Snip. Snip. Snip. The man works in a steady rhythm, careful not to pull or tug on my head too hard; Naruto warned him about the chemotherapy thing. I'm thankful because honestly my skin is starting to feel weird. It's starting to feel, I don't know... Softer and more warm than usual. Not to mention I feel tired. Not just tired, but exhausted; the kind of exhaustion that makes your bones ache and your eyelids droop. The effects of the caffeine I had at the cafeteria have disappeared.
It's amazing I'm still awake, but considering years and years of patience and care are being chopped off and discarded carelessly on the floor it's a little hard to fall asleep. A bitter, cold wind blows through my chest as I catch sight of my pink hair littering the floor around me. I had settled on ten inches of hair, my new hair length will be just below my chin. I haven't had my hair this short since I was seven.
Naruto is in the chair next to me, twirling around and around in a bored-like fashion.
"Leukemia, huh?" My stylist asks and I nod. He shakes his head and sighs sadly. "You're so young," He comments and I say nothing in response. Thank you Captain Obvious.
It strikes me as odd that age matters- I doubt that someone who's 40 would be any less devastated than I am at 17. Illness is illness, and death is death. These things really don't wait for anyone, and I'm no exception.
I take in my stylist's appearance as subtly as I can: he has dark skin, stylish spiky white hair and sharp eyes. He speaks quietly but strongly, sure of himself but not loud like the stylist cutting the woman's hair next to us. She cuts and brushes away, snapping her gum and talking non-stop. She also has hip-hop blasting on a small iPod dock.
"Karui, could you turn down that music?" He asks her, the red-headed girl (who reminds me a lot of Karin) sighs exaggeratedly and turns the music down. She grumbles something about her showing him what he can turn down.
"Anyway, how do you feel?" He presses, obviously not accepting the silent treatment that I've been giving him.
"Frankly? Like shit," I say in a clipped voice. He chuckles, unperturbed by my cold attitude.
"You're strong though. I can tell because it took all of that boy's will power," He motions to Naruto with his scissors, who's picking his nose distractedly, "To just get you in here. You're a stubborn one." My face heats up as I realize he saw my fit when Naruto was trying to get me in here.
"And I doubt this cancer can get the best of you," He finishes. My eyes momentarily fill with tears at his unexpectedly kind words, and just like that, my opinion of this man changes from thinking he's some monster taking my hair to someone I... like.
He leans down to whisper in my ear, making eye contact with me in the mirror, "And keep this boy around. He cares about you, I can tell."
I look over at Naruto just as he's wiping something suspicious off on his pant leg. I don't try to hide my smirk.
"Yeah, he's great."
"What's your name, by the way?" He asks me, snipping away again. I wince when I realize how light my head feels already.
"Sakura Haruno."
"Pretty name. I'm Omoi," He tells me and I smile, he makes six people to know about my cancer. I don't mind though, he seems like a cool guy.
"Nice to meet you," I chirp.
"Nice to meet you, too, Haruno-san." Omoi brushes my bangs in front of my eyes to give them a trim. It tickles my nose and I hold back a sneeze.
Soon, he's done. But he's turned me away from the mirror, so when I can see the final product I'll be "surprised." More like horrified, I think. I shut my eyes and when he spins me around I brace myself for the worst. But when I squint open an eye, I'm shocked. I don't look hideous at all!
In fact, I look kind of good. My bubble gum hair feathers down to my chin, framing my face, making it appear more delicate than normal. I turn my head side to side and it feels nice to not be whipped in the face by my normally long hair. He's also layered it so it won't be as obvious when it starts thinning.
"What do you think?" Omoi asks, smiling gently. I adjust my bangs and smile back but I can't look away from my reflection; I'm too engrossed in my complete transformation.
"It's amazing, thank you," I choke out, suddenly overwhelmed with emotion.
When I'm up at the front desk I realize something that Ino has been trying to pound into my brain for days: that those clumps of hair surrounding the chair where I was sitting, they don't define me. I am who I am because of the things I say and do, the things I think and feel… Not because of the length or luster of my hair.
"Sakura-chan, you look so pretty!" Naruto exclaims and scratches his cheek, bringing me into the present. I smile at him and reach for the wallet in my purse but Omoi waves it down.
"You don't have to pay," He says dismissively, unwrapping a sucker and sticking it in his mouth. I start to protest but he holds up his hand, "Consider it a get well gift."
