To Hinata, Sakura was a cherry blossom. Beautiful, and fragile, and perfect. She got everything she wanted. Naruto loved her, she trained with the legendary sannin Tsunade, she was talented, everybody loved her, so on, so on, and the list kept going and going and going and going until Hinata thought she would scream and scream with hatred of the pink-haired witch.
She knew! She knew she was not as perfect as Sakura, she knew she wasn't as talented, she knew she wasn't as strong, because the one she loved most in the world didn't leave her! Hinata knew she wasn't enough of anything, but couldn't someone acknowledge her?
She did feel sorry for Sakura when Sasuke left, she did. She did! She wasn't that heartless, she wasn't that cruel, it was just that how could you sympathize with someone who had moments with the one she loved when you had nothing? Sakura had little jewels, moments she could count and hold and treasure, but Hinata had nothing like that. Nothing. How much had Naruto noticed her, how much had anyone noticed her? Even Sakura herself treated Hinata like a little stray puppy: cute, and good for the moment, but at the end of the day, forgotten.
And then Sasuke had left, and now Sakura had forgotten him, and had moved on to Naruto. No, Hinata wanted to say, he's mine. You had your chance, and you left him like a bug in the dirt, and now he's mine. But she would never say it, and she would miss her chance and marry whoever her father picked out for her. That would be her life.
But beauty could fade, couldn't it? Beauty could fade. Sakura was just a cherry blossom, and all cherry blossoms fell from the tree.
And that's what Hinata thought, as she saw Naruto and Sakura talking among the cherry trees. Be patient, she told herself. Because, after all, Sakura isn't a bad person, just a person who's unwittingly hurt me. Every cherry blossom will fall. And I'll have my place in the sun.
What did you think? This is a ridiculously old piece; I wrote it when I was in middle school, but never really got around to publishing it. Did anybody get the bad pun at the end?
Please review! I'll love you forever if you do. Plus, I'll be able to write better fanfictions with good constructive criticism.