Take it Off
Chapter One:
It was so quiet. Sakura's trained ears heard the sound of footsteps behind her. She turns around and see's a familer face and smiles.
"Is your wound still bothering you?" Sakura asked.
His arm was still in a sling and wrapped carefully by Sakura truely not to long ago.
"Oh no...it's fine." The young man looked down at the ground trying to avoid the pink haired medic's green analyzing eyes. "A-Actually, ever since you treated me...I haven't been able to stop thinking about you." Reaching inside his brown vest pocket he pulled out an envelop.
With trembling hands he gives it to her.
"What is this?" Sakura asked.
"I-It's...what they call a "love letter."
Sakura's mouth opened as if she was about to say something but he got the first word in. "When I go into battle again, there's no guarantee that I'll come back alive. So...will you go out with me?" he asked the pinkette in front of him.
That left her thinking what should she answer; she just got asked by a very handsome guy if she could go out with him.
"Thank you." Sakura smiled, putting the envelope close to her heart to show her appreciation. "But I'm not looking for a relationship at the moment. Sorry."
"Oh...I see. That's too bad."
When he had left the tent Sakura went to her desk in the corner of the tent and opened a drawer full of letters with little hearts all over them. Dropping the recent love letter with the rest of the stack of heart-felt messages she closed the drawer with a sigh.
-5 Hours earlier/ago
Sakura was a beautiful young women of every guys' dreams. But, she turns every guy that asked her out down. She only wishes there was that someone special someone who she liked would change their mind about her...
"Sakura, you're not eating anything."
Ino tucked a strand of her blond hair behind her ear and gave her friend a worried glance. Sakura was initially about to leave the Yamanaka Flower Shop, but had turned back around in the doorway to face the vicinity once again. Besides this was Ino's only lunch break and she needed a good girl talk right about now.
"The new shop looks great. How has bussiness been so far?" Sakura asked, changing the subject.
"Oh really you think so? Thanks. I thought Konoha or what's left of it anyway... needed some color to it. So I'm hoping to do my part in bringing a little life back to it's people."
"That's great Ino." Sakura said in a bored tone.
She wasn't really intrested in talking about flowers. A loud sigh disturbed the silence as Ino leaned over the counter. "What's wrong?"
"Nothing, I just don't like the taste of this stuff," Sakura explained, looking disgustingly at the treat she was holding.
"It's onigiri. You love onigiri," Ino pointed out.
Sakura said nothing, and then, "Y—yeah."
Ino gasped and jumped up. Sakura raised her eyebrow and scanned the flower shop to see what had alarmed Ino. When her eyes settled back on her best friend, Ino spoke again. "Are you...dieting?" she asked.
"Ino, I'm not on a diet."
Ino waved a finger at Sakura. "If you're trying to lose weight, we should lose it together! It'd be more fun that way! It's not fair if you get skinny and I don't! Then again, I'm already naturally skinny so—"
Sakura growled. "I'm not dieting Ino-pig!"
Ino sat back down on the stool and scowled. "Well you should have said so!" she shouted.
The kunoichi stared down each other, and Sakura eventually began to concentrate and nibble on her onigiri in silence.
Ino sighed. "So what's wrong?"
"You asked me that already. Stop asking."
"I just want to know, sheesh! You're just not yourself today Sakura. I should know, because you're so bad at hiding your feelings."
Sakura got up and threw the rest of her onigiri into the trash. "If I tell you what's wrong, promise not to laugh?"
"Sure."
"Or call me a crybaby? You did that a lot when we were little. I want you to know that we're too old for that now."
"But you are one, Sakura," Ino remarked. "So what's the matter with you?"
"Ino…have you ever liked someone so much, but the other person didn't like you back?"
"Sasuke. Duh. But that was a long time ago in the Academy. You should know that Sakura we practically fought over him remember?"
