Hi again minna! Gomenasai, it's taken us so long to finish our second chapter of Happy Endings. But rest assured, we will try to put more effort into updating faster!
Xx.anime-fanatic.xX: I know it's no excuse that I went on vacation for a month and am very sorry.
crimsonrose 88: you better be! I've been waiting for you to get to work on it for ages.
Xx.anime-fanatic.xX: butbutbut...you were busy too!
crimsonrose 88: mmhmm with important things. Not like you, you dunderhead! (jkx, crimsonrose is a very nice, gentle and peaceful person)
Xx.anime-fanatic.xX: Hai! I'm very sorry. Oh and yes, before we start, I'd like to say that the flasback is entirely thanks to the scanlator people cuz I took those lines off their translations. but everything else was purely made by us, I swear, well...not the characters and such...but...
crimsonrose 88: yes,yes, we all get it already let them get to the story already.
Xx.anime-fanatic.xX: eh? oh right! sorry everyone. again!
crimsonrose 88: Well, enjoy!
FLASHBACK OF WHEN SASUKE LEFT KONOHA
The starry night sky, the silence of it all, the tears, the emotions, and most of all, Sasuke. Sakura could remember it like it was yesterday, the pain of losing her beloved comrade as sharp as ever.
—flashback—
"…I would do ANYTHING for you! So…Please, just stay with me… I'll even help you with your revenge…I don't know what I could do…but I'll try my best to do something…so please…stay with me…or take me with you if you can't stay here…" Sakura remembered her painfully long and heartbreaking monologue, the one that still couldn't convince him to stay…and his response, the ones that shattered her heart.
"You really are…annoying." She remembered the way he turned his back to her, the slow footsteps that he took.
"Don't leave! If you do, I'll scream!" She saw it clearly, the way that he had surprised her when he suddenly disappeared and reappeared again behind her.
"Sakura…thank you." And she remembered…his agonizing last words that tore her apart and the sudden shock when he had hit her, leaving her unconscious.
—end flashback—
Sakura woke with a start, breathing ragged… and screamed. Standing over her, grinning at her with an idiotic smile on his face as if he didn't notice the proximity between their faces, was Naruto.
"BAKAAAA!!" Sakura screamed, punching him.
"OW OW OW!" Naruto fell back and clutched his head in pain. Her heart was racing, like she had just had a heart attack. She watched as he stumbled backwards and fell back on his orange-jumpsuit-covered butt. She felt slightly guilty about hitting him, but seriously, it was his fault. Nobody, and that meant nobody, was ever supposed to scare-jumpstart anybody from their sleep by standing so close. Once her heart rate returned to normal, she walked up to Naruto and pulled him up. He had a nice bruise forming on the side of his face, and winced as he tried to smile apologetically.
"Heh, sorry about that Sakura-chan…I guess waking you up like that just isn't the best way huh? Demo, I was just wondering why you were sleeping outside on the bench, since it's cold at night and all, and when you started to mumble, I wanted to hear what you were saying." Sakura didn't respond; she just walked in silence beside Naruto and tried to forget her dream. Naruto, completely unaware of her silence, continued to ramble on.
"…and so then I saw something lying on the bench, so I was curious to see who our new hobo was, and then I realized it was you Sakura-chan!" Naruto started to laugh, but stopped at the look on Sakura's face. Her eyes were narrowed and she pulled her fist back, ready to punch him again. "I mean, um, of course I knew it wasn't a hobo, because Sakura-chan, why would you be a hobo? And even if you were, you'd be a pretty hobo, not saying that you are a hobo…" He trailed off, realizing that he clearly wasn't making the situation any better.
"Eh heh, …guess I'll catch ya later Skura-chan!" He backed away, and ran back to the village. Sakura watched his retreating figure angrily. He woke her up, nearly giving her a heart attack, then had the nerve to imply that she was a hobo for sleeping on a bench? She smiled evilly. Nope, she didn't regret giving him that bruise, and at that moment she was hoping it really hurt.
