Chapter Three

Naruto.

The rain poured, making tiny puddles on the sidewalks and slipping against windows. The sky was gray and cloudy, like a bunch of gray cotton candies.

I smiled to myself. A bunch of gray cotton candies. It was what my mother used to say when it rained and the clouds were dark. It sounded pretty dumb, but every time it rained, I always stared out the window, mostly glancing up at the gray cotton candies, wondering if my mom was there, watching me.

She always loved the rain, as far as I could remember. When it rained, she would skip outside without an umbrella and without any rain protection gear. I remember that I always followed her out, and she would laugh and pick me up.

"See that?" She would say, pointing up at the sky.

I would stare at the dark clouds, blinking my eyes rapidly from the tickling raindrops.

"Those are a bunch of gray cotton candies," She'd say, chuckling at herself.

I'd wrinkle my nose at that and say, "Gray cotton candies? Can we eat them?"

"Of course we can."

"So. . .why don't we go get some?"

"We can't. . .not now."

"Why not?"

"It's not time."

"When will it be time?"

"When we reach the sky."

"When is that going to be?"

"I don't know, but sooner or later, everyone will be able to taste the gray cotton candies," She had said, smiling a little sadly to herself.

I opened my eyes at the vivid memory. It was one of the last memories I've had of her and it gave me the chills every time I thought of it since it almost seemed like she knew that she was going to taste those gray cotton candies soon.

I leaned away from the windowsill and grabbed my backpack and umbrella as I headed out to school.

Sakura.

I love the rain.

I love the sound of it, the feel of it, the smell of it.

I twirled my umbrella in my fingers as I walked carefully along the sidewalk, my sneakers lightly slapping against the tiny puddles.

"Oi, forehead."

I stopped at the oh-so-familiar voice and turned around, scowling. Oh so my new nickname was "forehead" now?! I thought furiously.

He was standing there, grinning widely with his hands jammed into his pockets and his umbrella tilted to the side.

"My name's Sakura," I snapped as the blond boy caught up with me.

"I know. I just thought that forehead would be a more appropriate name for you considering your humongous forehead of yours," He said, leaning towards me, obviously enjoying this.

"Why, you - !" I cried, balling up my fists.

"You guys are already fighting again?" Another familiar voice sighed.

We both turned to see Sasuke, his face having exasperation all over it.

"Sasuke-kun!"

"Eh, Sasuke-teme."

He swiftly stepped over to us.

"Hi," He said.

The three of us, once again, walked together in silence, behaving now that Sasuke was here when suddenly, I heard a small chuckle.

"Gray cotton candies," I heard Naruto's voice quietly mumble.

I raised my eyebrow.

"Gray cotton candies?" I repeated, dumbfounded by the strange thing he said.

Naruto's face instantly turned red – which I thought was pretty cute since I never thought that I'd see a day when he'd be embarrassed – and he turned to me, glaring.

"W-what're you talking about?! I didn't say anything, believe it!" Naruto defended all too quickly.

"Shut up, dobe. You're too loud," Sasuke mumbled.

"I never knew gray cotton candies existed," I said.

"Shut it, forehead."

"Idiot."

"Guys," Sasuke's voice sounded, exasperated.

Silence.

We reached campus but before we could even step through the gateway, in half a second, I saw a blond haired girl rushing up towards us, pulling along an extremely embarrassed looking girl.

"Hi Naruto, Sasuke-kun," The blond girl greeted.

Her blue eyes traveled towards me, and she beamed.

"Hi there. What's your name?" The girl asked.

She seemed awfully bubbly.

"Oh, er, Sakura," I said, smiling a little.

"No, her real name's forehead girl."

"Naruto."

The blond girl bonked Naruto on the head – I secretly cheered – and scowled at him.

"Naruto, don't be so mean," She growled.

Then she turned to me and smiled sweetly.

"My name's Ino, and this is Hinata," She said indicating the shy girl next to her.

"H-hi," Hinata stammered.

"Hey," I said, smiling.

Suddenly though, Ino stopped smiling.

"Wait a minute, Sakura," She said, tapping a finger on her chin. "You don't happen to be thinking of stealing my Sasuke-kun, do you?"

My eyes widened.

"Eh? What?!" I blurted.

"I'm not yours," Sasuke grumbled.

Ino linked arms with him, and grinned dreamily at him.

"Of course you are, Sasuke-kun! One day you will see that we're meant to be together," She purred.

I smiled, fighting a laugh.

"D-don't worry, Ino. He's all yours," I said, chuckling.

Besides, I have someone I love back home.

"Let go," Sasuke muttered, pulling away coldly.

