Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.
"Let's play a game, Naruto."
They were sitting on the bench, drinking warm cups of tea and enjoying the park scenery, when Sakura made the proposition. The warm spring breeze with the scent of cherry blossoms wafted through the chill remnants of the winter atmosphere. Both the man and the woman were silent, only breathing out transparent puffs of clouds that dissipated into the misty air.
Naruto could hardly believe the words that came out of her mouth. Usually he was the one coming up with games, not her. As the number one, hyperactive, unpredictable ninja of Konoha —the first branded title he earned next to being the de facto Nanadaime of Konoha— Naruto prided himself in creating pranks, as he believed it was his honor and duty to bestow upon the Land of Fire. Never did he imagine that Sakura would make such a grandiose statement —for the first time, as a matter of fact— and Naruto decided to grant her the privilege of revealing her proposal with him.
"Name it," Naruto said, brimming with confidence and power in his voice. "I'm ready for anything that you're going to dish out on me, Sakura-chan!"
Sakura did a light stretch with her arms. "Alright," she said. "It's called '10 Questions.'"
Naruto crooked his head and sighed. "Sakura-chan, I'm not in the mood to play some girly trivia game right now," he informed her with a depressed glint in his eyes.
"You have some nerve to say that to me, stupid!" Sakura angrily shouted, and crossed her arms. "Fine, don't play! I'm leaving now—"
"Ah, wait, wait, wait, Sakura-chan," he said, quickly hooking his arms around her tightly knotted arm. "I'll play, I will!"
Still displeased, Sakura turned her head away from him.
"What I meant to say was, well, how could I refuse your offer, Sakura-chan, especially this is your first time ever wanting to play a game with me," Naruto said, trying to appease her. Eventually, the storm Sakura was brewing up in her head subsided as she unfolded her arms and eased up on the creases on her forehead.
"Alright, here are the rules so listen carefully," Sakura enlightened her willing participant, his blue eyes dancing with delight. "We begin off with rock-paper-scissors. The winner of the rock-paper-scissors gets to start by asking a questions first, any question in the world, to the loser. The loser then asks a question to the winner, and vice versa. This goes on until they both are in their fifth, and finally, the tenth turn, where they have to play rock-paper-scissors again to determine who can ask the question first."
Naruto scratched his head with an, "I don't get it."
Sakura made an exasperated sigh. "Ugh, let's just play it out first. You'll probably get it later, I hope."
"Hey now, don't doubt my learning skills there, Sakura-chan. I may be not good with my head like you, but I'm good with my body," Naruto said, giving her a chaste wink. Her cheeks flushed instantly, but Sakura pretended to be calm and unaffected his small gesture.
"Okay then," she said, cracking her knuckles. "On your marks, get set… Rock-paper-scissors!"
Naruto pulled a paper, while Sakura made a scissor with her hands.
"Aw man!" Naruto yelled as he ruffled his hair, when a sudden idea jolted through his mind. "Hey, time out here for the newbie! What happens when we get to the 10th question?"
"Well, whoever answers the 10th question lose instantly," Sakura said. "To make this game more interesting, whoever loses this game treats the winner a fancy lunch."
His downcast eyes brightened up once more. "You're on! I won't lose, even if it's you, Sakura-chan!"
"Heh, try as you might, Naruto. But no one's been able to defeat me in this game, not even Ino."
"We'll just see about that."
"So anyway, what kind of fancy lunch would you get if you won, Naruto?"
Naruto pondered for a mere millisecond. "Why, ramen at Ichiraku, of course," he said.
With a sigh, Sakura said, "Of course," and lightly smacked her palm against her forehead.
"Alright, now it's my turn to ask!"
"What? But I haven't even started yet!" Sakura yelled.
"Sakura-chan, you already asked me a question."
"But it was a time out!"
"I said 'time out for a newbie,' meaning obviously me, not you, Sakura-chan. So it's my turn now," Naruto said with a grin. Realizing that she's been had, Sakura stammered for a bit, and then hotly spat, "Fine! Go right ahead, Uzumaki!"
"Thank you," he said, still keeping the foxy grin that made her middle twist. He pondered for a bit again, and then asked, "So are you having fun right now, Sakura-chan?"
What kind of a question is that? Sakura thought. "Sure," she said. "I'm having fun."
His blue eyes, so evidently pure and intense, twinkled as they held her gaze.
Sakura coughed. "Okay, now it's my turn," she said, her tongue tripping on a pronunciation despite her effort to be eloquent. He found her rare moments of pretense delightfully cute, although he never dared admit it to her.
She squirmed and fidgeted while Naruto watched this wonderful scene unfold before him.
"How do you feel right now?" she inquired at long last.
Surely this can't be a question, Naruto mused. "Happy," he answered her honestly. Why wouldn't he be? He was spending time with her.
"Happy?"
"Happy," he said with an absolute, firm tone of voice.
She nodded. "Your turn," she said.
He studied her for a moment, before his eyes landed squarely on her pink hair that he always so adored.