Naruto was absent-mindedly fingering his bruise, but he didn't notice the pain, because he was deep in thought. He wasn't as stupid as anyone thought. Sakura was extremely upset because of Sasuke's absence; although she was as violent as ever, she had lost more and more of her usual cheer when it neared the anniversary of his departure, and wasn't very fun anymore. Naruto was also depressed, for sure, but his heart had been broken in a different way, and he had Hinata now. So Naruto, being the kind friend that he was, felt that he should try to do something to cheer Sakura up.
'And I know just what to do…. If we can't get Sasuke back, then we'll just have to find a replacement.' With that thought, he sped up and barged into his room, eager to see if his plan would work.
'Heh heh, I remember, that a long, long time ago at the academy, I had transformed myself into Sasuke, in order to get closer to Sakura' Naruto grinned at the memory, but then soured, as he realized he had gotten a huge stomach ache, rendering him incapable of talking to Sakura for more than 5 minutes, because he had to keep running to the bathroom. "TRANSFORMATION JUTSU!" In a poof of smoke, Naruto was gone, and Sasuke stood in his place. Naruto looked at himself in the mirror and smirked as he noticed he had gotten every detail of Sasuke correct, right down to the weird chicken butt hairdo. Still grinning, he jumped out his window and raced through the village looking for Sakura. After 10 minutes, he still hadn't found her, so he approached Kiba and asked him where Sakura was…all smooth, like Sasuke.
Kiba looked at him strangely and couldn't even speak, so 'Sasuke' a.k.a Naruto in disguise had to repeat himself. At that, Kiba burst out laughing and stared unbelievingly at Naruto, finally realizing what he (Naruto/Sasuke) was trying to do. He was so amused, because he noticed a major flaw in his plan…although he decided not to tell him.
"She's-she's on the bridge near the hot springs." Kiba managed to choke out. 'Sasuke' walked my looking extremely miffed. Why was Kiba laughing so much, at his genius plan? As Naruto/Sasuke left, Kiba called Akamaru and they both began to follow him, eager to see how Sakura would react.
Sakura leaned on the side of the bridge railing, and looked down at her reflection in the water; deep in thought. She found this bridge extremely peaceful since not a lot of people came through this area, mostly because the main entrance to the springs was on the other side. She looked up as she heard footsteps approaching, and rubbed her eyes in confusion. There was a guy who looked extremely like Sasuke, walking towards her. She noticed that he was wearing a bright orange jumpsuit which really dimmed down his natural looks. "It certainly looks like Sasuke….but what's up with that ugly orange outfit? Is that Orochimaru's uniform?" Sakura looked curiously, and as he approached her, she noticed something really big. God she could have smacked herself for her stupidity. That wasn't Sasuke.
"Ahem…hello Sakura. I have finally realized that perhaps I don't need to leave Konoha in order to become stronger so…um…I've come back." Naruto/Sasuke was really pleased with himself when he noticed how stunned she looked.
'Hehe. In your face Kiba! I am smart…believe it! But I just thought of something. I can't be Sasuke all the time…ah well, I'll worry about that later.' Sakura was shocked, but not stupid. She obviously knew that this wasn't the real Sasuke. Clue number 1: how the heck did he return without being hauled in for questioning about Orochimaru, even if he did renounce his past actions? And perhaps the biggest clue, clue number 2: Why was Sasuke wearing Naruto's jumpsuit? Conclusion: Naruto was trying to fool her into believing that Sasuke was back.
"Well Sasuke," Sakura said sweetly, "I know that you're Naruto and you're not fooling anyone. Isn't the number one rule of being a ninja being able to effectively disguise or transform into another person? Well, I'm sorry to say that you are not able to do that yet Naruto."
Naruto pouted "Awww….Sakura-chan, how did you know? I was doing this for you, you know, because you were so sad." Sakura was touched, but had to suppress a grin when she told him how she knew.
"I may not have known Sasuke as well as I thought I did, but I'm pretty sure you would never get him to wear that orange jumpsuit of yours, even if you paid him a million dollars." she whispered in his ear.
