling him about my feelings... I don't want to rush it."
"Oh, I get it, I get it - Forehead Girl being herself," Ino exclaims while nodding; Sakura can't stop thinking that she's digging her own grave. "But... you will spend more time with him, won't you?"
"Ino, we are teammates - we ought to spend a lot of time together," she rolls her eyes.
"No, as in - you will spend more time alone. Just the two of you. Who knows what it can lead to?" Ino wiggles her eyebrows at the implication.
Mother of God.
"I'm sure we will figure it out and you should stop planning my life for me! I don't want to be too pushy."
Ino scratches the back of her head and hums, "That's true, no one likes girls who are too needy and pushy. Then, start with bento."
"Huh?"
"Make him bento and bring bandages for your trainings and ask him to go with you whenever Ichiraku has special offers. You know, those little things that girls do for their loved ones," Ino ends the statement with a wink.
"I don't lo-"
"I doesn't matter, you still ought to make some bento and I will teach you how to do it, seeing as you are so inexperienced when it comes to boys and cooking."
xxxx
Sakura is acutely aware of how quickly time passes by. Maybe it's because she spends most of her time in the hospital and when she does get some free time, Ino drags her to her house and teaches her how to make perfect bento.
Never mind the fact that, even after three or so weeks of constant practising, she's still awful in it and somehow manages to make fresh fish taste like slugs (ironically, seeing as her teacher is able to summon a slug).
But her waiting comes to end when, on a Saturday morning, Ino bursts into her room, shouting something incoherent and waving a lot, from what Sakura is able to see.
When she blinks a few times and finally concentrated on her best friend, she blurts out, "What?" which sounds incredibly lazy and sleepy.
Whatever. It's her day off.
"Your beloved Uzumaki is back and he arrived, like, ten or so minutes ago. Get up and go see him!"
Oh. The day she has been not only anticipating, but also afraid of for the last three weeks. Well, she doesn't have a good excuse to stay in bed and just sleep for a few more hours, so she gets up and ruffles her hair. Her mind is occupied with words like 'holy shit what am I gonna do' and other profanities. Okay, so Ino believes her and thinks that she will confess at some point, but how long will she be able to keep this act up? How will Naruto react? Will she have to convince him to date her to get Ino and everyone else off her back? Ughh she hasn't thought this through before.
Sakura kicks Ino out and changes into her everyday clothes, praying to God so that Ino doesn't make things awkward between her and Naruto.
About fifteen minutes - and two major fights - later they finally leave Sakura's apartment and look around for anything that is orange, yellow and bright.
She isn't surprised when they locate Naruto at Ichiraku; now that she thinks of it, they should have checked Ichiraku straight away, but she admits to herself that she sort of hoped that Naruto will go to the hospital and look for her, too.
Nonetheless, she puts on a happy smile and approaches the ramen stand with a wide grin, hands on her hips. Oh, he will be surprised, she is sure of it.
She comes closer and lifts up a signboard that prevents her from seeing him, hoping that she is right-
Yep, it's really him.
"Ohayo, baka," Sakura says happily and she isn't disappointed when he swiftly turns around and looks at her, his sky-blue eyes immensely wide.
"Sakura... chan," he breathes out and then smiles, too, jumping up and giving her a tight hug. "Sakura-chan!"
She giggles; like a twelve-years-old girl who was lucky enough to kiss her crush, she giggles and feels giddy and can't comprehend how was she able to spend the last two and a half years without him, without his radiant smiles and this feeling of comfort.
Gosh, she missed him. She really, really missed him.
She hugs him even tighter and suddenly notices how tall his is. Unlike before, he is now good five and a half feet tall and she can feel herself tiptoeing in order to hug him properly.
When they finally take a step back to look at each other, she finally takes in his appearance. Not much has changed in regards to his jumpsuit - it was still bright orange, but with black instead of blue. Oh, and he also changed his headband.
Gee, if she is honest with herself, he looks quite... grown-up.
"I though you were going to seek me out as soon as you came back," she says with a playful pout, to which he laughs in his carefree manner.
"Gomen-gomen, I was starving to death, so I had to fill my stomach before seeing you, Sakura-chan," he amends with a sheepish grin and scratches the back of his head. He looks right into her eyes and she swears that it's the bluest blue she has ever seen... or maybe he has always been that way but she never took the time to realise it.
She hears a cough behind her back and now she's all too aware that they are watched by her best friend.
Yeah, she kinda forgot about Ino.
"I'm not gonna interrupt you two, but you better finish soon as loads of people still want to see you, Naruto," Ino says with a wink and leaves. "See you later, lovebirds."
"Huh? W-we aren't lovebirds!" says Naruto, stuttering a bit which doesn't go unnoticed by Sakura.
So how is she going to explain the mess she has gotten herself into to Naruto?
xxxx
A quick prologue... or whatever.
(Fyi, I haven't abandoned my other stories as I'm simply working my way through e.g. making some major changes, proofreading, etc. etc. New chaps are almost ready :))
I plan to make this story all pink and fluffy and awkward and somewhat funny, so there you go. I hope you enjoyed this quick preview and I will update soon.
