Is music love?

Chapter one - Home

It was a lovely day in Konoha. The sun was out and a group of local teenagers were having a picnic in the park. Kids were running and couples were strolling around, enjoying the sun and each other's company.

"Shikamaru, hand me a toast." Ino told her lazy friend.

"Troublesome woman..." The darkhaired boy said, but handed her one anyway. Usually it was not worth upsetting Ino.

"Sitting under the blooming cherry trees makes me think of her." Hinata's quiet voice was filled with longing.

"Yeah." The boys and Tenten all said in unison.

"Well, then it's great that she's coming back today!" Ino grinned. The others looked at her in surprise. Naruto was the first one to snap out of it.

"W-what? Sakura is coming back?"

"Yeah, didn't I mention it to you guys? I'm so sorry about that!" Ino said, not sounding sorry at all. "Well actually, I think she's already in Konoha. We have plans to meet up tonight." She smiled. Out of the group, Ino was the only one who had had regular contact with Sakura since the latter left for Suna.

"Did you hear her mate?" Naruto squeeled in his loud voice to Sasuke. "She's finally coming home!"

"Calm down Naruto, you're giving me a headache." The handsome boy answered in a bored voice. "Are you sure?" He then asked Ino, who did not miss the hopeful tone in his voice.

She winked at him teasingly. "Why would I lie about something like that?"

After having discussed the good news for a while (Naruto particularly seemed very enthusiastic), the group decided to go for a walk. As the were walking past a group of trees, the heard some excited squeals coming from the other side of the trees.

"Gaara, wait up! I said wait up!"

Somebody laughed. "Sakura, you need to be faster if you want to catch me!"

They all froze. This was too good to be true. Yet, Sasuke thought, how could there be any doubt?

"Sakura?" Naruto said with bright eyes. "Want to check that out?" Before anyone could answer him, he was sprinting toward the laughter.

"What now?" Shikamaru asked. No one was going to make him run after their hyperactive friend.

"Well, do we have any other choice than to follow?"

They walked past the trees. On the other side was a playground.

They saw two persons running around on the playground, climbing, running, jumping, doing whatever it took to get faster around. One of them was a redhead. The other one was a girl, her long, blonde hair waving in the wind.

Sasuke widened his eyes. If there'd been just a little doubt about who it had been before, it was gone now.

"SAKURA! OVER HERE!" Ino called out, waving her arms in the air.

Sakura turned her head.

"INO!" She answered, just as loud as her blonde friend. "Long time no see!" She immediately stopped pursuing the unknown boy and ran over to her best girlfriend, hugging her fiercely.

"Sakura!" Naruto cried while offering her his arms. "We've missed you SO much!" They embraced each other.

"Naruto... can't breathe..." Sakura gasped.

"S-sorry about that Sakura..."

"Hey everybody," she greeted the rest of them, suddenly a bit hesitant "what's up?".

While everybody else was greeting and talking to Sakura, Sasuke was secretly looking at her, taking in every detail. She had changed a lot physically since he last saw her. She had grown up. Gone was the shapeless body of his best playmate, replaced by a much more womanly one. A black tee with the words "kawaii ja nai" written with hiragana covered her upper body, showing off a little piece of her tummy. She was wearing a white tennis skirt and pink flip flops. On her head she was wearing a red headband with pink flowrs printed on.

The redhead came over to join the group. Sakura introduced him as Gaara, one of her Suna friends.

"Hey Gaara, nice to meet ya!" Being Ino, she was checking him out. He wore a tight grey shirt that did a great job at showing off his six-pack, black pants and a hint of black eyeliner around his maroon eyes. Not to mention he was damn hot!

"Ino, cut it out. He already has a girlfriend!" Sakura told her best friend.

Even Sasuke looked up at this. He is her boyfriend? No way, I thougt she was... whatever.

"Oh my gosh, Sakura! Do you mean that you two-?"

But Sakura was not paying attention anymore. She cupped her hands around her mouth and yelled, "Temari! Kankuro! Come over here!"

The group turned their heads to the playground again. Two persons, a boy and a girl, came into sight. The girl had blond hair, fixed in a ponytail like Shikamaru's. She wore a purple top, a black skirt and combat boots. The boy had normal black clothes on, combat boots like the girl and tousled brown hair. Sakura waved at them. "Over here!"

The two teens walked up to them. "Hey Sakura, who are these persons?" The girl asked, looking at the group.

"These are my friends from before I moved to Suna. Guys, those two are Temari and Kankuro, Gaara's siblings!"

They nodded at each other.

"Glad to meat you guys," Temari said in a hurry, not sounding too convincing. "Sakura, we need to go back to the hotel, Jack is waiting for us."

"Okay" she hugged Ino "see you guys later!" And with that she walked away with her friends from Suna, not looking back.

The gang went back to their cars, talking about what had happened.

When they reached the vehicles, Naruto asked: "What are you guys up to now?"

"Well, Hinata-chan, Tenten and I are going to do some homework at the Hyuuga's." Ino exclaimed.

"I am going home to sleep" Shikamaru yawned.

"I'm going to find Lee and train."

"Sasuke! If you aren't doing anything, how about you come with me to eat ramen at Iraku's?"

"I think not."

"Aw, come on." He made the blue puppy eyes girls seemed to have so much trouble resisting.

Sasuke shrugged. "Fine. But it's your treat."