"Thank you," I say after a bit of thought; I don't want people to pity me and give me free things just because of my cancer, but I don't think that's what he meant by it. When I tell him thank you I really mean it. Omoi took what I thought would be a dreadful experience and helped me make it okay… It was pleasant, even.
"You just make sure you come back, okay?" He asks and squeezes my shoulder. I tell him I will.
With Naruto on my side, a new haircut, and a new outlook on my situation, we exit the salon.
I'm thankful to be getting home, I can feel sleep sneaking up on me. And I definitely wouldn't want to fall asleep driving Naruto home.
. . .
Sasuke Uchiha sits at the end of the bench, eyes closed and arms folded. He can't believe the nerve of Ino, dragging him to a dress shop.
"How about this one?" Ino asks for about the twelfth time.
Sasuke answers without opening his eyes, "It looks good, can we go?" As he rubs the bridge of his nose like he has a headache, he senses a shoe coming his way. He snaps open his eyes and ducks. It slaps the wall behind him. Ino glares at him, one foot bare.
"Would you stop that?" Ino fumes, the periwinkle dress falling just below her knees, "This is for Sakura. We both know she's not going to buy a dress herself. And since we're the same size, this is the only way we'll be able to get her one." She turns to her reflection, studying the dress and the way it moves when she swishes it back and forth. Sakura would like this, right?
"Maybe she doesn't want to go," Sasuke says, standing up and putting his hands in his pockets, "You ever think of that?"
"This is Sakura we're talking about, Sasuke," Ino rolls her eyes and crosses her arms.
"Yeah, but she's changed since she's been diagnosed," Sasuke argues. Ino rolls her eyes.
"Of course she's changed! She has Leukemia," She almost shouts, several heads turn their way.
"Would you keep your voice down?" Sasuke hisses, looking around the dress shop with narrowed eyes for someone they might know. He may not be talking to Sakura but he definitely doesn't want her secret to be revealed.
"I'm just saying that she may be changing, but I know she'll regret not going; she's wanted this since we were in grade school," Ino informs him and inspects the dress more closely in the mirror, deciding on whether or not it would compliment Sakura's hair.
Oh, wait.
A feeling of guilt grows in her stomach, maybe Sasuke's right? What if she doesn't want to go? If Ino had to go to prom bald, she really doesn't think she would be able to, especially since her hair means as much to her as Sakura's hair means to Sakura.
Sasuke sighs and tilts his head to the side in annoyance, glaring out of the shop window and out into the busy mall. His black eyebrows furrow when he sees a flash of pink moving through the crowd. It couldn't be.
He gets closer to the window to get a better view and sure enough it's Sakura. But why the hell is she here? Shouldn't she be home?
"Ino, look," Sasuke calls and Ino comes up from behind him, curious as to what he's seeing. She gasps when she sees Sakura strolling hand in hand with a boy.
"Sakura?" She gasps, "What is she doing here? Why the hell is her hair so short? Who's that boy she's with?" Ino fumes, her blonde hair falling out of its ponytail in disarray. Sasuke jerks back in surprise, she's with someone?
"What? Who?" He asks, turning back to window. Anger leaks into his voice, he can't explain why the idea of her being with another boy infuriates him… It just does. He only catches a glimpse of the back of the boy's head before they're swallowed by the crowd.
He turns back to Ino, knuckles white. He expects her to be angry but she just looks lost and sad, blue eyes gazing blankly at the ground.
"Why didn't she tell me she was cutting her hair?" She asks, wrapping her arms around herself. She and Sakura have told each other everything since they both got over Sasuke and became best friends again. The idea of Sakura having some boy and some part of her life kept a secret from her hurt Ino.
Sasuke hadn't even realized that she'd cut her hair until Ino mentioned it, but now he felt another hot whip of panic. Sakura had grown her hair out for him when they were younger, believing he liked long hair. (Which was a rumor because he really hadn't thought about girls much when he was younger.)
When he was younger he thought of her as just another annoying, scheming fangirl who would drool over him any time he left the sanctuary of his house. They were put together as partners in middle school on several occasions (much to Sasuke's chagrin and Sakura's excitement) and they ended up getting to know each other. When he got older he found it useful to have a girlfriend, and she was his first choice. Although she was annoying, she was the least annoying of all the girls who pined after him.
And now Sakura, his ex-girlfriend and the girl who he thought would always be his to take whenever he pleased, was getting over him. When he had learned of her cancer he had felt foolish and angry; he had believed he had all of the time in the world to let her squirm without him. He hadn't taken a life shattering event into account.