Sakura rolled her eyes. Ino knew her too well. "I mean," Sakura started, "You like that person so much, for too long, it hurts, that you just can't hold back your feelings anymore. Like their going to explode if you don't do something about it and-"
The flower shop door opens with a ting of a bell, Sakura can feel it when someone approaches her, she lifts up her head to see who it is.
"Ohayo, Sakura," a guy greets her.
"Oh! Ohayo gozaimasu, Jin!" Sakura replies. Jin used to be one of her patient's. He had a crush on her, but Sakura didn't like him that way, they were good friends. But that still didn't stop guys like Jin from asking her out everyday.
"How are you? I haven't seen you in a while," Jin said.
Sakura put on a big smile, "I'm great! Konoha seems to keep getting better and better. What about you? How have you been?" Sakura replies as sweet as she can.
"I'm fine, thank you. I – "
"Sakura. Who's this good-looking stud?" Sakura hears Ino calls.
"Gomensai how rude of me! Ino this is one of my patients Jin. This is my best friend Ino." Sakura looks at him. "But I like to call her pig."
"Forehead."
"Piggy."
"Billboard Brow."
"Ino-Pig."
"Shut up."
Bingo. "I win."
Ino rolls her eyes and looks at Jin. "What brings you here, Jin?"
Jin seems to be taken aback by their previous word-fight. "I'm, um, I just came by to greet Sakura. I heard she was at the flower shop. So Sakura can I ask you something...alone?" he said looking over at Ino.
"Oh! Don't mind me. Pretened I'm not even here!" Ino grinned with a wave of the hand.
"Hai, what is it?" Sakura asked.
She already knew.
"Would you like to go out sometime?"
Sasuke's face flashed in her mind and Sakura shook her head to rid his face from inside her head.
"Sakura?"
"Oh, gomensai I'm just not ready for a relationship."
"Please give me a chance Miss Sakura!" He bowed.
He was practically begging.
"Jin raise your head. You look ridiculous." Sakura said.
"No I will not Miss Sakura! I've sent you five love letters and you haven't responed to any of them! I love you Miss Sakura!" he begged as he clung to her. Sakura's fist tightend. When were these guys going to take the hint that she wasn't intrested? But then she relized she used to be like Jin and now she was in Sasuke's shoes.
'So this is how it feels...'
"Do my feeling mean nothing to you?" Sakura seethed, pushing away the boy's face , "How can I be blunter than I've been? I'm not interested." Sakura slowly reiterated, drawing out each word as if speaking to a kindergartener, "If you really love me like you say you do then you have to respect my feelings. I'm sorry please leave."
"Gomen," he whispered letting go of her, "I was too pushy right? I'll talk to you later Sakura."
Sakura smiled at Jin. "Alright, Jin. Take care of yourself!"
"Don't get sunburn; you have a fine body to keep in shape!" Ino joked.
"Ino! Are you trying to embarrass me?" Sakura scolded.
Is he blushing? "Thanks, I will. And you too!" and waves goodbye to Sakura. As soon as he's out of hearing zone, Sakura turned to Ino.
"Jama mendoukusai... I thought he'd never leave," Sakura said tiredly.
Ino gave Sakura a WTH look.
"What the hell is wrong with you?"
"What are you talking about?" Sakura replies calmly.
"You missed your chance with him. You scared the poor guy away!" Ino exclaim.
"He was crossing the line." Sakura eyes her.
"What line? Are you crazy forehead, what women in her right mind would want to draw the line, especially a guy that looks like that?"
"It's my line and I draw it," Sakura hissed. I mean, just the other day he gave me a really nice love letter and a kimono, out of the blue! But I don't know him very well and —"
Ino sighed and shook her head. "You still have a lot to learn about guys...he gave YOU a love letter AND a kimono?"
"You said you wouldn't laugh, Ino." Sakura crossed her arms.
"Gomensai Sakura, I didn't mean to laugh. But still why not go on one date with the guy?"
"I don't need anybody. Ever since I became Tsunade's apprentice, I've been through everything by myself. I don't need the kind of love couples have. I was hardwired to be independent."
