A/N: Another chapter ready to be read. I think I'm halfway done with this fic! Yay! Christmas is over so this might seem a little irrelevant but oh well.

Gossip. Everyone's part of the gossip. Whether you're the one participating in it or the one who's on the receiving end, sooner or later, you're going to be part of "the talk." Unfortunately, it was my turn to be the topic.

Several Confrontations...

A week had gone by since my disgraceful scene at the mall. The remnants of that spectacle was still around seeing as how I got all sorts of looks and whispers directed at me. I dubbed myself the "rude little pink-haired girl." Well, I guess truthfully it would be the "rude little redhead" but no one knew that yet so…pink it was. The looks I got spoke for themselves. I won't mention anything here because it's not necessary but I'm sure you can guess that they weren't raving about my good manners. My onlookers were primarily women. Probably friends of that old hag behind me.

Sometimes, they wouldn't even bother keeping their voices low. All I would hear were their stupid little remarks about my attitude and what not. Blah, blah, blah. Somebody just give me some socks so I could just stick it in their mouths. Stupid losers, didn't they have anything else better to talk about?

Those were the times when Konoha was just not be big enough.

Yes, I know I was bitter but I had a good reason. Days kept going by and seeing as I how was still alive, my hair was growing. That meant that it was looking worse and worse. The "natural" red was becoming more vivid as the days passed by and there was nothing I could do except tie the knot even tighter. This wasn't the best idea because it caused severe headaches that plagued me once in a while. I guess I really didn't handle the situation very well but…I can't do anything about it now.

Yeah, there was the bad stuff but then there were some good stuff.

I was solely independent. My own woman you could say. Sleep wasn't so comforting anymore seeing as how it was riddled with nightmares and such but it did some good for my ninja life. I woke up every morning at five thirty and went to the usual training grounds for an hour before meeting up with the rest of my team.

Yes, my team. My team who thought I had totally lost my marbles. I don't blame them either. Every time they would try and ask me what was wrong, I would break out in hysterics and change the subject to something completely random. Awkward? Yes, definitely. After two weeks, I was wondering how long I could keep this up without the stress resulting in my going bald.

Then one fine morning, things began to stir up.

I got out of bed, went into my bathroom, saw my trusty mirror and proceeded to finish my daily morning ritual. Well, I proceeded but was stopped by a huge, splitting headache. Fortunately, it was gone as soon as it came. It was weird but what could I do about it now that it was gone? Nothing but go on with my day. As usual, I stopped at the training area but this time, I wasn't alone. Sasuke was already there. How many times was this going to happen? At least once more I guess.

He noticed my presence too quickly and stopped his training. What followed was a quick greeting of a "hey" and a nod. Then weirdness all over again. What was I supposed to do? Train with him? Nah, I decided to just sit on a convenient stump nearby. Convenient, lovely little stump of a tree.

But before my posterior even made it to the wood, a migraine decided to strike again all too conveniently. It must have been really bad since I nearly passed out. Next thing I knew, I was leaned back against the tree stump with Sasuke next to me. He was saying something but I just couldn't make out what. Of all the times to have a headache, I had to have one with Sasuke right there. Could there be a worse scenario?

Maybe it was a good thing that I didn't have time to react strangely because the headache was not going away. In fact, it got worse and worse. It got so bad in fact that I was on the verge of tears. I pulled up my legs so that I could rest my head down on my knees. My headband was the problem. It seemed that my little head had gone through so much stress during the last two weeks that it was screaming for help and the pressure of the headband wasn't improving its condition.

Poor Sasuke. He probably had no idea what the heck was going on. One minute I was fine, next I was on the floor and almost crying. If that didn't freak him out, I wouldn't know what would…well yeah I would, but this would rank up there for sure. All I could think of at the moment was that I needed to go home. But I couldn't move, I just could not will myself to get up and walk home. So I decided to do the next best thing: ask Sasuke to take me there. Well, then there was the problem of actually asking him. Getting words out wasn't exactly easy either.

But then again, that wasn't necessary because I felt myself being lifted up then carried along. We went for a little while before I managed to open one eye and see my arm resting on his signature blue shirt. He was carrying me on his back.

That damn blush never keeps to itself! It just appears whenever it wants even though it was the last thing I needed. I ended up becoming incredibly delirious from the combined stress of the blush and headache that I felt as if we were swimming in heat waves. Before I could do something drastically horrible I managed to close that one eye while trying to settle down and enjoy that a bit of comfort.

I awoke from a fitful sleep and found myself safe in bed with my headband still on. It was dark outside my window as I glanced at my new alarm clock. Nine forty-seven. Okay, so I had been out all day. This was not a healthy way of living. I thought briefly of changing my daily schedule before I was interrupted by a knock on my door.

"Sakura, it's me." Ino was outside.

"Hey, come in." Accepting the invite, Ino opened the door and came in. She took a deep breath and let it out in a heavy sigh. I knew what was coming, as did she. Girls need to brace themselves before a good old girl talk.

"Okay, tell me what's going on?"

"What are you talking about?" I swear, that's such a predictable answer but I felt compelled to say that. After all, it wasn't my intention to spill my whole situation to Ino. I did appreciate her efforts though.

"Come on Sakura, don't play dumb." But that's exactly what I was going to do. Well, at least sort of.

"It's personal Ino. I can't tell you about it. This whole thing's between me and…something else." Ino frowned at me and sat down on my bed. You've got to admire her perseverance. How can she, after all these years apart, still know me so well?

