For the rest of the walk home Sakura couldn't stop thinking about the shape of her feelings for Naruto, although it might be more accurate to say that at that moment she was more preoccupied with thinking about her feelings about the shape of Naruto. She'd seen him shirtless many times over the course of the various missions they'd been on together of course and she'd even seen him in nothing more than his boxers more than once. At those times though, she was too busy being angry at him for being so improper in front of a lady to really look at him and thinking back on it, even when she tried, she couldn't quite get a clear picture in her mind of what he looked like without his clothes on.
It was right around that moment that her conscious mind caught up with her and she realized she was actively trying to picture a naked Naruto, which proved to be enough of a shock to her system that she immediately switched to desperately thinking about something else. Anything else. Like how many tongue depressors the hospital had left, for example. Maybe she should go over there and count them by hand, just to make sure they had enough. What the hell had she been thinking, trying to picture Naruto like that? It was totally gross! Well, maybe not exactly gross, actually, more like... Tongue depressors. Yes, she absolutely had to make sure they had enough tongue depressors. Just to be on the safe side, maybe she should check up on the band-aids as well.
Sakura was, in fact, so caught up in NOT thinking about how ripped and lean Naruto's body had to be, in NOT thinking about how his bare skin would glisten with sweat as he was going through his rigorous work-out routine, in NOT... Well, suffice it to say that she completely failed to even notice that Ino was standing right in her path, walking straight into her.
"Neh, Sakura, what's up with you? You were completely out of it. Let me guess, you were thinking about Sasuke again, weren't you?"
"Huh, what? No, no, not Sasuke..."
"Sai than! He really does look a lot like him doesn't he? He's so mysterious too! He's kinda cute, don't you think?"
"Not really, no", Sakura mumbled sofly, just as her mind finally started to clear up a little. "Uhm, I mean, that's not at all what I was thinking about. I... I was just going to the hospital to do some inventory. Yes, that's it. Inventory!"
Ino frowned a little bit, looking incredulously at her childhood friend. "Why would you blush about that? You know what never mind. If you're going to the hospital, I'll come with you. I wanted to check out some medical books anyway."
Sakura almost sighed of relief. As annoying as Ino could sometimes be, lately they'd been getting along a lot better again and at least she'd provide a suitable distraction for her to stop thinking about Naruto.
"So, how's Naruto doing by the way? I haven't seen him in a while."
Sakura mentally face-palmed as she turned cherry-red. Why now of all times did Ino have to start showing an interest in Naruto! What was it with everybody suddenly being so damned interested in him? There had always been Hinata of course, but now Shion and Ino as well? Just how many competitors did she have?
"He's fine. Just fine." Really fine. It took al she had to muster the most obviously fake smile in history. Maybe talking to Ino wasn't that great a distraction after all. "But enough about him, how are you doing?"
Much to her relief, Ino didn't bring up the subject of Naruto again the rest of the way to the hospital. Now all she had to do was focus on her work and everything would be just fine. She parted ways with Ino shortly upon entering the main lobby, Ino heading for the hospital library while she went straight to the central supply room, picking up the inventory papers on the way. Once there she vigorously started counting all of the various items, meticulously making notes on her clipboard to refill the things they were running low on. As hard as she tried to focus on the simple work though, she couldn't stop her mind from wandering.
Why couldn't she stop thinking about Naruto? Why was she thinking about him even now, as she was thinking about how she couldn't stop thinking about him? It was all too much for her. Even when she had her crush on Sasuke her mind had never been this clouded with thoughts of him as it was now with thoughts of her blonde teammate. A smile that can make you forget all your troubles, Shion had said. She closed her eyes and tried to think about him smiling, which wasn't hard to do, since he almost always was. Even just recalling the image made her feel all warm inside and she couldn't help but smile herself. Sky-blue eyes. Those were always smiling as well. There was always a twinkle to them; kind and warm and slightly mischievous. She loved seeing those eyes.
"Ok, what is going on with you Sakura?" Ino's voice snapped her out of her musings. "I've been standing here for at least 5 minutes and you didn't even notice me. Also, that's the third time you picked up and put back that same box of tongue depressors."
