While I have long since moved on from the Naruto fandom, I still hold some degree of fondness for many of the characters. So when the creative bug bites you, you just gotta go with it. I do not own Naruto or any of the characters used. Enjoy.
Maybe she was a fool for harbouring such a hopeless crush. Konohamaru and Udon always seemed to think so, not that she ever actually asked for their opinions. That was friends for you; always giving unsolicited advice. Moegi already knew that it was stupid to hang on to an unrequited crush, let alone on someone that she doubted had even bothered to remember her name. She was still an academy student, after all, and he was a genin. A talented genin, with hair and eyes as black as night and smooth, pale skin.
"You're insane." Konohamaru had told her as she peeked around a corner to gaze at him. "He may look cooler than Oniichan, but Oniichan is a million times better. And he knows your name."
Moegi hit him for that, and kept right on gazing, ignoring her friend's whining about his bruised head. He was a brat, and therefore deserved it.
Oh, what she would give to have been born a few years earlier! Then she would at least be the same age as him, and perhaps even be lucky enough to be on his team instead of Sakura. But she wasn't, and so had to wait until she was older. That was awful. Sasuke was so popular, it was only a matter of time before some other girl stole him away. Enough girls liked him for that to be a legitimate worry, and many of them were quite pretty, but she drew solace from the fact that Sasuke didn't seem to care for anyone. Sakura was a bit more of a threat, since she was his teammate and possibly considered a friend. But Sasuke didn't seem to have any interest in her, either. So Moegi held on to hope.
"Hey, what's so great about Sasuke, anyway?" Naruto, their leader and respected Oniichan (even if he was an idiot) had asked her once, perplexed. She had tried to explain to him as best she could about her awe of his looks, the allure of his persona, the thrill of danger...
Naruto had laughed at her. He joined Konohamaru in the group of idiot boys nursing sore heads, being consoled by Udon, who was at least clever enough not to say anything on the topic of Moegi's crush.
Oddly enough, she somewhat got along with Sakura. She was pretty cool, even if she was a rival. They spent countless hours talking about their shared love and how amazing he was, ignoring Naruto and Konohamaru's disgusted snickers in the background. It was fun. In a lot of ways, Moegi didn't mind that her crush would never come to anything. The feelings made her happy, and even gave her a common point with some of the other girls, allowing her to make some new friends. She enjoyed every minute of her small, hopeless infatuation.
Then Sasuke went away.
Moegi was miserable. She even cried. Konohamaru and Udon did their best to comfort her, and didn't even say "I told you so," which was a miracle in itself. She just didn't understand. Some of the genin had gone after him, and all had come back severely injured. Even Naruto, who Moegi had always thought was Sasuke's best friend. It was all so upsetting and confusing, and Moegi was a mess for a while there.
Luckily her friends kept her busy. The whole time, she thought that they were just being idiot boys. They dragged her out to play ninjas in the neighbourhood, to go on bug-hunting expeditions in the woods, to see what the Hokage mountain looked like at night, all to take her mind off of her heartbreak.
It took her a while to realize that she rarely thought about Sasuke anymore, and that when she did, it didn't hurt. She'd gotten over it, both the crush and the betrayal. And she didn't regret any of it.
Except for the incident with the spiders, but that's a different story.
