Sakura sighed. It was coming close to midnight on Christmas Eve. The party was beginning to seem a bit boring, with the adults drinking and her friends not even there yet. Almost everyone she regularly passed by was invited, yet there was no one she could talk to. She could have just walked out an hour ago, but she promised she would wait for everyone else, who said they would be somewhat late.
She couldn't leave, but she didn't want to stay.
Glancing over to the open bar, she noticed the team leaders, jounins, and even two of the Kage having more of a social life than a sixteen year old girl left alone at a party. Sakura looked down at her watch and cursed under her breath. She bounced off the wall she was leaning on and fixed her red hair ribbon.
"Sakura!" yelled a familiar voice. She turned, hoping that something interesting would finally happen. "Saaaakuuuuuraaaaaa!"
"What do you want, taichou?"
Yamato didn't drink as much as the rest of the adults, but he always involved Sakura in his hopeless drunk conversation when she was around. "Why are you just standing there alone? I thought you'd be with your boyfriend." He pouted.
She stared at him, puzzled. "I haven't had a boyfriend since… well, I don't have a boyfriend."
He stood up to put one arm around her shoulder and his hand on the other. "Well, good. I know that a certain somebody in our team is in love with you." His laugh was quiet, but no doubt annoying.
Sakura turned around to face him, feeling a bit confused. "Ah, Yamato-taichou," she said in a slightly higher voice than her normal, "You see, I like somebody, and it could eventually bring horrible teamwork, but…"
He flicked her forehead. "Saku, are you drunk?"
"No, but you probably are."
"I didn't mean me, idiot. And I don't mean Kakashi-senpai either. And if it makes a difference, I don't mean Naruto."
She sighed. That could have either been fact or fiction, but she didn't exactly want to hang out with her team's captain or her sensei all night, playing 20-Questions until she found out for sure. "Well, I'm tired now. I'm sure I'll care more on another day. Merry Christmas."
As she headed for the door, the knob turned. The party's newcomer came within five inches of Sakura's space before jumping back, surprised. "O-Oh… I'm sorry, Sakura."
"Sai!" she exclaimed excitedly, jumping up to give him a hug. Perhaps her excitement from finally seeing someone she could talk to that wasn't drunk was too odd.
His face turned a pale shade of pink at the unusual act of his friend, who usually acted violently toward everyone. "Is no one else here?" He spoke into her sweet smelling hair, becoming accustomed to her hug.
She let go and sighed. "I've been here alone for about two hours already. And don't you dare think of turning around and walking out on me."
"I won't, I promise."
Sakura raised an eyebrow. Her friend seldom made promises, especially little promises that meant that he'd be stuck with a violent and impatient girl for a while. But he couldn't object, especially when she put on such a cute scene. Not that Sakura knew that, though. Her only thoughts were that he was afraid she would hunt him down and yell at him until the year ended. It didn't matter, as long as she wasn't alone for once. And being with Sai made everything a lot better than it would be with Ino or Naruto or any of her other friends.
"Sakura!" called Yamato as the two started to sit down.
"Hold on a second," she excused herself. Sai nodded before he stomped off yelling "What do you want now, taichou?"
"Oh, sorry, did I interrupt something important between you and your boyfriend?"
Sakura sighed for about the hundredth time that evening. "I don't have a boyfriend, Yamato-taichou. I've never had one, and I probably will end up like Tsunade-sama."
"You're a pretty girl, Sakura! You know, except in the eyes of your boy over there. But it's pretty damn obvious what he thinks of you, so I doubt you're gonna end up a fifty-something-year-old single drunk if you just accept the love he has to offer you!" Yamato's drunk spiel finally caused Sakura to place her hand lightly on her shoulder, put them both face-to-face with a distance of about ten inches, and say "If you would excuse me, I'd rather not listen to you, your ambiguous chatter, and your delusional thoughts about me ever having a boyfriend when I could very well be talking to one of my sober friends."
"Sakura," Yamato moaned, "You're so oblivious. Now go back to your friend, I'm sure he has something important to tell you!"
Damn you, cursed Sakura under her breath. Oblivious my ass!
"Ah, welcome back, Sakura." She angrily sat down and ran her fingers through her hair. Her anger was aimed more at the fact that she didn't bother listen to her taichou enough to get what point he was trying to get across.
Sai leaned over the table they were sitting at and felt Sakura's forehead. She turned red and held her hand up to her cheek. "A-Are you okay, Sakura? You feel a bit warm."
"More like flustered," she replied.
"Would you like to talk about it? I-I read in a book that it sometimes helps to be there to listen when your friends are dealing with problems."
She blew at her hair, a common act of hers that wasn't ugly, but cute. She didn't know that he thought that, though. "I'm just really mad at how Yamato-taichou has been throwing his drunken crud at me as if I'm supposed to understand what he means all the time."
"Perhaps he secretly admires you?"
"Now that you mention that, he did say something about someone in the team being in love with me or something. But he explicitly mentioned that it wasn't him. Considering that I… t-that I already like somebody who most likely won't ever think of me that way…" She took in a deep breathe and exhaled it slowly.
Sai's face turned a bit red as he looked down and began to poke his fingers together.. "Sober thoughts are drunken words." He couldn't look Sakura in the eye, even though she was probably still unaware who Yamato actually meant. But his curiosity rose after she mentioned the one she thought wouldn't like her. I wonder if it's still Sasuke…
Sakura shrugged for a moment before coming to a realization. "Ah, well I guess so…" She looked down, her cheeks becoming bright pink. It became awkward between the two of them, but Sakura smiled at the slight recognition of feelings they shared.
To both of their relief, and just two minutes before the stroke of midnight, others began to arrive. They all peered through the window, wondering if anything was actually happening. Sakura and Sai stood up in together and started toward the door to greet their tardy friends.
Ino walked in, pulling Sasuke and Shikamaru, and began to laugh. "Oh, sorry! I can't believe I left you all alone for hours! Ha, sor-"
"Merry Christmas!" the drunk adults exclaimed together at the stroke of midnight.
Sakura's heart pounded as she spoke the words "Merry Christmas, Sai!" She walked closer to the raven-haired artist.
And in front of the eyes of her friends, she made herself tall enough to match the height of her friend as she gave him a sudden kiss. As Sai mouthed the words "Merry Christmas", he beamed with a real smile that made Sakura blush.