Higanbana

Author's Note: This fanfic is cross-posted on AO3 under the penname Dementra.

Current pairings vote (FFNet & AO3):

Canon 2

None 5

(You can add main and side pairings to this list)

Chapter 8

Weeks after their first meeting, Naruto is still riding the high from having his very first friend. Sure, Sakura-chan is quiet, super smart, and prefers reading books over playing games, but she's still his friend. (That word still makes him grin whenever it comes up.)

After she learns that he doesn't know how to read or write, she immediately sits him down and forces him to learn. Not that he's complaining, of course! Much. Sakura-chan's his friend; and he will enjoy anything that they do together.

(Deep down, he's still afraid — afraid that this is all just a dream, that she will wake up and see him as a monster like everyone else; afraid that if he doesn't grasp onto every opportunity to be with her, to do the things she likes, she will eventually turn him away.)

He loves her smiles, especially the smiles that are made just for him when she's proud of him for doing something right. He also loves her quiet laughter and the way she prefers him over the other children (when it was always the other way around before). He loves how she never calls him dumb, unless in a teasing way, and how she patiently teaches him things when his stupid brain just simply refuses the remember the details. (Sakura-chan's really smart and knows nearly anything!)

In between their reading lessons, they also play games, like regular tag, blindfold tag, balloon tag, hide and seek, the quiet game, solving puzzles, people watch and more. Some of them are really boring, but she says that those are games that will help them become better ninja in the future. He doesn't really understand how, but he trusts in her knowledge.

He has never been happier since that day in the sandpit.

He loves her. He really does.