She was part of The Medic Field, and anything dealing with love shouldn't be her concern, she knew that. But she didn't know why love letters and heart-felt gifts kept coming. Why'd she have to make two or more people fall in love with her when obviously, she didn't feel the same way? Why did she have to keep rejecting them when they just kept coming back? Why did she ever coin the term 'soul mate' or maybe, 'the right one' or possibly 'other half'? Those are stupid. Love like that is stupid. Her thinking about it is stupid. She knew better.
This was why she was part of The Medic Field. The top medic, even. She knew she had no chance at understanding love, and that she planned keeping it that way. She didn't need love like that. And in a world full of other people who were so desperate for it, she only truly found one true oasis. A place and a home-built and hardwired for only the most independent ninja, where they would become better individuals each day. The medic field.
"I don't need anybody else to live. I can handle myself on my own. I don't need love like that."
"Forehead, it's been two years—two freaking years, and you still haven't had a boyfriend or anything. You haven't even kiss a guy yet, to top it off you're a virgin for crying out loud. If I wasn't in a relationship already, I would be on every guy in Konoha in a minute. Why aren't you dating anybody?"
There was a sigh, as the blond-haired, blue-eyed, kunoichi took another gulp of her tea, and turned to her long-time best friend (and yes, one-time rival). She eyed the girl beside her critically and then gasped spitting her drink all over Sakura in her shocked state.
"Oh, my Kami...are you still in love with him?"
The pink-haired, green-eyed, slender kunoichi look didn't even look alarmed at the statement, giving out another sigh in turn. She nodded her head emphatically.
"What do you think?" Sakura simply stated.
"Oh Kami!" the blond yelled. "You are!"
"You're still in love with Sasuke!"
"Shh, quiet Ino-pig! I don't want all of Konoha to know!" Sakura covered her friends mouth with her hands.
"Sakura are you saying…?" Ino ask desperately, hoping beyond hope that it wasn't true, to just say that she's given up on the bastard of a traitor.
Sakura nods and what she says has tears of pain misting over her eyes, causing her lower lip to tremble and a quirk of her lip to appear. And Sakura finds herself thinking the oddest thing. Like what it was that made her fall so deeply and madly in love with Sasuke Uchiha. And then it hits her. He didn't say anything. He didn't really make any type of move. He just looked at her. Sakura smiled at the memory. He just looked at her and those dark beautiful eyes of his smiled the most brilliant shade of sunshine that she had and ever will have seen in all her life.
"Yes...why couldn't you end up on the same team as him instead of me?!"
"I know!" Ino exclaimed.
"He's not as perfect as everyone thinks, Ino," Sakura pointed out. "I learned that the hard way. But if Sasuke began to say what he was thinking, minus the insults towards others, then it'd definitely make my life easier. I'd be clearer on my feelings for him. Maybe."
"Hmph. Maybe?"
"Some of my happiest times were with team seven," Sakura said. "And he was always there, along with Naruto and Kakashi-sensei. I got to know him, but I don't know why I keep denying it. I feel guilty for keeping a crush for so long."
"Maybe it's not a crush," Ino suggested. "You've been pining over him for so long."
"I'm not sure," Sakura sighed. "Sometimes I'm in love with him—I mean, I even told him that the day when he left the village. But other times...I desperately try to convince myself that it's a crush that will eventually go away."
"If you desperately try to convince yourself that it's a crush," Ino responded, "Then you're in love with him. Sakura, you and Naruto seemed so gloomy when he was gone, and even though you two tried to keep each other happy didn't you once mention that you felt like a piece of you was gone? Every time he was brought up you could barely speak; you also spent weeks next to his bedside when he was in the hospital, bringing a fresh flower everyday. Should I go on?"
"Ino..." Sakura softly said. "You..."
"I don't mind," Ino murmured, with a small smile. "It took me a long time to wake up smell the roses, but I got two troublesome guys to deal with everyday on my own team. And I know you love him. It's so obvious! You probably said it was a crush to make me feel better or something. Hmph! As if you should feel sorry for me! Besides Sasuke isn't my type." Ino winked.