"When will you grow your hair out again, Sakura-chan?" he asked her.
Subconsciously, her fingers subtly ran through a tendril of her hair, which was now shoulder length. Naruto watched her. Rays of sunlight glossed over her already satin-silk hair, and he was mesmerized by the way she twisted her locks.
"I don't know," she said, eyeing on the ends of her curls that lay between her fingers. "I don't think that I will for a while. I like it short."
"Oh," Naruto said, dazed.
"But perhaps I will someday, maybe when Sasuke-kun comes back," she added.
"Oh," Naruto said again, now half-dazed and half-disappointed. "Right."
"How about you, Naruto?" Sakura asked. "When will you grow your hair back?"
He ran his right hand through his buzz cut hair. "Not sure," he said, and turned to her with a mischievous grin. "Probably never, since it gets all the ladies."
Sakura gave him a dirty look. "Should you really be saying that when you're about to get married soon?"
"Tsk tsk, no need to cheat, Sakura-chan. You should be asking only one question, not two."
Sakura just stared at him with an absolutely demolished look upon her face. Naruto grinned.
"So I guess that means I get to ask another question, just to make it even."
"But I… Naruto! Ugh!"
"There now, no need to get all huffy," Naruto made a wry comment, which promptly earned him a whack on the head.
"Play fair!" she shouted.
"Okay, okay, just calm down. Sheesh, you're still monstrously strong as ever, Sakura-chan," Naruto remarked with tears forming in his eyes from the pain.
"What did you just say to me?!"
"I mean, I'm sorry! I'm sorry, Sakura-chan! I really am," Naruto said, fretting in fear. Sakura thought of giving him another whack, but soon put her hands down with a huff.
"Whatever," she said. "It's the fifth turn. We're supposed to rock-paper-scissor again."
Naruto merely nodded, and they both made signs with their hands. This time, Naruto produced a paper, and Sakura's hand formed a rock.
Naruto smirked.
"Looks like good ol' paper did something finally right," Naruto said, proudly displaying his hand in the air while Sakura glared at him.
"Just go," Sakura said through gritted teeth.
He didn't miss a cue on her irritated tone of voice. If anger was a spark, a vexed Sakura was hellfire. Naruto racked through his brain, trying to think of a good question.
"Alright, um, I got it!" he blurted out. "If you had to choose one over the other, which would you choose: Sasuke or your medical career?"
Sakura froze. Surely this is an easy question, isn't it? She wanted to say the answer, but much to her chagrin, she held back.
"Well?" Naruto insisted, and Sakura snapped out of her thoughts.
"I…," Sakura hesitated, but soon gained momentum after staring into Naruto's eyes. "Sasuke-kun, of course."
Naruto smiled. For a minute, Sakura thought that she saw a flicker of bitterness upon his face, but she let it go, believing that it was perhaps her subjectiveness getting in the way again.
"Alright then," Sakura said, trying to be buoyant and chipper as possible to move away from the awkwardness. "If you had to choose one over the other, which would you go for: Hinata or the Hokage title?"
Without delay, Naruto flatly said, "The Hokage title."
Sakura's jaws nearly dropped to the ground.
"Hold up! Time out!' Sakura shouted, and in response, Naruto lazily blinked.
"Is something the matter, Sakura-chan?"
"You would choose the Hokage title over your fiancée?"
"Yeah, so?"
"What do you mean, 'Yeah, so?'!" Sakura said, fuming over Naruto's indifference. "How could you do that, Naruto? I always knew that you were unpredictable, but this is far beyond the acceptable. Don't you even love Hinata?"
"Of course I do," Naruto answered calmly. "That is why I'm choosing the Hokage title over her."
Sakura furrowed her brows, marring her pretty, delicate face.
"Enlighten me, Uzumaki," she said in her restrained, but cold voice. Nonetheless, Naruto remained unperturbed.
"In order to protect someone that I love, I need power," he told her. "I need power so that no one could ever touch the person that I love and want to protect. Do you understand what I'm saying?"
Her fury quickly subsided as she accepted his answer.
"I never thought of it that way," she spoke.
"Neither did I, but sometimes, you need to do what you have to do. It's called responsibility."
Since when did Naruto become so wise? Sakura thought as she examined every inch of him: his strong, slightly square jaws, and his blond hair, no longer a field of sunflower, but rather trimmed and tamed like a late fall wheat field. Most importantly, she appraised his cobalt eyes, which seemed to stretch miles and miles endlessly like the ocean. She could lose herself in them, in him, and as much as she didn't want to admit, she already did.
Both of them stayed silent, listening to the trees rustling and swaying through the movement of the wind, until Naruto decided to ask the next question.
"Is every day fun with Sasuke?" he asked her.
"Naruto, you know that Sasuke-kun barely stays in Konoha. Why bother asking me that?"
"But when you're with him, is life fun?" Naruto persisted.
