A Party for a Lonely Heart
Chapter 3
(A/N: Well thanks again for the positive reviews. I hope this next one does just as good. Enjoy)
(Disclaimer: I neither own Naruto or its characters)
Sakura was smiling as she was coming on her block, "Let's see, I've invited Hinata-chan, and she's telling Kiba-kun and Shikamaru-kun, I've also invited Lee-kun, Neji-kun, and TenTen. That leaves the 'InoShikaCho' and Naruto-kun...he'll be a big help actually!" She decided to go to his place first. She knocked on his door and she heard a familiar voice behind the door.
"Yeah yeah, I'm coming already. Hold your horses." When Naruto opened the door, he was surprised to see Sakura's happy face waiting for him.
"S..sakura-chan? It's been a while, good to see you! I was really worried about you."
"Good to see you too, Naruto-kun. Can I come in for a second?"
"Umm…sure," Naruto replied. They sat down at a table and Sakura began.
"Naruto-kun…I'm sorry for worrying you. You're my teammate, and also, even if I don't normally say so, one of my best friends. I came by because I talked to Tsunade-sensei and I feel much better now."
"Glad to hear it," Naruto replied with his usual grin, "Good thing you caught me, I was on my way to do some solo training."
"Well before you do that, I'd like to ask a favor, if that's ok?"
"Sure thing. What can I do for you?"
"Well I'm sure you've noticed how, well, unsociable I've been recently. I was grieving over Sasuke-kun's…disappearance., but I'm ready to rejoin my friends again and I wanted to throw them a party to show it."
"Oh…that's cool, I guess…" Naruto said, unsure of himself.
"Oh I'm inviting you too of course! I already said you're one of my best friends."
"It's not that, it's…I've never been to a party before. What do I do?"
"Well for starters, get yourself some slightly dressy clothes and show up prepared to dance. Several eligible ladies will be there too," Sakura winked at him.
"I don't know…I've never danced either, but what was that favor you wanted me to do?"
"Oh yeah. I need to make invitations for everyone so they can find my place. I'd like you to write them out and deliver them for me while I go shopping for the stuff I'll need."
"Oh is that all? Consider it done, Sakura-chan!" Naruto grinned.
"Thanks, Naruto-kun. You better make the invitations look good, and you better get the directions right!"
"Hey, show a little faith in me, will you? I promise to get it done right. Get your shopping done quickly or they'll show up without a party to go to!"
"Alright. See you there…and you better dress nice!"
"Sheesh I like what I normally wear. What does a girl consider 'nice?' I better go ask someone, and about dancing while I'm at it. Well onto the invitations!" Naruto thought to himself, getting some paper and a lot of pens…
About half an hour later, Sakura was walking throughout the marketplace of Konoha, trying to finish her party shopping. She found plenty of balloons and streamers. Now she was looking for some food for the party. "Knowing Naruto-kun, he'll want some ramen…does he even eat anything else..? I think some cake and sodas and punch and ice cream will do nicely, maybe chips." Sakura walked by Naruto's favorite ramen shop and sat down across from the shopkeeper.
"Excuse me, do you do special orders for parties?" Sakura asked.
The shopkeeper laughed lightly, "Let me guess, Uzumaki Naruto's going to show up for this one, right?"
Sakura returned his laugh, "Yeah, you know him and his ramen. I'm sure it won't be a party for him unless it had his favorite food."
"Okay then, no problem. I'll make enough for my favorite customer in time for your party."
"Could you make some for me too, I'm kinda hungry. Pork ramen please."
"Sure thing!" He replied, turning to do his work.
"Excuse me, Sakura-chan? Can I join you for lunch?" someone said from beside her. She looked and found Rock Lee who just received his order from the shopkeeper's daughter.
"Lee-kun, hi!" Sakura said and nodded yes to his question. In response Lee scooted closer.
"Hello, Sakura-chan. I'm glad to see you again."
"What on earth are you talking about, Lee-kun? You just saw me not too long ago. And on top of that, when I was working at the hospital for the past month, didn't you try to visit everyday?"
