I don't own Naruto. (It'd freakin' sweet if I did though!! ^o^ )
Sorry, I guess I forgot to mention in the last chapter that the reason Iruka can't go to Sari's birthday is because of his three-day mission escorting the Land of Earth ambassador. ^^"
If you want to know about the feild of flowers place,I got it from episode 159.
The tavern had been closed for two days now—Maya decided to close because of Sari—the past three days she hadn't slept a wink. Ever since Iruka had gone on his mission, she had been too tired to stand on her feet.
Maya had sent her to bed Friday evening, hoping she would finally get some sleep and they could open the tavern tomorrow. Sari had stayed up late into the night, clutching her necklace and praying that Iruka would be safe. She had no idea when she had finally drifted off to sleep, she was only aware of someone knocking on the door.
She groaned something that could almost be interpreted as "go away" and tugged the blankets over head.
"That wasn't exactly the 'welcome home' I was expecting." Iruka stuck his head into the room.
"Iruka-sensei!" Sari threw the blankets off and jumped out of the window-bed. She ran toward him and he caught her in his arms.
"That's more like it." He smiled and tousled her hair, like he always did. "Do you want to go on a picnic?"
"A picnic? Isn't it too early for a picnic?"
Iruka laughed. "It's three in the afternoon, lazy."
"Really?" Sari yawned. "It feels more like eight."
They said good-bye to Maya and headed out to the field of flowers that they often took walks to. They set out their picnic and were almost finished when they heard someone calling.
"Iruka-sensei! Iruka-sensei!" Naruto ran through the flowers toward them, Hinata and Kiba walking lazily behind him. "What are you doing here? Who's your girlfriend?" Naruto asked, noticing Sari. "Isn't she a little young for you?"
Both Sari and Iruka's faces turn red. "Ah, Naruto—it's not like that!" Iruka tried to explain. "This is my friend, Sari Tanaka—I used to teach her."
"Yeah, whatever." He turned to Kiba and Hinata. "Let's go finish this mission."
Iruka sighs and shakes his head as they leave "That Naruto." He looked up at the setting sun. "We should probably be heading back now—your aunt will be worried."
"I don't want to go back yet!" Sari said, trying to stifle a yawn.
"You're half-asleep!" He said. "I don't see how—you stayed in bed 'til three."
"I was up all night!" She said. "And I didn't sleep at all the night before."
"Why not?"
"I was worried about you!" She hugged him, trying to hold in her tears. "The village has been really busy lately—we're in danger from the other villages. What if your mission was really dangerous?" She couldn't hold back her tears when she said the thing that had been on her mind the past three days: "What if you had died, and I never knew?!"
Iruka wrapped his arms around her. "There's no way that I'm going to die and leave you."
"You'd better not." She said, wiping away tears.
Iruka leaned forward, sure that this was the right moment to finally do what he had wanted to for years: kiss Sari Tanaka.
But he couldn't do it. His lips landed on her cheek at the last moment, as if his body was telling him that she was too young for him.
Sari blushed and looked at him, but he wouldn't meet her eyes. He stood up. "Come on, you need to get to bed."
He walks her home and kisses her on the forehead before letting her stumble sleepily up the stairs to her room.
She sank into her bed and was almost asleep when she suddenly shot up, her face bright red. "Omigosh! I just realized—Iruka-sensei held my hand all the way home!"
LOL, Don't you just love it when you realize things waaay too late?!
I was originally going to have Iruka stay the night with Sari at some point, but when I wrote it out, it didn't happen. ^^"
I looove reviews! (If you can't tell, I'm an extremely hyper/happy mood at the moment ^o^ )