a/n: hi guys! i'm back with more sasuino friendship and nARUINO bc i'm extreme trash for this ship. anyways, none of the drabbles are related unless i say so. this one takes place after the war, maybe a couple of months after? 553 words.
disclaimer: i don't own naruto ok
Sasuke has found it extremely hard to shift back to life in Konoha. He's no longer the village's golden boy, he receives glares from everyone. Gone are the girls following him-
"Sasuke-kun!~"
Or so he thought.
He didn't need to turn around to know who that voice belonged to. Yamanaka Ino was a meddling, loud-
"Did you forget," she whispered in his ear, the closest she's been to him in ages, "that I'm a mind reader?" He scowls and she giggles in response. "Let's talk a walk," she says, and he knows that he can't say no. It's not a question, it's a command, and he doesn't do anything except grimace as he is pulled along.
"How's life back in Konoha?" She asks him, as they get to a rather empty part of the village. He simply stares at her, wondering what made her think that she could just stumble into his life and act like she was his friend. This little girl-
(Not a little girl, he remembers, this woman is a kunoichi. She has fought in the war. She had to kill her own sensei. She fought through her father's death. She's done so much. This is not the same Ino from all those years ago.)
She smiles then, a small upwards tug, but he sees it, and he knows that she really doesn't trust him yet if she keeps on listening to his thoughts. He wonders how long she's been keeping tabs on him. As far as he knows, she conveyed messages to hundreds of people during the war, it wouldn't be too hard for her to listen to him for a couple hours (days, weeks, months).
"Hn," he replies, but he thinks of the stares and the whispers, and she looks at him. Really looks at him for the first time and smiles.
"I never thought that I'd see the day that Uchiha Sasuke feels insecure," she said, teasingly. Ino slowed their walking pace. "I know how you feel, though," she says, her eyes drifting back to the ground. "Feeling out of place? Man, those were the days.."
That's how their walk goes. Ino talks about anything and everything. How she felt out of place when everyone is improving: his team training with sannin, Shikamaru becoming a chuunin, Choji learning new jutsus, everyone just constantly improving, and how she was at a stand still. She talked about running the flower shop now that her father's gone. How looking at a cosmos made her want to want to punch a wall and how she couldn't even look at Kurenai and Asuma's baby without wanting to run. Then as they slow to a stop, she grins stupidly and says, "And there's this boy.. but we'll save that for later, okay, Sasuke-kun?"
"Pig!" Another voice enters the conversation. They both look up, and that smile has turned into one's of a snake, and Sasuke actually shudders.
"Ah, there you are forehead, Sasuke-kun and I were just talking about you."
The medic nin blushes hard, "Good things, I hope?"
"Why don't you enlighten her, Sasuke?" She asks, punching his shoulder lightly. A familiar chakra is heading their way and she can't help but feel the need to leave the area. "Ja ne, lovebirds!~" And she leaves in a swirl of smoke and leaves.
