"K-Kon'nichi wa," she mumbled, seeming overwhelmed with the simple task of greeting the three. "Naruto-kun."
"Hi Hinata," Naruto responded with a snigger. He was sitting on the ground leaning against one of the bridge posts, wearing a grin best suited for an evil clown.
Hinata blushed and quickly looked away from him. "Sakura-san," she said.
"How are you?" Sakura responded as she looked down at the note Hinata had delivered. It mentioned that Kakashi had been...attacked by a pack of lions? Sakura twitched. So no training, I suppose.
"Sa-Sa-Sasuke."
"Hn."
More sniggering.
Sakura blinked. She felt the note slip from her fingers. Hinata had greeted Sasuke...and with no "kun"? That was...rather informal, wasn't it? And the mere fact that Sasuke had acknowledged her, even with a simple grunt - it was just too....
The pink-haired girl quickly shook her head. She was clearly over-analyzing things. Hinata had obviously been far too terrified of Sasuke to remember to be polite, and the sheer fact that Sasuke had felt like being civil was completely coincidental.
Sakura looked at the pair. Hinata was blushing down at her feet, which had become quite normal when she was around Naruto. At fifteen, the Hyuuga heiress had developed little confidence to speak of. She fidgeted madly, her right pointer finger first poking the left, before moving to twirl in a few strands of her long hair. Her body had matured over the passed three years. At twelve, whereas she'd had no curves to speak of, Hinata had developed breasts that rewarded her with many long glances from Konoha's males. With a lean body, long legs, and shapely hips, it was simply a mystery why the girl didn't have a boyfriend.
Emerald eyes drifted to Sasuke. Uchiha Sasuke. The infamous, returned, run-away, Uchiha survivor - the level of ANBU...the rank of Genin. It was simply amazing how unambition Naruto and Sasuke had become since Akatsuki's defeat and Orochimaru's death. They were suddenly...very idle. Sakura smiled slightly despite herself. Dressed in dark clothing, Sasuke had grown in height and muscle, but was the same Uchiha Sasuke he had been at twelve. His hair hadn't grown an inch. He hadn't adopted any outrageous snake tattoos. He was just...Sasuke.
The Uchiha's return to Konoha, half-dead and really hungry, had brought with it much controversy. He had killed Orochimaru - but did that mean he could be trusted? Was it safe? Could they allow such a traitor to live among them again? In the end, he had taken punishment. A long, grueling, punishment. A punishment so horrible that it simply cannot be mentioned in this story.
Leaning against the rail, the Uchiha opened one of his eyes. His gaze rested on Hinata, who's own eyes remained upon the ground. Only...he wasn't looking at her face....
Is it just me... Sakura slowly thought. Or is Sasuke...he's-
"EEK!"
He was checking Hinata out!
Sakura's odd shriek had brought all eyes to her. Deeply breathing, the medical nin tried to remind herself that it was all - completely - normal. Reinforcing her confidence, she decided to test out her notion. "Sasu...ke," she weakly uttered, blushing furiously. She had never in her life said his name without a "kun." The kunoichi glanced away. Maybe if I'm not looking Sasuke-kun will perve on me too...
She waited.
...no response...
...no grunt...
...Naruto coughed...
"I - have - to - go," the Hyuuga uttered, strange sob-like noises accompanying each of her words. And with that, she spun around and stormed off, flailing her arms as though attempting to fly. She left only dust clouds in her wake.
Sakura blinked. What the hell was that about? she wondered, suddenly noticing that Sasuke and Naruto had decided to glare at her. Why do I feel like I'm missing something?
It was up to her to investigate.
For the next few days, Sakura took to stalking Sasuke. Well...more so than usual. She found that he spent most of his time, oddly enough, with Naruto. When not training, the two ate ramen together, went to each other's houses, and took long, slow, walks in the park.
...wait a minute...
ACK! YAOI!
No...no...stop drawing rash conclusions... Sakura scolded herself, deeply breathing. Feeling faint, she deemed it best to dunk her head into a bucket of cold water, before carrying on with her "investigation."
Naruto and Sasuke...they didn't seem to be romantically involved. They just seemed to be constantly talking...or discussing something. Once or twice, Sakura even noticed Naruto tease the Uchiha. Unfortunately, she could never seem to get close enough to hear just what they were talking about.
"Hm..." Sakura decided to carry on to observing the heiress. Hinata spent an unusual amount of time training, convincing Neji to work with her on the days that her teammates didn't want to. The girl was intent to become stronger. On the few times she gave herself a break, she blushed and giggled while hugging an enormous black teddy bear, named Suske, or Sasaka, or something.
The girl was lovesick.
But how does this connect to Sasuke-kun? Sakura wondered, growing frustrated that she seemed to be getting nowhere. As she walked by a small restaurant near the heiress' house, she glanced through a window to notice Sasuke and Hinata sitting at a small table across from each other. How coincidental, she thought with a chuckle, continuing to walk. She'd just been thinking about Hinata and Sa-
Sakura froze mid-step.
HINATA AND SASUKE?
Zipping back to the restaurant at light speed, Sakura pressed her face against the glass and openly gaped at the scene. "Tell me they're not on a d-d-d . . ."
The pair sat at a table near the back. Every once in a while Sakura's view of them was obstructed by a fat waiter, but aside from that, the place wasn't too crowded. The two dark-haired teenagers were waiting to be served, in silence it seemed. Blushing as she stared at her lap, Hinata finally mumbled something. Closely watching her, Sasuke muttered back, reaching across the table to raise her chin. Their eyes met, Hinata bit her bottom lip, and Sasuke's eyes widened. For a while, they remained in that position, even when a waitress approached, pressing for their orders.
Alas, the Uchiha glanced away, long bangs hiding his eyes. A lush pink had appeared on Hinata's cheeks.
Outside of the restaurant Sakura clutched her chest and staggered away, making great gasps like a suffocating blowfish, her throat gurgling like that of a decapitated chicken's. Before she knew it, she had stumbled backwards into a construction ditch.
A few hazy hours later, Naruto peaked into it. He was eating a strawberry ice cream cone. It looked really good. "Sakura...chan?"
-
She slowly trudged alongside Naruto. He was smoking a joint, but it was really just crushed ramen. She could tell because...it smelled like ramen. Of course, one could reason that his pupils were dilated, then again, they always were. The blonde's soft smile somehow reminded her of Elmo.
"Sakura," Naruto said in a calming tone, as though he wasn't capable of flipping out at any given moment. "Sasuke and Hinata are just..." he paused thoughtfully. "Training partners." He sounded like one of those weird pet psychiatrists.
Sakura blinked, tugging uneasily upon a lock of dyed pink hair. Could that possibly be true? Were Sasuke and Hinata really just – training partners? "But why were they eating together..." Sakura uneasily mumbled.
Naruto shrugged. "You and I eat together all the time," he stated.
Sakura bit her bottom lip. That's...true, she frowned. But I have to make sure! she thought, quickly grabbing Naruto's arm and dragging him toward the forest (Sa-Sakura?" squeaked Naruto, glancing around in paranoia). She approached the edge of a clearing, a particular one: Sasuke's favorite training spot.
And Sasuke was indeed present...so was Hinata. The two were sparring together – and their clothes were on – which was definitely a good sign!
Sakura heaved a sigh of relief, leaning upon a tree as she watched them. "Thank goodness. There's nothing there."
Beside her, Naruto had pulled out a pair of binoculars.
-
Doesn't it sound like I was high when I wrote this? This was written maybe five years ago. I cut off the end because it was just a rip-off of another of my stories. O.o Sowwy? I suck, waaah!