A small drabble type thing. It's been awhile since I've written anything for Naruto so please ignore any mistakes. Enjoy.
The Look
It was the middle of the Fourth Great Shinobi War when she saw it.
She saw how Neji had died. She watched as Naruto pulled his cooling, unmoving body into his arms and stared at it as if he was staring at his own personal breed of hell straight in the face. And knowing how much he valued his friends, she knew that he probably was.
She could see how he was teetering on the point of no return, he was about to give up, about to become a shell of the loud, hot headed blond with a kind heart and wide grin. It was only a matter of time before the cruel words pouring from Obito's mouth echoed across the allied forces and shattered his kind nature.
She could already see that he was about to give in.
But then Hinata had taken his face into her hands and forced his blue eyes to connect with her white ones. The Hyuga had destroyed any doubt placed in his mind by Obito and Madara with her strong words and comforting touch. He had held onto her small, soft hand with his large, warm one tightly, almost as if his newly replenished hope was supplied by her and her alone.
He looked at Hinata with a look that Sakura knew all to well. She knew that look off by heart because she had been on the receiving end of it since before their first days in Iruka's classes.
It was the look where his face relaxed with a light dusting of red painted on the tops of his cheek bones. The look with a slightly crinkled nose and small, almost invisible smile on his lips. It was a look of both adoration and the feeling of content.
A look filled with love.
A look that hadn't been pointed in her direction for many days. Months more likely.
Had it really been such a long time since he smiled at her with that smile, with his sky eyes shining with mischief, adoration and another emotion she was once to scared, to naïve, to name. All she got now were his usual blinding grins and smiling eyes still filled with mischief.
But where once was love was now friendship.
It was after his battle with Pein that she noticed it. How he looked at her with that look less and less as time went silently by. And when he did look, it was different. The looks became far and few between, almost random, until they finally stopped.
He no longer looked at her like that. With a look of such pure, innocent love that it made her want to burst with happiness that someone could see her like that even if she did not return such feelings. That look was now for someone else, someone who Sakura could look after him.
She had waited for this moment for years, she should had felt free and relieved.
So then...why did she feel so empty?
.:Naruto © Masashi Kishimoto:.