Now she's cut her hair! The idea is... baffling to him. Of course he knew that she would lose it eventually, but he didn't expect her to let it go so abruptly. Without a second thought.
...She really has changed since they broke up.
Also who the hell was that boy with the blonde hair? He looked about as tall as Sasuke, and she seemed perfectly at ease with the guy.
"Put that back. We need to do something," Sasuke orders Ino, who nods and is about to enter the changing room when a couple of voices enter the store and she freezes, recognizing them.
"I don't know," A girl squeaks, "I think I want something more modern."
"No way, you need something longer and more traditional," Another, more nasally voice pipes up. "What do you think, Karin?"
Karin! Ino glares daggers at the group and snorts when she watches Sasuke pull his hood over his head and sneak around the group and out the door, for it would mean certain doom if he was seen by fangirls like them in a dress store. She pulls the dressing room curtain back, entering the room. She'll deal with them later.
"Anything will look fine," Karin sighs, not wanting to argue. Honestly, she just wants to get a dress and get out. This attitude doesn't go unnoticed by her friends.
"What is with you lately?" Her friend Yokoi snaps, "You don't want to hang out, and you don't even care about prom dresses?" She shakes her head and the other two groupies gasp and look between her and Karin, shocked. None of them have ever spoken to Karin like that.
"I do care about prom dresses! When did I ever say I didn't?" Karin cries, face turning red.
"Oh, I don't know, maybe when you rescheduled our shopping trip 4 times in the past week?" Yokoi doesn't back down at Karin's death glare, in fact she even seems to grow more confident.
"I've been busy!"
"Yeah, right! Doing what? Moping around?" The girl says, her sharp grey eyes narrowing. "What happened to you that made you like this?"
Karin stumbles, she can't just say that she found out some disturbing news that unhinged her mental and social health. Sakura has cancer and she's shopping for dresses, knowing that she has the whole election in the bag? What fun is that? It's not fun at all, in fact it's the opposite. She's considered dropping out of the race several times.
But what does she say to these three girls? These "friends" of hers?
"It's none of your business, and how dare you talk to me like this!" Karin pulls herself up until she's taller than Yokoi and jabs a finger out toward her. Yokoi flinches.
"I-I'm sorry," She says, backing down. Karin allows herself to relax a little, knowing that her friends aren't the kind to push her.
"Good. Now, Harumi you should go for a more modern dress. It'll match your new shoes," Karin comments and her friends sigh in relief, glad their friend is back.
Karin is fine for now, she just needs to keep this up until she figures out something to do.
. . .
It's almost dark when I pull into the hospital parking lot, the sun sinking beneath the horizon. I park and turn my car off, struggling to stay awake. At least it's stopped raining, I notice.
"Thank you for today, Sakura-chan," Naruto speaks up, watching me from his side of the car.
"No problem." I rub my eyes and nod.
"Are you sure you're okay to drive home like this?" He asks, concerned.
"I'm perfectly okay... I'll stop and get a coffee on the way," I assure him, he worries too much.
"We should do this again," He suddenly becomes nervous, "Because I had a really good time, and your hair looks beautiful. Well your hair looked beautiful before, you always look beautiful." He's babbling now and judging by the look on his face, he knows it. A giggle escapes me and he snaps his mouth shut in embarrassment.
"Thank you, Naruto. I had a good time, too... And thank you for helping me out with my hair," I add as an afterthought, remembering how supportive he was. I doubt I could have actually gone through with cutting it without for him. In fact, I don't know where I'd be today if it weren't for him. He's helped me through a huge stage in chemotherapy.
"You're welcome. I'll see you later?" He asks, eyes shining. I smile back, looking out at the hospital. I feel sorry for him and I wish he could just come home with me... But not in that way! I just wish he had a place to stay that wasn't full of nurses and sick people. Wait... My house is full of sick people too. Oops. Well, he'll be fine until I can rescue him again, and tomorrow is Saturday and I think I might just invite him over.
"Yes, you definitely will," I say and nod my head, he smiles and slides out of the car. He waves at me until I turn the bend and make my way home.
I arrive at home and still have a smile on my face when I reach my front door. As I open it I notice someone sitting on my couch. I have to catch myself on the door so I don't fall over in shock.
"Mom?"
Ohhhhh snap. Is this my 7th chapter? Ahhhh I don't even know… I'm a failure of an author.
Thank you to all who have reviewed. I'm going to try and start replying to reviews, because it just makes me so happy that you guys take the time to review.
I might even answer some questions ;D