Sakura pouted. She didn't think it was that obvious. "Sorry for making you listen to me, but…" Sakura tried not to grit her teeth. She had a hard time saying this to her rival. "…thanks for listening anyway-Wait Sasuke not your type? Since when?"
Ino went into a thinking pose shifting all her weight to one side, "This year I'm going for something tall, lean, with black spiky hairy with a ponytail. You could guess who I'm talking about," Ino giggled at her. "And I like hearing you whine about your love life, really." She then grinned.
"I know. So do I."
"Do you think it was true?" Ino broke the silence.
"Try being a little more specific, Ino-pig."
She snorted without much conviction. "Do you think that Sasuke really does like girls with long hair?"
Sakura felt a smirk tug at her lips again and shrugs. "I don't know. He's changed so much Ino."
"I don't think he does."
"Why not?"
Ino stared up at the remarkably blue sky. "He never noticed anybody, let alone girls with long hair. He never noticed me," she paused, then continued, "Or you. Not really."
The pink-haired shinobi didn't feel like arguing the truth right then. It was a bad day. But she did have something to add. "Naruto. He noticed Naruto."
"Did he? I never really noticed." The girl took a moment to chuckle quietly at the irony. "Why him?"
"I don't know," she sighed. The longer she'd pursued Sasuke, the longer she'd tried to understand him and tried to convince both herself and Ino that she knew him best, the more she'd come to realize how little she really did know him. "I don't know."
"I guess they were pretty close, eh?"
"I guess. Yeah. Yeah, they were. Closer to each other than either of them were to me," she admitted.
"I wonder," Ino began with a giggle, disturbing the silence every time it tried to settle over them. "I wonder if Naruto knows."
"More specific, Ino."
"I wonder if Naruto knows whether or not Sasuke likes girls with long hair."
Accidentally, Sakura let out a snort of laughter. The image of an over-excited, hyper-active Naruto trying to discuss girls and long hair with a sullen Sasuke was pretty great. Her right hand reached up to tug at her shorter hair absent-mindedly. "Ino-pig."
"What, big-forehead?"
"I wish it could have been me."
"Sakura. Little vague, there."
The girl faced her childhood friend. "Sometimes I wish I could have been Sasuke's best friend. Sometimes I wish Naruto wasn't the only one with a chance at bringing him back." A tear leaked out of one eye and Sakura turned her face away. "I wish it could have been me."
Ino smiled. "I know. So do I. Just kidding with you Forehead."
Sakura laughs, at what Ino says and the pink haired ninja smiles a real, genuine smile for the first time in weeks. And then she turns serious and says in a heart-broken whisper, "I still love… I just… Sasuke." Sakura looks at Ino helplessly and her big blue eyes tell her some unspoken secret.
Ino smiles though and says simply, "I say you should confront the man and tell him how you feel. You're a great girl not to mention strong, too. Don't take no for an answer." Ino hit her fist on the counter to prove her point.
"So what you're saying is that I need to take the initiative?"
"That's righ-Wait what?"
A light bulb went went on in Sakura's head.
"I get it...It makes sense! Sasuke only responds to physical confrontation instead of human interaction. Thanks Ino!" Sakura called over her shoulder.
"Sakura, what are you going to do?" Ino called after her.
Sakura stopped in her tracks at the door, "Something I should have done a long time ago." Sakura tells her. And it's true. She should have done this in Genin days. She should have done this when Sasuke had called her "annoying". She had so many chances to do this, and she can hardly believe it takes some silly girl talk to actually do it.
Disclaimer: I own nothing of Naruto Shippunden!
I'M STILL TRYING TO FIND OUT THE PLOT OF THIS FIC! AND PLUS I'M WORKING ON MY OTHER STORIES MORE THEN THIS ONE!
Should I continue this or no? Please tell me.
Thank you for your reviews.
~Placido