Disclaimer: If I owned Naruto, would I be here, honestly?
Also, I don't own the awesomesauce song, "Everything You Want" which is by Vertical Horizon.
"Hi Sakura-chan," Naruto greets, his eyes brightening at the sight of her as he grins.
She has a faraway look though and she seems to snap out of her thoughts as he greets her and she smiles – a strained smile, he realizes – at him and greets back halfheartedly. He studies her. She seems weary with dark circles under her eyes and she seems a little paler than usual. She looks like she hasn't been eating well either and with the way her dulled jade eyes drop to the ground, she seems depressed and seems as if she will fall apart any moment.
The smile is wiped off his face as he notices all this and they stand in silence.
"What's wrong?" he asks and he almost punches himself for asking for he doesn't really want to know the answer.
"Nothing," she responds, a little too quickly, Naruto notes.
It doesn't take a genius to figure out what's on her mind. He knows that on days like these when she looks a little more tired and a little sadder, it means that she is thinking about Sasuke too much – and has been, once more, crying over him too much. He knows that she thinks he doesn't know these things but he isn't stupid. He knows her like the back of his hand and when she has these days when she wonders about Sasuke, and the promise they made that almost seems broken, it hurts him too. It hurts him to see her suffer like this since he knows that she still loves the traitor that much.
His selfish thoughts take over as he wonders why she still loves that bastard so much. All he ever did was belittle her, ignore her, and betray her – betray them all. He has never truly acknowledged the girl and never truly appreciated her like he does, like Naruto does. All Sasuke is is a selfish, vengeful bastard who doesn't care about them anymore and only thinks of them as his annoyance now.
But of course, even though he thinks all this, he still loves that bastard as his own brother for he was his first friend. Even though he says he hates him, he still loves him too much and he's still willing to keep the promise he made with Sakura not just for her sake but for his own too.
Sometimes, though, he wishes that he doesn't love her so much and wishes that he only thinks of her as a teammate, a companion, a friend. He sometimes wishes that he sees her in a completely platonic way but that is impossible for him for whenever she smiles at him, or laugh or even call out his name, he gets goosebumps and without even knowing himself, he would smile. He would think that even after years of waiting for the girl, he would get over her and move on but instead, the opposite has happened – his love for her has only grown even stronger and still does as each day passes.
There were still moments though, like these, when Naruto wonders why Sakura doesn't love him. Wasn't he everything she ever wanted? He has always been the first to fulfill her wishes (or else tried to). He has always been there to listen to her sorrows and complaints. He has always been there to wipe away her tears, and he always knows the right things to tell her to make her smile or laugh. Over the past years, he has formed a strong bond with Sakura during Sasuke's absence and the two have been the closest of friends.
But even still, even though he does all those things, he can't seem to make the girl love him. And that might be what hurts him the most.
Of course, these are his innermost and selfish thoughts that he would never, could never share with anyone – especially not with her. Of course, he wants to know why she loves Sasuke so much, and not him. Of course, he wants to know what makes Sasuke so special even after his betrayal but still, he can never push that kind of pressure on the person he treasures the most. He has always learned to swallow his pride and selfishness when around the girl and always allows her wishes and hopes and dreams before his in hopes to make her happy.
Just to make her happy.
And so just to make her happy, he doesn't press the subject any further and doesn't probe for a better answer. Instead, he responds with a strained smile of his own and says, "Well... how about we go get some ramen at Ichihraku? Or... can you make me some dinner?" Since he knows that she enjoys cooking him dinner for she thinks that he eats ramen too much for his own good.
She seems to sort of daze off for a moment as she studies him and suddenly, she seems even wearier but then she smiles – a bitter, hidden, strained yet thankful smile as she says, "We'll need to go get some groceries. I'm out of supplies."
"No problem. To the market, we go!" Naruto exclaims in an overly enthusiastic voice as he points forward and holds his head up high just to get her to chuckle and he succeeds and he smiles, a genuine, happy smile and she smiles back, also a genuine, happy smile and he knows that that means, Thank you, Naruto. Thank you for everything and he knows that that's enough, for now. Even if she doesn't love him, just having her happy for the moment and having her smile for the moment and having her thank him for it all is enough for now, enough for him.
And as the two make their way to the market, they both just want to forget even if just for a moment, about Sasuke, about their sorrows, and their burdens, and the promises they have to keep because at least they have each other to lean on to forget these things and Naruto is thankful for that, for a connection with the girl he loves even though she doesn't love him back.
AN: So I realized how much this song is a lot like NaruSakuSasu and produced this, ta-dahhh.
Yeah, I got to get on with the other stories... (especially the ones I haven't updated in forever) Grr...
Anyways, not proud of this. Didn't proofread 'cause I just pulled a Shikamaru so don't bitch at me if I made about a million grammatical/spelling/yucky mistakes. Also my sentences and paragraphs don't flow well. I think my sentences are too choppy or something and everything's just BLEEEGH. I especially don't like how I ended it.
But even still, I'll treasure reviews. Hint, hint.