"Well…yeah but most of the time, I'm always glad to see you. Recently though, you've been depressed and it hurt me to see you like that too. I'm not saying you didn't have a right to be sad, or that you shouldn't have taken some time to yourself. All I'm saying is that I really missed your wonderful smile and I'm glad it's back." Lee said, turning his face towards her with a smile of his own, not one of his goofy ones, but a genuine one with true feeling and happiness.
"Lee-kun…" Sakura didn't know what else to say. She never realized how much she hurt her friend when she isolated herself. "How many of the others feel like that," she wondered.
"Are you really sure about this party you want to throw?" Lee continued, "I know it's been about a month since Sasuke's disappearance, but you shouldn't force yourself to try to be happy. You should do this because you want to do it. Don't put on a show for our sake. You'd only be hurting yourself more." Sakura was surprised at Lee's ability to make her look at herself and her decisions as well as how much he really cared. She thought it over for a moment, and then smiled back at him.
"Yes Lee-kun," Sakura said softly, "I'm very sure about this party I'm throwing. I'm not trying to put on a show for anyone, I want this party. I need this party. I've been alone for a while now and this is a chance for me to apologize to the friends whom I've neglected for the past month. I want to make it up to them, show them that I still care, show them that they matter to me…but most of all, I want to make sure that I really can get over this loss and move on with my life, to see if there's room in my heart for someone else now that I know Sasuke-kun's gone for good…"
"Really?" Lee brightened, but then he remembered the advice the Hokage gave him just before he arrived here, "A little bit of Rock Lee seems to go a long way and too much of a good thing can be bad," Tsunade pointed out, "just be honest with yourself and with her and don't go overboard…take things slow with her. Be her friend before trying anything else, okay?" "Well, in that case, I hope you find someone that can truly make you happy again, but in the meantime, I'm here for you and so are the others."
"Thank you, Lee-kun, that means a lot to me," Sakura replied, slowly reaching out and gently grasping his hand. Surprisingly, Sakura's heart started to beat a little faster at this small show of affection and she started to blush lightly
"L…Lee-kun?" Sakura said.
"Y…yes, Sakura-chan?" Lee replied, also blushing a bit.
"HEY BUSHY BROW, CHECK THIS OUT!!!" a hand slammed down right in front of Lee's and Sakura's and had a slip of paper in it. Looking at the arm the hand was attached to showed a very familiar orange jacket and they both looked up and saw a very familiar mischevious grin.
"N..Naruto-kun?!" Sakura quickly let go of Lee's hand and put it behind her back and Lee did the same, both of them turning away from each other, and feeling rather foolish, "What the heck are you doing!? You nearly gave me a heart attack, you idiot!"
"Huh? Sakura-chan? You're here too?" Naruto waved his hands in front of him in a surrender gesture, "I was just doing as you asked; giving out those invites you wanted me to do for you. No need to get upset."
"Coming out of nowhere and scaring the life out of Lee-kun and I is plenty good reason!"
"Well, I did want to do a little training on my own and I thought stealthing it over here would do it, but I never expected to catch you two so off guard."
"Off guard? Why you!" Sakura got up and Naruto started to back off, knowing what was coming but sure he couldn't avoid it. Sakura's fist pounded into Naruto's cheek and he went flying to the wall on the other side of the street where he poofed into cloud of white smoke.
"Huh? Kage Bunshin?" Sakura wondered, "Maybe he sent a lot of them out at once to deliver the invitations quicker. What do you think Lee-kun?" Looking at a clock hanging on the ramen shop's wall, Lee quickly devoured the rest of his ramen and started to run in place.
"I'm truly sorry, Sakura-chan, but I must be going. My lunch break is over and I need to get back to Gai-sensei. Thanks for having lunch with me!" He waved as he ran off. Then the ramen shopkeeper came back with Sakura's order.
"Huh? Where'd your date go?" he asked.
"D…d…d…date?!" Sakura laughed nervously, "Don't be silly, he's just a good friend!" "Then why did you feel what you did when you held hands?" Inner Sakura told her…
(A/N: Well another chapter completed. I hope you liked this one. Sakura's got something to think about, doesn't she? Next chapter Naruto tries to find someone to teach him to dance. Meanwhile Sakura's trying to get her home ready for the party, but she'll need some help…)
