Memories of a Cherry Blossom
Chapter III: Flowers
Sasuke always bought flowers from the Yamanaka flower shop. He could have purchased them elsewhere. He probably should have.
Ino, one of his ex-fangirls and the former best friend of Sakura worked at the Yamanaka shop. Sasuke remembered a time when the peppy blonde girl had professed her love for him on a daily basis, when she had promised to do anything to be his girl. These days, he was luck if she just spit on him.
This first day he had walked into the flower shop, almost a year ago, she had invaded his mind with that strange jutsu of hers. He had woken up hours later, black and blue, lying in the Konoha garbage pits. Two of his ribs were cracked, and it felt like someone had taken a club to his head. Since then, Ino's reactions were never so extreme, but the usually outgoing and gossipy girl had never spoken a single word to him. Most of the village felt rather ambiguous about the crime that had gotten him drummed out of the ninja service, but not Yamanaka Ino.
This week, luckily, it was old Inoichi who was manning the counter. Sasuke picked out the usual arrangement, silently paid for it, then left. Ino was probably out on a mission. Sasuke remembered missions. He remembered the chunin exam. He never wanted to forget anything having to do with her.
He walked quietly to the memorial stone first. Sakura, not having been on a mission or in defense of Konoha at the time, had not had her name carved onto the memorial stone. Sasuke had fixed that oversight one hazy, drunken night. In letters a little less perfect than all the rest, her name was etched. Sasuke gave it a brief look of acknowledging, for indeed, she had been a kunoichi, then left for her grave.
He arrived a short time later. Walking across the field of grave markers, he noticed a spiky blonde boy coming from the opposite direction. They had never arrived at the same time before. Their eyes met for the first time in over a year, and a feeling of shock passed between them as they both wondered simultaneously, just what the hell they had been doing all this time.
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Author's Note: I suppose you could call this an interlude, but it was needed. Ino, obviously, took Sakura's death hard. They were best friends, after all. Her attitude toward Sasuke certainly has shifted. The next chapter is called "Beginning".