She flounced away and left Naruto standing there. He looked down, and remembered that he forgot to change his clothes into something more Sasuke-like. A shout of laughter reached his ears, and he looked up to see Kiba laughing his head off. Naruto thought back, and understood why Kiba was laughing when he first asked him where Sakura was. Naruto changed back into himself and walked up to Kiba, with a smile on his face.
"Laugh now Kiba, but when I make Sakura happy again, I'm gonna be the one who's happy." Naruto said smugly. Kiba's laughter died down, and he looked curiously at Naruto. Naruto had his 'I have a back-up plan' face on.
"Hey Kiba, if I couldn't become Sasuke, then why don't we find someone similar to Sasuke and have Sakura go out with them? Then, she'll realize that Sasuke's not as good, since he's not here, so then she will love the new guy, and be happy!" Naruto's face was lit by an ecstatic smile, but Kiba merely looked amused.
"I see another flaw, genius. Who are you going to get to replace Sasuke? He's practically one of a kind, which is why all the girls seem to like him so much." Naruto's smile did not falter.
"I know, but I have the perfect person in mind. If you wanna help, then come with me to their house. You'll see exactly how perfect he is." Kiba shrugged and followed Naruto. It wasn't like he had anything better to do, and besides curiosity only ever killed the cat, not the dog, right?
10 minutes later, they both arrived at a small apartment building, a little way from the main village. Kiba had never visited this place before, and wondered who lived there. At first, he half expected Naruto to go after Neji or something, but clearly he had another plan. Naruto raised his hand and knocked the door. A few seconds later, the door opened, and there stood….Sai. "What do you want, idiots?" Kiba's mouth dropped.
'SAI? That's the guy who's similar to Sasuke? They are nothing alike… ok, maybe something alike, but that's beside's the point! They are totally different…I think I had better hide Naruto's ramen from now on, its giving him brain problems; he certainly doesn't need anything else on top of his hyperactive nature.' Naruto grinned happily.
"Sai! You're just the person I need to help me. See, there's this person, who's really sad because this guy left, and since you look like the guy I was wondering if you would help me and go out with the girl so that she would feel better and be happy and forget about the other guy, since he left and all, and then she will be happy and I will be happy and then we will all live happily ever after!" Naruto said this all very quicky, and breathed deeply at the end.
Kiba stared at Naruto. 'What the heck did he just say? He was talking so fast, and it was so confusing.' Sai blinked a couple of times and proceeded to shut the door, after saying an emotionless "No". But Naruto would not be deterred. Lucky for him, he knew a secret of Sai's; he bet a bowl of ramen that Sai wouldn't like it if other people knew.
"Blackmail is awesome!" "Sai, I think you do want to help us, or else I will tell a certain someone that…" Naruto whispered the rest in Sai's ear. Sai's face became extremely blank. "…Fine,…I'll go out with this girl." Sai shuddered on the inside; he wasn't the type of person who would go on a date with random girls, heck, he wouldn't even date a girl.
"Good! Sakura will meet you um…at Ichiraku's at around 6 pm" Kiba turned to Naruto.
"Why Ichiraku's? I don't know if you've noticed, but that's not really a place you go on a date to. Maybe dinner, but I guess in your case you could go on a date there." Kiba smirked and walked away with Naruto.
"Now, we have to go to Sakura's place, and tell her about the date!"
Kiba laughed, "After this morning, do you actually think she's going to want to go out on a date that you suggest? She'll probably think the guy is you in disguise or something, although if you wear your orange jumpsuit, you can tell." Kiba laughed at the recollection, and Naruto narrowed his eyes.