Sakura gave herself a moment of thought. Whenever Sasuke came back home, Sakura was the one who made sure to make him three square meals per day, wash and mend his clothes, and clean his apartment. After that, they would go out on a date. Sakura was usually the one who was talking and dangling on his arm, while a phlegmatic Sasuke just followed, his response to her questions ranging from an annoyed "Hn," to a neutral "Hn."
At first, Sakura was happy that Sasuke was back in Konoha, and was spending more time with her. But as weeks went by, despite her denial, Sakura realized that Sasuke might be dealing with her more as a chore than as a girlfriend.
"We go out on dates whenever he's home, and I take care of him like a good girlfriend. Isn't that good enough?" Sakura said with a feigned smile, and Naruto nodded.
The ninth question was in Sakura's hands. She wanted to make sure that this opportunity wouldn't slip past her.
"If you had to choose all over again," Sakura said with a slight tremble in her voice. "If you could choose all over again, would you choose her?"
Sakura winced as she omitted the last part, 'over me,' in the sentence.
But Naruto was neither a man of reluctance, nor the type who indulged in spending every bit of his seconds on restless 'What if's' and trivial reverie. Moreover, he was not a strong mind reader, much less a person who knew all of Sakura's private, fickle musings.
"I would choose Hinata again and again if I had to," he said resolutely.
Right after that, Sakura felt as if her heart had cracked in two. On the outside, she was smiling, but he instantly knew that she was faking it. He didn't know the exact reason why she was putting up a front, however.
"Isn't it time for us to do rock-paper-scissor again, to see who gets to ask the 10th question?" Naruto said, wanting to break Sakura out of her quaint silence.
"R-right," Sakura stuttered, and they both immediately held out shapes with their hands.
This time, Naruto forged a scissor while Sakura constructed a paper.
There was a moment of silence. Neither one of them spoke to each other, wondering what move they should make next.
"I guess you won," Sakura spoke. "So do the honors, Uzumaki."
Her smile was warm and inviting, and Naruto couldn't help but be drawn into her like a moth to a flame. But soon, he regained his composure, knowing exactly what to ask her.
"If hypothetically speaking, and this is only hypothetical by nature," he said, trying to maintain his tranquil masquerade. "If I asked you to marry me now, would you say yes?"
The rosy tint began to drain out of her cheeks.
"Naruto," Sakura said with a hint of firmness in her voice. "I'm engaged to Sasuke-kun."
He didn't give into her diversion.
"Answer me clearly, Sakura-chan," Naruto said. "This is only hypothetical by nature. If I asked you to marry me now, would you say yes?"
Haruno Sakura knew that Uzumaki Naruto wasn't a very factual man, and had no interest in discovering how every tiny particles and elements could fabricate an inadequate or an overpowering jutsu. To hear Naruto use the word 'hypothetical' made her feel sick inside, sick because this wasn't the Naruto that she wasn't used to, but also sick because it was the Naruto that she would, no matter how hypothetical the situation may be, always harbor the clandestine tenderness that would never be labeled between them nor be unearthed by anyone.
Because by now, it was all too late.
"Naruto," she said, squeezing her fists and staring directly into his eyes. "Naruto, I could never leave Sasuke-kun. I have a responsibility."
He was absolutely still. And then, perhaps in what seemed like an eternity to Sakura, Naruto finally made an impish grin. She was relieved to see his grin because it was the only thing that made her feel safe and assured despite the hectic hospital schedules, petty conflicts among patients in Konoha, and her engagement to Sasuke.
Naruto leaned back on the bench and closed his eyes. "He's a lucky guy, that bastard," he said.
"And Hinata is very lucky to have you, Naruto," Sakura said, closing her eyes as well.
They both paid attention to the sound of every creation on earth basking in the warm spring sunlight. It seemed like time had stopped despite the rhythmic flow of all that surrounded them —birds, buds, bees, and the unseen stars blanketed underneath the powder blue sky. Life continued to go on in spite of their restrained impulses.
"I lost," Sakura finally said. "I admit that I do. It's the first time that I did."
She rolled her head toward Naruto with a wistful smile. "Why don't I treat you to a fancy lunch, as promised? Ramen, for old times sake?" she said.
He meekly nodded in response. How things have changed, Naruto mused as he compared the words 'ramen' and 'fancy' that rolled out of Sakura's tongue. Standing up from the bench, he offered his hand to her, but she stood up on her own two feet.
"Shall we go?" she said, tossing her empty paper cup into a trash bin next to her.
Following her example, Naruto tossed his paper cup away and smiled back at her, realizing that despite her vulnerable moments, Sakura wasn't weak and delicate as he once thought. She was human, and she was stronger than a million typhoons hurled onto her. Still, he wished that she would depend on him, just once more, just one last time before he would get married to the other woman in just two weeks.
Both of them walked towards Ramen Ichiraku, oblivious and in denial of the interflowing thoughts careening through their minds like shooting stars, on what could have been if they both had at least a modicum of courage to project their desires unto another without the inhibitions and the pressure to lose for the other's sake, hypothetically speaking.
Their breaths, which were a trail of blurred smoke, amalgamated as one before they faded away with the last remaining winter chill.