He then pushed passed her and walked across the field, alone.

There was a moment of silence, and for half a second, Ino looked a little wounded but her expression was quickly replaced with a huge happy smile but even still, Hinata gazed at her a little worriedly.

Naruto, who was still rubbing the back of his head where Ino hit him, mumbled something under his breath and walked ahead too.

I stared at him for a second until Ino linked arms with me.

"Sakura, are you new here?"

"Yeah."

"Cool! Hinata and I will show you around, won't we?"

Hinata nodded politely.

"Um, if you're really willing to. . ."

"Of course we are! Come on. You're early and school's not going to start in a while, anyways."

I smiled as they led me across the field.

I suddenly felt the humidity and the wetness of the rain disappearing.

I pulled down my umbrella and glanced at the sky as I saw that the sky had cleared. I smiled, thinking of Naruto.

No more gray cotton candies now, Naruto.

Naruto.

She's finally gone. I owe Ino one, I thought as I reached the rooftop.

Sasuke was sitting there already, watching the sunrise now.

Since it was winter now, the nights were longer and the days were short which made it easier for us to reach school before sunrise.

I walked over to him and threw my umbrella across the rooftop.

We watched the sunrise in silence.

"Hey, Sasuke-teme. . ." I mumbled.

"Hm?"

"Do you ever think about your parents?"

Pause.

"Yes."

Silence.

"Do you ever think that. . .maybe. . .maybe it would be better if – if they were alive?"

Pause.

"I do think that sometimes. But I think it's for the best of me."

"Huh?"

"I think that. . .maybe them dying is just a blessing in disguise."

"A what?! Are those stupid crap books getting to your head?"

"Shut up, dobe. I'm trying to tell you something important."

"Okay, okay. I'm all ears."

"What I'm trying to say is that. . .like, for example, if our parents never passed away, we would have never met."

I thought about that for a while.

"That's true. . ."

"And. . .if my parents were still alive. . .I don't think I'd be as independent. . .I – I want to be independent and I hate being dependent on people even though sometimes, just sometimes, I want someone to hold onto though."

I knew how he felt.

I knew it so well.

I closed my eyes.

He's the only one that understands me, I thought.

Sakura.

After Ino and Hinata showed me around, we lounged at the cafeteria even though I was suffocating. I longed to be at the rooftop, watching the sunrise, but when I suggested that they come with me to the rooftop with me, they declined.

After a while of holding in my suffocation, I finally decided to go up alone.

When I reached the top of the flight of stairs, I opened the door a peek, and as expected, found Sasuke and Naruto leaning over the rail, talking and watching the sunset.

I debated whether or not to come in since I thought that they might be having an important conversation, but I finally thought, who cares? I won't talk to them then and stepped inside. As soon as I did, Naruto whipped around – I winced – and Sasuke turned around slowly to me.

"Oh, when I finally thought we lost you, forehead," Naruto said, in an utterly fake exasperated voice.

I snorted.

"I won't bother your precious talk. Go on, talk. I'm just here to watch the sunrise," I said, walking as far away from them.

But they didn't talk.

They were quiet.

I concentrated on the sunrise.

The sun slowly stretched behind the horizon, the few first rays peeking and shining light. The light gray sky lit up from the tiny candles of the rays. The sun kept pulling itself forcefully to come out and finally, it came.

I smiled, closing my eyes.

"You know what I always wanted to do with you?" I asked.

"Kiss in the rain with me?"

I lightly punched him.

"Psh, no."

"What? I thought all girls wanted to do that with their boyfriends."

"Well, I guess that is pretty romantic. . .but it's not what I've always wanted to do with you."

"Okay, then what is it?"

"You have to guess."

"God, I hate it when you say that."

I laughed.

"Okay. . .does it have something to do with sex?"

"Sai!!!"

"Kidding, kidding."

"Okay fine, I'll tell you. I always wanted to watch the sunrise with you."

"The sunrise?"

"Yeah."

"Sure, we can do that. But why sunrise. . .and not sunsets?"

"Because sunrises are so much happier than sunsets. Sunrises are introducing a brand new day."

"That sounds like you got it from a book."

I smiled and lightly punched him again as I said lightly, "Shut up."

I then leaned my head against his shoulder and –

"Forehead! Pinky? Earth to forehead girl."

I instantly jumped up and turned around to see Naruto scowling at me.

"God, it's about time you wake up from your daydreams."

I blushed.

"S-shut up."

He smirked.

"Anyways, it's time to go. Time for shitty school to start," He said oh-so-enthusiastically.

I followed them out of the rooftop, and took a final glance behind me, looking at the sun one last time.

I never got to see the sunrise with him.