"…But he does have a point." Naruto took paper and a pencil out of one of his many hidden pockets and wrote a message:
Dear Sakura,
I have always admired you and think that you are a really nice girl. I want to get to know you better, so why don't we meet at Ichiraku's at around 6 pm? We may be going out somewhere special, so wear something kind of formal. Counting the hours,
Mystery man 3
Kiba read the note and raised an eyebrow. "Mystery Man?" he repeated, "It sounds like a stalker or something, why don't you just write 'Secret Admirer'?" Naruto crossed out the words mystery man and changed it to 'Someone'
"There! Now, we just have to throw this into Sakura's window, and then go back to Sai's before their big date!" Naruto looked extremely hyper, and bounced over to Sakura's house, with Kiba shaking his head in amusement behind him. Naruto saw that Sakura was eating lunch, so he took the note, threw it in the window, grabbed Kiba and ran.
"Sai's!" Naruto ran off and returned once more to Sai's place, with Kiba close on his heels. Sai opened the door, and blinked once he saw who it was. Naruto's face grew solemn.
"Ok Sai, I know what Sakura likes, and she likes boys who have emotions….so, before your date with Sakura, Kiba and I are gonna teach you how to become an emotionful person!" Naruto dragged Sai back into his apartment, and pushed him onto the couch.
All the while Sai was just thinking, 'Emotionful? I bet that's just a word from Naruto's idiot dictionary in his nut-sized brain. Ah god this is torture, hope to get this over with soon…then I can go back to my beloved deceased brother's picture book.'
"Ok, so before we start, I want to know if you have any emotion at all, that you've uncovered. So, we're gonna ask some questions and you have to respond truthfully ok?" Sai sighed and nodded grudgingly. "Stupid Naruto…if only I had been more careful, he wouldn't have had blackmail and I wouldn't be doing this ridiculous thing." Naruto scribbled a few questions on paper, and gave them to Sai to answer.
1. If you saw a baby who was crying, what would you do?
Ignore
2. If a guy called you stupid, what would you do?
Walk away
3. If you found out that your closest friend had died, what would you do?
I have no friend
4. If you got kissed by a really cute girl whom you really liked, what would you do?
I don't love
5. If you saw your rival with the above girl what would you do?
I don't think of girls in that manner
6. If you were locked in a haunted house, and found a dead body in the closet, what would you do?
I don't fear the dead
7. If your life was as perfect as you could have hoped for, what would you feel?
My life is not perfect
8. If I told you that there were only 2 more questions after this one, what would you feel?
I wouldn't feel anything
9. If your teacher gave you a really complex technique, and it was taking a long time to master, how would you feel?
My techniques are self-made
10. Um, I can't think of a tenth question…response?...
Naruto took the paper and read the answers to Kiba. They both realized that they had a lot more to teach Sai about emotions than they had thought. Naruto glanced at the clock. It was already 3 pm. That meant they had about 3 more hours to teach Sai before he had to meet Sakura.
5:55 pm
Kiba and Naruto lay on the couch, exhausted. After many dog bites, Harem no Jutsu's, transformations into various girls to teach Sai how to act around girls, many insults and an incident in which Naruto spiked Sai's water with something that would make him hyper, they finally concluded that Sai was a hopeless case. Obviously they couldn't force him to have emotions, but they did manage to make Sai less bitter and insensitive, so that was a start, right?
"Wow…I hope Sai really finds a girl soon. That's probably the best way to have emotions. Three hours and we barely came through." Kiba said wearily. Naruto opened his eyes slightly and smirked as he saw Sai come down the stairs. They had completely transformed him. His hair was lightly gelled off his forehead, and he had fully covering clothes, that looked sophisticated and elegant, courtesy of Neji who had come by to see what all the cursing was about. He also wore a cracked smile on his lips, which looked extremely painful for him.
Naruto got up and smiled really big. "I approve! You look excellent and I think Sakura will be completely blown away when she sees you! But lose the smile, it looks creepy and unnatural." Sai dropped the painful smile, and instantly looked much more natural and handsome. "Now let's GO!" Naruto chivvied Kiba and Sai out of the apartment and dragged them to Ichiraku's.
Alright, we hope everyone's enjoyed this chapter of Happy Endings! Look forward to our next chapter, where we get to the nice date! or maybe not so nice... but all the same, it will be...well...um...an interesting? date. well, the total idea's not set yet so any tips will be appreciated! So R&R please.Ciao!