Sakura only lived two blocks away from the store so she walked home every day after work. Each day she would stop at her best friend Ino's mother's flower shop where her friend worked. Into sat slumped over on the counter half asleep. She sat erect when she heard the bell ring meaning that a customer has entered the building.
"Welcome to the Yamanaka flower shop!" she said instinctively. "Oh… it's just you Sakura. You scared me!" she whined. Sakura laughed. "Sleeping on the job again?" Sakura asked sarcastically. "What can I say… Sai and I have been… busy all this week. Late nights you know?" Sakura rolled her eyes. "So what's up forehead?" Ino asked nonchalantly. Sakura glared. "Nothing much pig face I'm just here to drop off the fruit your mom ordered and to see you." Ino and Sakura had a very blatant love/ hate friendship, they always had. "Just sit it on the counter over there," Ino said as she pointed to a counter in the corner of the store. "So what about you?" She continued. "Are you and Kiba thinking about taking the next step?" Sakura blushed. "Not yet… I'm not ready," she said shyly. "I mean I like him a lot… and he keeps telling me that he wants to but I'm just waiting for the right moment you know?"
"Ugh you'll never be ready you've just gotta do it forehead! I knew you were holding out anyways you've let yourself go," Ino smiled evilly. Sakura's eyes widened and then narrowed as she glared at Ino, examining her body's reflection in the window. Ino giggled. "Speaking of getting fat, I really like your makeup Ino it really highlights your swine-like features," Sakura smiled. Ino turned red. "Well at least my forehead doesn't reflect the sun." Ino retorted. "Well that just means that I'm God sent. He made me and you friends so that I could hang around you and use my illuminated forehead to blind guys so that they wouldn't have to look at your face," sakura said as she and Ino stared into each other's eyes. There was silence. Suddenly, the two burst into hysterical laughter.
"Sakura what would I do without you?" Ino said smiling at her long time best friend. "Sleep on the job," sakura said as she exited the store.
Sakura arrived home a few minutes before 7:00 p.m. Sakura and her grandfather lived in a small rundown house that his father had built. "Grandad… I'm home! Grandad!" Sakura peeked into the kitchen and living room looking for signs of her father. There was no answer. She noticed that the door in the hallway was open that led to their basement. Sakura opened the door and slowly crept down the stairs stopping on the third step above the basement floor. "Grandad?..." she called hesitantly almost in a whisper.
"SAKURA!" a deep voice said from behind her. She yelped at the figure. It was a tall, stout man wearing an oil covered beige shirt that was pinned to his body by his dingy overalls. The man also wore a welder's mask which made him look almost inhuman. Sakura without thinking, took a frightened step back making her fall onto the hard concrete basement floor. "Oh! Oh no Sakura hunny," said the man behind the mask. He quickly took off his mask to show he wasn't a threat. A wrinkled, rough skinned man's face smiled at her, yet his eyes were bright and kind and his smile was warm and welcoming. "It's me sweetheart," he said helping her up.
"You almost game a heart attack grandad!" she said giggling slighty. "Yes I know I forget that I have the mask on sometimes, I'm so used to it." Sakura's father had died about two years ago in a mining accident a few towns away. After his death, her mother fell apart and wouldn't even look at her. After a few weeks, she just left. No warning and no goodbyes. Sakura had expected it. That left her to her grandfather, a huge, burly man, with a deep voice and piercing green eyes, but who wouldn't hurt a fly. He was a mechanic and had been for over 40 years. His wife died of cancer right before Sakura's father.
They walked up the stairs and into the kitchen together. "So how was your day?" the man asked as he pulled out a pitcher of lemonade from the refrigerator. Sakura simultaneously pulled out two glasses from the maple cabinets above her. She set them down on the table and he began to pour. "Good," she piped. "Was the store busy?" he asked as he took a sip of the ice cold lemonade. "Yes sir. A lot of people are getting ready for the big game tonight. Are you hanging out at the bar to watch?" "Probably. What about you? Do you have any plans?" "Nah. Well Ino and I got invited to a party." "Who's party?" he said raising his salt and pepper brow. "Temari's…" Sakura's grandfather grunted. "You know how I feel about her. She's too old to be hanging around you. She's a bad influence, all that drinking and drugs." "But Tenten's older than me and you like her just fine! And besides, you know im not one to give into peer pressure," she said pouting. "Tenten's in college and she's a responsible young woman. Temari just hangs around the college kids and gets them addicted to all kinds of things. Sakura I dont want you hanging around her do you understand?" Sakura's gaze shifted from her grandfather to the table where they sat. "Yessir," she mumbled.
Later that night as Sakura began to get ready for bed, her grandfather knocked on the door. "Yes grandad?" "Hey poptart," he had been calling her that for as long as she could remember, she assumed it was on account of her pink hair. "I'm heading out, I'll be back after the game. Are you sure you don't want to tag along?" Sakura smiled sweetly at her grandfather as she tied her hair into a loose bun, "A bar full of drunk old men yelling about the game? I'll pass grandad." He smiled and softly. "So what are you going to do tonight? You can't possibly want to stay cooped up in here all night." Sakura scanned the room. The walls were a soft pink color and the crown molding was embroidered with intricate shapes. She and Ino had hung christmas lights on the wall that gave off a soft glow. She had a huge vanity that was covered with makeup, hair accessories and other hair products. Her bed had a plush cherry blossom comforter that slouched to the floor because she had neglected to make up her bed that morning. Other than her disarrayed collection of teddy bears covering the floor and her bed the room was pretty clean, although her grandfather was right. She didn't want to spend all night there.
"I'm kind of tired. If anything I'll probably go out with Kiba, Ino and Sai. Sai is supposed to be having a small gathering of close friends." "Oh okay sweetheart, have fun and don't get in too late," he said as he closed the door. Sakura sighed and looked over to her bed. She wasn't at all tired like she had told her grandfather, but her plans of going to Temari's party were canceled and Ino and Sai were probably just going to end up having sex while her parents were away at a football party. And the only way to get Kiba away from the television was to tell him that she was ready for him to jump her bones (which she wasn't). So she dragged herself to her bed and plopped down. She picked up her phone from her bed and called Tenten.
Sakura: Hey I'm bored do you have any plans for tonight?
Tenten: Well I thought we were supposed to be going to Temari's party together but I'm guessing your grandad said no?
Sakura: Yep. It kinda gets frustrating, I mean I'm in college, I have a job, I'm practically an ADULT.
Tenten: Then stop whining and just go. He won't know and besides you're gonna be with me. I promise to get you back before 1. And you know how I am Saks at the first sign of trouble I'm out. Besides, I thought you said he trusts me.
Sakura: He does... it's her that he doesn't tust-
Tenten: And you'll be with me not her! And besides Hinata doesn't want to come, you know she hates parties you guys CAN NOT leave me hanging. Please Sakura
Sakura: fine. But if we get caught I'm bringing you down with me.
Tenten: Understood.
And with that she jumped up from her bed and began to get ready for what she expected to be 'one hell of a night'.
