Courage and Confidence-Memory 3
12 years had passed... It was two years after The Fourth Great Shinobi War concluded and I was 18. All the nations wanted to stop fighting after they united to take down Uchiha, Madara. There was peace once again. At this time, I was thinking about what I'd do for the Rinne festival that would be coming soon. I had confessed my feelings for Naruto-kun before, during Pain's Invasion, but he most likely forgot. Sakura-chan later told me he lost control of his Nine-Tails chakra after Pain knocked me out, he unleashed six tails then! By four tails, he'd lose control of his conscious. I was able to understand him better, so I believed in him forgetting. That was when I decided I'll confess again in a more formal manner.
I went on to think about how I would tell him this, and decided that a gift would be good to bring. I remembered when we first met and he made me keep his scarf. I thought that it would be meaningful if I knitted a new scarf to represent that first time, let him keep that one, and tell him my true feelings-it'd be foolproof. I got excited about my plan and bought some red yarn to start on my "project."
Okaa-san taught me a little about knitting before she passed away, so I used what I remembered to start. Hours passed into nighttime, but I kept knitting because I was so excited about finishing. When my fingers got tired, I would look at the first scarf, remember little Naruto-kun's face, and it motivated me to keep going.
Eventually, I did run out of yarn, so I went out to get some more. It turned out to be good timing, since the fabric store had some discounts for the Rinne festival. After I bought more yarn and walked out, Sakura-chan called out for me. "Oh, Sakura-chan," I greeted. "Hmm? Knitting something?" she assumed as she checked the outside of the store. "That's a surprise," she smiled. "I'm making a scarf," I explained and looked down. "Hmm," Sakura-chan hummed as a mischievous grin turned up and she pressed her fingers to her chin in a V-shape. "W-what is it?" I conjured as she leaned in to examine my face.
"Give it your all, ok?" she cheered as she smiled, threw her hands up, and slapped them onto my shoulders. "Huh?" "It's a present for him, right?" she concluded. She was right. I couldn't give her an answer and just stared at the ground (Oh, I got so red then!). Then she took me to a dessert stop and we talked some more.
"He's been popular, lately," Sakura-chan bluntly stated. "Oh, really?" I didn't notice, I was too busy making that scarf for him. "They even come all the way from other villages, just to take pictures of him," she mentioned. "Oh," I acknowledged. They came from everywhere just to see him? "Don't say 'oh.' Hurry up and finish that scarf," Sakura-chan commanded. "Okay," I nodded. "Come on, have some confidence. Be bold," she encouraged. "O-okay," I repeated. We continued to chat about other things and eventually went home. It started to snow after I left the dessert shop and I was glad that I could stay inside my house. I thought about our conversation while I was knitting Naruto-kun's scarf.