Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto, if I did TenTen would get more screen time
Why is it that he'll only look to the unobtainable sky, when the ground is always by his side?
"Sakura-chan! Would you like to come get some ramen with me" he asks, hope evident in this tone.
"For the last time Naruto! NO means NO!" She yells hitting around the back of his head hard enough to send him face first towards the floor. Before storming off back home to dream of Sasuke or whatever it is she does with her spare time.
'Don't misunderstand me, I like her, I wish I was like her, confident, smart, and brave with the skills to back up her words. But she has all that I want, she has him and she doesn't care'
Men have always tried to reach for the sky... Too hypnotised by its beauty to notice that the ground is always there for them
"Hello N-naruto-kun"
"Hey Hinata, how are you?"
"I'm good, I've just got back from a-"
"SAKURA-CHAN!" He yells, cutting me off, and there she is glowering at him down the street. "Sorry Hinata, I'll catch up with you some other time" He says before running to greet her.
'Some other time, is this before or after she rejects you again, before or after my next mission with Kiba and Shino, before or after I next don the rabbit mask next?'
They jump and fly trying to reach it, but they always fall back to the ground, only to try again
"No Naruto, you baka!"
"But Sakura-chan" he begged
"NO!" Marching off, leaving him alone to his training, well almost alone.
"Are you alright N-naruto-kun?" 'How could I be so stupid, of course he isn't, look at his face, he'll think I'm an idiot now!'
"I don't know, I just can't seem to show Sakura-chan how I feel. She doesn't want to go out with me at all" his voice drained of all of its usual brightness
"Don't worry Naruto-kun, there are many p-people who would love to go out with you" 'Me for one, I even confessed'
"Thanks Hinata, I can't just give up on my love so easily, of course she will want to date me eventually"
It's only when the shy turns grey and rain falls, do men look to the ground around them
"Sakura, will you go to Shikamaru and Ino's engagement party with me?" he asked, still hopeful after all these rejections. 'I feel so guilty, this is so private, I shouldn't listen to this. It's not something for others to hear'
"No Naruto, why don't you get it, I will NEVER love you, I love SASUKE and always will!"
I glance at his expression as I slip away, he's crushed, but he'll get back up and try again. He always does.
"Hinata would you like to go to Ino and Shikamaru's engagement party with me?..."
'Am I dreaming? Is Naruto-kun, really asking me out, maybe I was wrong and he has given up on Sakura, maybe he's realized that I was always there'
"... I mean since I can't go with Sakura and you probably don't have a date,"
'So that's what this is, a pity date, he doesn't think anyone would ask me! I'm safe to ask because no one else would ask me out!
"So I was thinking that we could go as friends."
'Naruto, why do you ask me this, you know I love you, so why must you ask me out only as a friend. It's cruel, unintentional but cruel all the same. Not only that but Sakura had to completely reject him before he even considered me, that hurts, am I really only second choice?
But the ground doesn't need men who look only to the sky
'So I'm his second choice, why? I love him, she doesn't. What's wrong with me? I'm always there for him, I'm a strong, I'm ANBU for kami's sake. I love him.'
'Or at least I did'
"I'm sorry Naruto but I was planning on asking someone else" I tried to smile, to convince him that I did not need his pity, it works.
"So you found someone else, good for you," he smiles as he walks off.
'At least looks sad, don't just act as though me rejecting you doesn't matter. Because it does, I've moved on, or at least and starting to. I'm tired of being your second choice, it hurts but I want to be important someone, not a backup plan.'
And though they do not realize it, men who look to the sky need the ground
It has been a month since I rejected Naruto, it was hard to move on but I'm making it, bit by bit I'm finding ways to live my life without him. Surrounded by my friends, giving our congratulations to the lucky couple, I feel slightly jealous, wishing I was the one getting engaged. But between the food, the smiles of my friends as Kiba forces them to kiss, it's soon forgotten. Naruto is here as well, he found a date, a twenty-something chunin whose name escapes my memory, but if my memory serves correctly, she is in the middle of a fight with her ANBU boyfriend, so this relationship will barely last the night. Naruto was surprised when I turned up, I think it was the fact that I wasn't alone that did it, or it could of been who I was with. I was surprised myself when he said yes, his siblings as well. It seems that I have caused quite a stir by asking him, I feel slightly proud. And there I was a week ago worrying about having no one to ask to the party, all the boys in the village, were either, in a relationship, too old, too young or on my list of people that I could not bring myself to ask. But lucky for me there are men who live outside Konoha. We have more in common than most would think and I can't see my father disapproving either.
Because sooner or later someone will take the ground from under your feet, they can see the beauty you ignore.
After all the ground and sand are remarkably similar.