The swell looked perfect today, clean and crisp offshore waves. They were calling to her and she planned on answering them. Grabbing her board out of her truck, Sakura walked briskly to the water. She felt the cold shiver run up her spine, but it soon shook off the farther out she got. Hopping on to her board, Sakura paddled out further and turned the board to face shore.
Sakura let the first three or four waves go by, waiting for the right one. She has always been very patient, even as a young child. Her belief has always been the longer the wait the better the reward. And with that last thought she saw the perfect wave. Quickly paddling, she caught it perfectly and stood. Everything that had been bothering her at that moment left her mind. No overbearing mother, no insane calculus class, no cheating ex-boyfriend; no, nothing mattered at that moment.
As she twisted and bent her body to get the board to move with her as one, Sakura soon found her happy place. A small smile crept across her face as she rode into shore. She hopped off the board and bent down to pick it up, turning around she caught sight of someone else out on the blue.
He seemed to have perfect control over all his movements, carefully planning each when out. To Sakura it was like watching living art, bending and twisting in sync with the water. She couldn't keep her eyes off him, even as he drifted into shore and locked eyes with her. Quickly she tore her gaze from him and grabbed her belongings, making a swift dash for her truck.
Sakura knew this man well; he was her best friend and secret crush. The last time they had spoken she had confessed her feelings to him and he denied them. All Sakura wanted now was to get out of there before he decided to have a friendly chat with her. But before she could even throw her board in the truck bed, he was calling out to her and making his way over.
"Hey Sakura, is that really you?"
Sakura turned to look at the man standing before her. He was taller and his hair looked a darker shade of red. His body had toned out since eighth grade, but his smile remained the same. Sakura stared at him for a few moments more, trying to figure out how to get out of this as quickly as possible.
"Uh yea, hey Sasori. Long time no see huh?" Sakura faked a smile and laughed a little nervously.
"Yea, I mean I haven't talked to you since your move to Hawaii. How have you been? I see you're still keeping up with the surfing huh?" Sasori's smile was breath taking and Sakura found herself staring again.
"I've been good, just trying to finish out my senior year is all. How's college, I heard from my dad that you got accepted to the University of California. "Sakura really wanted this to end, the small talk was killing her.
"Yea, I got accepted and I just recently started classes. But enough about me, why are you here in Cali, I thought you said nothing could make you leave Hawaii?"
Sakura pondered this for a while, there were many reasons she left. Her mother missed her, her dad's new girlfriend was plain creepy, the surf was supposed to be better in California right now than Hawaii, but the biggest reason was to experience new things and maybe meet up with Sasori again.
"I…uh wanted to try something new. Ya know see what else was out there beyond the big blue," Sakura looked towards the water, and finished with saying, "but I guess waves are waves where ever you go huh?"
She chuckled sadly to herself before throwing her board in the truck and turning to face Sasori again. "Well I best get going; don't want my mom to freak." As Sakura turned to leave, she was pulled right back around to face two concerned amber eyes.
"Every wave is different, Sakura. Some you nail and some you totally wipe out, but you learn from them. You learn not to make the same mistakes or how to improve. Past experiences teach us everything. I myself have learned a lot through them." Sasori turned to face the ocean once again, pulling Sakura next to his side. The two watched wave after wave come to shore before he spoke again.
"I loved this girl back when I was thirteen; she was beautiful then and even now. She told me she felt the same way, but I got scared and pushed away the feelings. Weeks later she left and I realized the stupid mistake I made. But now she's back and I promised myself the next time I saw her I wouldn't let her get away again." Sakura turned to look at him and realized he was staring at her; she blushed heavily and tried to turn away. Sasori lightly grabbed her chin and turned her face to his own.
"I was stupid, Sakura. I denied my true feelings for you and then watched you walk out of my life. I almost didn't go to college, told my parents I was going to search for you in Molokai. But when I emailed your father, he had said you left for the states. So my parents convinced me that college was more important at the moment. But I never gave up; I've been out on this particular spot every day waiting to see if you'd show up. And you did."
Sakura stared into his eyes, concentrating on not passing out. This had been a huge part of moving back to Cali with her mom, to find Sasori again. But things changed when she got back, her mom met a new man and a boy from her school fell for her hard and then left her for some other girl. These things never kept her from hopping she'd find him, though. And now that she had, she wasn't going to let him slip away.
Mustering up all her courage, she tilted her head up to his and kissed him full on the lips. It was better than anything she had ever experienced, even the kisses she shared with that dim wit Sasuke, her ex-boyfriend. Sasori deepened the kiss, parting her lips with his tongue and caressing her mouth. He turned fully to face her, wrapping his arms around her waist as she wrapped her around his neck. The kiss lasted a couple seconds and soon both broke away for air.
"I've loved you for so long, Sasori. I've never stopped hopping to cross paths with you again. I left Molokai because surfing without you wasn't the same; I left because without you I felt alone. I tried to look for you when I came back, but with school and this horrid boy, life got complicated. I even almost gave up surfing. But it was the one thing that still connected me to you in some way, so I kept at it. Sasori, I can't stop thinking about you, even after all these years. So please tell me everything you said was the truth, please say it isn't all a lie. Because I don't think I could handle it." Sakura looked straight at him, praying that he would answer it was all true.
Sasori smiled down at her, bending down for a quick kiss before saying, "I swear on the ocean I'm telling the truth. I've made my mistake, I'm ready to learn from it and get back out on the water."
He kissed her lovingly again and the two turned to watch the sun set over the water. Both ignored their calls, messages, and texts; they were too wrapped up in each other to care. Sakura snuggled into his chest as the last ray of sun set over the water, a clear black sky gleaming with stars entering her vision. She slowly started to drift off to sleep in the arms of her childhood love, thinking about the day's events. And Sakura knew that she would be happy to spend the rest of her life on this beach with this man, experiencing and learning from every wave that came their way.