"Sakura, do you know how vague an answer that was?" Yes, yes I did. "You know I wouldn't tell anyone else. If it's that serious, I want to be there to help you. I mean fainting and all? Come on, it's not good to keep serious things to yourself."

"It's not that serious Ino." See? I was being truthful. It really wasn't all that important. Just a memory and some promises. That's all it was. Not that I was going to say that either. Ino closed her eyes and took my hand. Okay, that was strange. Then she sighed and opened her eyes with a determined look in them. Oh don't tell me…

"Sakura, do you have any kind of illness? I mean seriously, are you on a crash diet? Is that why you're so unhealthy and irritable?" I had about one second to reply before she interrupted me. "It is isn't it! Oh my…you are going to get help right now. I'm going to call your mom so that she knows about this! What's wrong with you? I thought you were smarter than that! You should know better than to keep these things to yourself! Well, I'm going to get you back into health before this really gets out of hand! Mrs. Har-!"

"INO, STOP!" I managed to clamp a hand over her mouth before more absurdness came out. "Seriously! That's not true!" Ino struggled to say something so I reluctantly let her go.

"Sakura, you're in denial. You'll thank me later for this!" That answer made me cover her mouth again with impatience.

"OKAY! Will you settle down if I tell you the real problem?" Nothing was worth my mother going bonkers about an imaginary eating disorder. Things would completely get out of control and one way or another my secret would go right along with it.

"That's not the problem?" Ino asked incredulously as if she had been right on the money. Well, I was about to reveal that she way, way off.

I took a deep breath. "Ino, the reason why I've been acting so strangely is beca-"

RING!

The phone. Whew, saved for a couple more seconds. Maybe more if I could drag it out. "Hold on a second Ino." I reached for my phone. "Hello?"

"Sakura is that you?" YES! It was the owner of the store! Could this possibly hold good news? "Good news Sakura, I reordered your product and they finally had it in stock so it's on it's way!" YES! It was good news!

"THANK YOU SO MUCH!" My nightmare was going to be over!

"Unfortunately, it's going to be about two more weeks…" Oh okay, so it wasn't all great news but still great news. Did that make any sense?

"It doesn't matter. As long as I get it soon. You have no idea what kind of hell I've been through without it! Okay, I'll talk to you later! Thanks again!" I hung up the phone with much satisfaction and sat back down on my bed with a huge smile on my face. The excitement made me forget about Ino who just sat there looking horrified.

"Sakura, is it drugs? Please don't tell me that it's drugs…" Oh Ino, not even that could dampen my spirits then.

"No, I promise that's not it. Listen, I just got a call that'll make this all better." She still looked skeptical but I wasn't about to have her leave my room and tell everyone that I was going to the dark side or something. "I promise I'm going to tell you. In two weeks, I will tell you the whole stupid story okay?"

"But-"

"I promise." Ino sighed then held out her right hand with an extended pinky. The seal. Of course. Words mean nothing without the seal. We shook pinkies on it.

"Okay Sakura. Get some rest. I'm sure your big forehead would appreciate that."

"You got it!" I was so elated that rest was nowhere in my mind but I complied with her order. I probably still needed it anyway. Ino was just about to leave when she held out a piece of paper with my name on it.

"Here, I originally came over to give this to you. Well, I first wanted to see if you were sane enough…but anyway, it's an invitation to a little Christmas party. Should be lots of fun."

Hmmm…party. With other people. Lots of other people. People who knew me…Looking back, I figure that I shouldn't have accepted the invitation but at the moment, I was so happy that I took it and told her that she should count me in.

"Great, I'll see you later then."

"Okay, bye Ino…and thanks for checking up on me. I appreciate it." Ino only smiled and held out her pinky to make sure I wouldn't forget. "Yes, I'll remember." She nodded and exited my room.

I laid back in my soft bed and took off my headband. Two weeks…that wasn't too long. I'd dealt with it for two weeks already. How hard could two more be? The rest of my night was filled with dreams of the good old days. The days of the academy and before when we were too young to do anything except tag along with our parents by the finger. How relevant.

The next morning, I decided to go through with my plan of treating Naruto to a couple bowls of ramen. Predictable as ever, Naruto went wide-eyed and basically whisked me off to the Ichiraku before I could even say that he was welcomed.

"So are you feeling better today Sakura?" Naruto said between bites of noodles, slurps of the broth and quite possibly breaths of air.

"Yeah, thanks Naruto." I rested my chin on my hand and relaxed watching him finish off his fourth bowl with relish. "And I have to say that you have got some talent getting Sasuke to come after me that other day. Seems like he listens to you after all." Those boys. Couldn't they just admit that they're good buddies and be done with it?

Naruto paused for two seconds to give me a strange look.

"What?" I asked not sure of what his bewilderment was for. I thought maybe I had a noodle on my face but surely I wouldn't since I ate like a lady…unlike him. Yeah, he basically had another helping of noodles on his face.

"What are you talking about?"

Now it was my turn to be confused. "No, what are you talking about?"

"Are you talking about that day that you had that accident and snapped and completely went crazy at that lady behind-"

"Yeah." I really didn't want to relive those wonderful memories.

"I thought so. Well after you left I was about to go after you but I didn't because Ino told me to let you 'cool off' since you wouldn't want to talk to anybody," That Ino. She seems to know me like a book. "Well, then I talked a little bit with Hinata and went on my way to the Ichiraku…speaking of which, can I have another bowl?"

"Sure, Naruto."

What a guy, can't stick to one subject for a whole conversation. Even a strange one at that.