Sasuke and Naruto walked ahead while Sakura lagged behind. She looked at the two figures in front of her. Naruto was walking in his usual posture of his hands behind his head. Sasuke was with his hands in his pockets, giving off an "I don't care" vibe. Sakura smiled for a moment. Seeing her old team together meant the world to her. When Sasuke left when they were younger, had left her heartbroken. It might have been just a simple crush at the time but she was willing to give up everything she had to be with her. And when he left her that day, it truly felt like he had ripped her heart out.
Then Naruto had gone out to train to become stronger to bring Sasuke back. Both of them had left her all alone. If it wasn't for your mentor, Tsunade, she doesn't know what she would have done.
Now Team 7 was finally back together, and Hinata was trying to rip them apart. Sakura didn't want to feel this anger towards her friend but she did. Sasuke had been her teammate not Hinata's, so why has she been asking to train with him?
What hurt Sakura more then that was the fact that Sasuke had accepted, multiple times. He was supposed to be training with her, getting closer to her. Their friendship would then blossom into something more. That's how she had been picturing it for so many years and Hinata was taking it all away from her.
She was the one that has loved Sasuke since their academy days. She was the one that was on his team, and she was the one willing to give up everything to leave with him. But she was also the one that he always ignored when they were kids, she was the one that he always had to protect, and she was the one that he left on the bench.
What Sakura didn't understand was what was so special about Hinata.
She never looked Sasuke when they were at the academy, she never talked to him when they went on missions, and she never wanted him back. But she was the one he never complained about, she was the one who he didn't need to protect, and she was the one who he was hanging with.
But all of this sadness and anger also gave Sakura a new feeling…understanding. She now understood how Hinata had been feeling for so many years. Hinata has had a crush on Naruto since they were small, maybe even before the academy. But Naruto has never noticed because he has always been chasing after her. Hinata stood there and watched day after day as Naruto would ask her out. Watch as he would give her those loving stares (which creeped her out) and watch as he would never give her the time of day. Now it's Sakura's turn to feel that way.
"HINATA! What are you doing here?"
Sakura looked up and saw that Naruto was waving towards Hinata. She waved back and started to walk over. As she got closer, Sakura noticed that she was wearing a cute white spaghetti strap sundress that stopped mid thigh, white sandals, and in her hair was a white flower. In other words, she looked beautiful.
Sakura glanced over at Naruto and Sasuke and from the look on their faces she knew they thought the same thing.
"Hi! I was just going for a walk. I wanted to stretch my legs after training with Sasuke."
"Dressed like that?" Leave it to Naruto to say things so bluntly. Sakura was about to knock him in the head but Hinata just giggled.
"Well, I didn't expect to see anyone. So what are you guys doing?"
"We are heading to meet up with Kakashi, Yamato, and Sai for some lunch." Naruto explained.
Hinata looked over to Sasuke with hurt in her eyes. "You didn't like my lunch Sasuke?"
"I'm just doing to hang. Care to join us?"
Both Sakura and Naruto's jaws dropped to the ground. Sasuke never asked anyone to hang.
"Sure. That sounds nice."
The four of them walked on. It was silent except for Naruto who wouldn't stop talking. Sakura wasn't really listening though. She was keeping her eye on Hinata.
Sakura had noticed that there had been a change in Hinata ever since Pein's attack. She was more relaxed. Didn't stutter as much. And she never fainted around Naruto like she use to. Almost everyone knew about what Hinata did when Pein attacked. How she had nearly died trying to protect Naruto and how Naruto went into a total rage when he thought she died. But Sakura didn't see how those things would change how Hinata acted.
At moment, as they were all walking, Sakura noticed how Hinata was walking in between Naruto and Sasuke. She was listening to every word Naruto was saying and giggling at all his jokes. No matter how bad they were. But that was nothing out of the ordinary. What was odd was the fact that Naruto was actually blushing…BLUSHING.
"When has Naruto ever blushed at Hinata?" Sakura thought.
"FINALLY! We're here!" Naruto practically yelled.
The group of four walked into the restaurant and looked around until they found the other members of Team 7 sitting at a table. They were all sitting on one side of the table. Naruto sat on one end of the bench with Hinata in the middle and Sasuke next to her. Sakura was left sitting on the edge.
Everyone was having a good time at lunch, except for Sakura. She was constantly glancing over at Sasuke, just hoping that he would look over at her, even if it was just once. But he never did. He was too busy looking at Hinata. Sakura looked down at her plate of food, letting out a small sigh. This did not go unnoticed by the copycat ninja.
Kakashi was giving his signature eye smile as he looked at the scene before him. Naruto was telling yet another story, Sai calling him dickless, Hinata blushing at the comment, Naruto yelling at him for the comment, and Sasuke looking bored at the whole thing. Then his acute hearing heard a small sigh coming from the end of the table. He looked over at his only female student. She was looking down at her plate and just moving the contents around with her chopsticks. He had noticed that she had been awfully quite through the entire lunch. And he wasn't sure on why.
Kakashi would have guessed that she would have been ecstatic about Team 7 having lunch together. Sasuke was finally back in Konoha. Isn't that what she has been wanting all these years?
Kakashi then saw her give Sasuke a glance and a light blush came onto her face. This didn't surprise him. She has had feelings for the Uchiha ever since he first met her. It was obvious that those feelings had not changed; in fact, they may have gotten even stronger. Kakashi then looked next to her. Sasuke was sitting there with the same old bored looked that he has had since he was a kid, but there was something different about him. There was a light in his eyes that wasn't there before. They use to be filled with revenge and blood lust, but now there looked like there was once again life in them. Like a glimmer of hope. But hope for what?
Kakashi noticed that Sasuke was putting all his attention on one person in particular, Hinata Hyuga. He hadn't taken his eyes off her once.
He looked over at the Hyuga Heiress. Although he has gone on multiple missions with her, he did not know her very well. She had been assigned to team 8 under Kurenai. She was an excellent tracker, phenomenal shinobi, and a kind hearted person. He also knew that she had a very strong crush on his most outgoing student. She was hanging on every word that came out of his mouth. Listening to everything and laughing at all of his jokes. And when he would look at her, a light blush dusted her cheeks. Not that Naruto noticed.
Kakashi turned his attention to the orange clad ninja. Out of all the members of team 7, Naruto had excelled in his training more than anyone. He had gone from the academy's worst student to Konoha's hero. Kakashi couldn't be more proud of him. And Kakashi knew that his own sensai would have been very proud of the ninja that Naruto has become.
But even though Naruto was know quite powerful, he still had a lot to learn. He still jumped into situations without thinking them through and he still need to work on his observation skills. Even after years, Naruto still did not notice the Hyuga's feelings. This could be because he still had his attention on Sakura. He would notice him glancing at her through the lunch. Although Kakashi couldn't help but notice it was a lot less then what it used to be. Usually when they were together for this long, Naruto would have asked Sakura out by now. Yet he had not. Instead he was talking to Hinata more than usual.
Kakashi looked at the scene before him once again, going over all the information that he had gathered just now.
"So let me get this straight... Hinata likes Naruto, but Naruto doesn't notice because he is too busy looking at Sakura. Sakura likes Sasuke but is upset because he isn't giving her any attention. Instead he keeps looking at Hinata…" Kakashi mentally laughed. "Oh if only you were still with us Jiraiya, a genius author like you would have made this scenario into such a great story. "
