Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, the quote below, nor the song.

[Song is called Distance by Christina Perri.]

["Speaking"]

["Thoughts"]

['Writing']

"Art is a step from what is obvious and well-known toward what is arcane and concealed." - Khalil Gibran

Chapter 2: The Art of Love

[Sakura's POV]

It's already been 20 minutes into class by now, which means we only have about 15 more minutes left. Everyone has been drawing, painting, etc. freely throughout the class. I'm almost finished with a painting that I started at the beginning of class. I wasn't even truly thinking of what I was going to paint; I just began painting something randomly.

After I finished, with 5 minutes to spare, I took a small step back and took a good look at my art. It definitely surprised me what the outcome of the painting was. In front of me was a colorful painting of an eye, but it wasn't just an eye, the pupil was a heart. This just took the breath out of me for a moment.

When the bell rang for lunch, I took a deep breath and walked out of the classroom. "Maybe I just need some alone time to just breathe." I thought to myself. I walked to the auditorium while everyone else went to lunch. After I walked in, I felt my phone go off. I took my it out of my pocket and read the message I got from Ino.

'Where r u?' She asked.

'At the auditorium, needed space to think.' I replied while I walked onto stage to the piano, and sat down. I pulled out my notebook from earlier and set it on top of the piano, when I felt my phone go off again.

'u ok right?' Ino asked. I rolled my eyes at her question.

'Yea I'm fine, just wanted to work on a song and clear my head. I'll ttyl.' I texted her back, and put my phone back down next to me. After playing a few warm up notes on the piano, I started to try out some of the music I had in my head.

[Sasuke's POV]

While I was sitting with the group at lunch, I couldn't help but notice a certain pink haired teenager was missing. "Where would she be?" I thought. "Ino will probably know something." So I looked at Ino, who was sitting next to Shikamaru.

"Ino, where is Sakura?" I asked her.

"Oh, she's in the auditorium. She said she needed to work on something and clear her…" Ino mumbled the rest of her sentence. Then she smiled widely and looked at me.

"What?" I asked roughly, not liking how she was looking at me.

"I need to show you something. Come on." She said while getting up from her seat. Then she turned to the table and said, "We will be right back."

I just grunted and followed her.

"Where the hell are we going?" I asked her with a scowl on my face.

"You need to hear something, but you have to be quiet and stay out of sight, so she won't see you there." She answered before we quietly entered one of the doors into the auditorium. Then I heard it, someone was playing the piano on the stage. I looked upon the stage and saw Sakura sitting at the piano, playing a tune that I've never heard before. Her hair was pulled back into a low ponytail, and I could see that she had her eyes shut.

I've heard her play the piano a few times before, but this time it seemed a lot different than all of those other times. I couldn't quite tell what was different about it but it was something.

After a few more minutes of listening to her just play the piano, I started to hear her start to sing. I sat there in the corner and watched her carefully while she sang.

The sun is filling up the room,
and I can hear you dreaming,
do you feel the way I do, right now

I wish we would just give up,
'cause the best part is falling
call it anything but love

And I will make sure to keep my distance
say I love you when you're not listening
and how long can we keep this up, up, up

I was listening to the lyrics very closely, since this was the reason Ino brought me here, to listen to her.

Please don't stand so close to me
I'm having trouble breathing
I'm afraid of what you'll see,
right now

I'd give you everything I am
all my broken heart beats
until I know you'll understand

and I will make sure to keep my distance
say I love you when you're not listening
and how long can we keep this up, up, up

and I keep waiting,
for you to take me;
you keep waiting,
to save what we have

so I'll make sure to keep my distance
say I love you when you're not listening
and how long can we keep this up, up, up

make sure to keep my distance
say I love you when you're not listening
how long till we call this love, love, love

Once Sakura finished her song, she just sat there for a while and looked at the piano keys. I show from the corner of my eye, Ino moving to the stage of the auditorium and she began clapping. Watching from my spot, I saw Sakura whip her head toward the clapping, and noticed her breathe out a sigh of relief.

"Ino, what are you doing in here?" Sakura asked a little out of breath.

"I wanted to check on you. I wasn't sure why you'd need to clear your head in here, but now I understand. And I know who the song is about too, Forehead. When are you actually going to tell him?" Ino asked Sakura with a small smile on her face. I listened very closely wanting to know who the song was about.

"You already know that I don't feel like it's a good idea to tell him how I feel, because if he doesn't feel the same it would ruin our friendship, and everything will end up awkward between us. He's been my best friend since grade school Ino." Sakura said back with this frustrated look on her face.

"Best friends since grade school…She couldn't be talking about me…Could she?" I thought silently to myself.

"Sakura, when are you both going to get it through your heads? Everyone except you two can see that you guys are in love with each other. Damn it Sakura, I know that you love Sasuke, you just proved it with that song, and I also know that Sasuke is in love with you too." Ino spoke with confidence.

I was holding my breath now. "I need to hear her say it." I was thinking while I waited for Sakura to reply to Ino.

"So what if I do like him like that? I still don't know for sure how he feels, even if you say that he loves me." Sakura replied looking back at the piano keys.

"You'll find out soon enough." Ino said to her softly.

"Anyway, you're going home after lunch then right? Since we only have a half a day of school today." Ino changed the subject.

"Yep." Sakura just smiled.

"K, cool. Then I'll see you later then, Sak." Ino said while turning on her heels.

"Later Ino." Sakura turned around and gathered her things. While her back was turned, I quietly left the auditorium and saw Ino was in the hall still.

She just looked at me and then handed me a piece of paper and walked off, probably to go find her boyfriend again. With the folded paper in my hand, I walked to my locker to grab my things to leave school.

Thank you for reading :) Let me know what you think.

I'll update as soon as I can.