A/N: e.o Don't worry, the next chapter (this chapter) was going to be narusaku-filled anyways.


Chapter Ten

Sakura.

Bored, I trudged my feet along the sidewalk. The warm breeze felt light and cherry blossoms were blooming in a few trees. I glanced up at the cherry blossom trees.

They're so beautiful.

The tiny petals of the pink flowers gracefully fell to the ground.

And they only bloom during spring.

The best season of all.

I sighed. Too bad that spring was a very short season.

I closed my eyes as I stopped walking and touched the tree trunk of a cherry blossom tree.

A few days had passed since Sai arrived and ever since then, he spent most of his time being out, being. . . who-knows-where? And so far, we've only been on one date. And on that date, he seemed very. . .distracted. He definitely wasn't enjoying himself and his mind seemed to keep wandering away. I tried to start conversations with him but he simply replied in no more than three words. It was like talking to a wall, basically. He'd never been that way before. He was always so enthusiastic on our previous dates, and he was usually the one starting conversations. He was usually the one to take the initiative.

I sighed.

Does it have something to do with Ino?

"Sakura?"

My eyes fluttered open and my heart skipped a beat as my thoughts were interrupted by an awfully familiar voice. I turned and saw the blond knucklehead. His cerulean blue eyes were widened and his eyebrow was raised.

"Are you like. . .trying to communicate with the tree or something?"

I twitched.

"Idiot!"

BONK!

"Ow!"

–

Naruto.

"Ugh, you didn't have to hit me. . ." I grumbled as I rubbed the back of my head.

"Pfft," She humphed as she crossed her arms across her chest and turned her head away from me very childishly. "I wouldn't have had to hit you if you didn't say something so stupid."

I couldn't help but grin a little.

We continued walking along under the cherry blossom trees.

What's with me and bumping into people these days?

But my idiotic thought was interrupted as I saw an ice cream stand.

I turned to the still-ticked-off Sakura.

"Hey, let's get ice cream," I suggested.

"I don't want any," She replied stubbornly.

I shrugged. "Suit yourself."

I walked over to the stand and got a triple scoop of cookies n' cream sprinkled with chocolate cocoas with a dash of raspberries and bananas.

I returned to her, licking my ice cream.

"Mmm," I said playfully, trying to make her jealous. "The creaminess, it's so good. It just melts in - "

"Oh shut up," She interrupted, but then she giggled.

I smiled as we continued walking along.

Her long pink hair hung over her shoulders like a curtain and her jade eyes seemed to sparkle a little more than before. Before, when she slowly turned to me, her eyes were dull and sad. Now, they seemed lively and excited.

I turned away from her.

Why is she here alone? Where's Sai?

I glanced down at my ice cream that didn't seem so appetizing anymore.

Probably. . .with Ino?

Damn, that Ino. . .

A few days ago when I bumped into Sai and Ino at Ichiraku Ramen, Ino shot me so many glares all day that I almost ditched them. But I didn't. The reason I tagged along was simple – just to annoy them. And also, I wanted to see how close they've gotten and they've gotten pretty close.

The two of them were constantly laughing and whispering – it was almost kind of... sweet. And believe me, it's not everyday when I say that a romantic scene is sweet. Usually, I call it cheesy or cliché.

I turned back to Sakura.

I wondered how she'd feel if she knew about that. . .about how. . .happy he looked when he was with Ino. Sure, he looked happy when he was with Sakura too, but his eyes actually sparkled when he was with Ino. He was livelier, happier, more energetic...

"Um. . ."

I turned to see Sakura who was eyeing my ice cream.

She blushed a little and pointed at my ice cream. "Is it. . .is it good?"

I smirked. "Why? Do you want some of this creamy goodness?"

She blushed even more as she glared at me. "NO! I was just asking... you know what? Forget it."

Then, she quickly turned away.

I chuckled as I pushed my ice cream right under her nose.

"Try some," I offered.

She pushed my arm away. "No, I don't want any."

"Damn, you're stubborn. You know you want it."

"Do not."

"Do too."

"Do no - "

But I interrupted her by popping a small piece of a banana dipped in ice cream in her mouth while it was open.

She swallowed the piece then scowled. "I said I didn't want any. . ."

I shrugged and grinned at her.

I decided that today, I'd cheer her up. After all, if Ino thinks she could steal Sai, then, I could probably steal Saku -

Wait a minute, what am I thinking?!

"Naruto," She suddenly said. Her eyes hard as she glanced up at me.

"What?" I asked as I finished up my second scoop of my ice cream.

"Take me somewhere."

I raised an eyebrow. It was a command, but her voice made it sound like she was begging. Begging me to take her anywhere. It was as if she was begging me to make her stop thinking about... him. I could tell that she was hurting and that she wanted to just forget him for a while.

I gazed at her sad, longing face. "As you wish."

–

"You took me here?" She asked as she opened my coke can.

We were on the school rooftop, and soon the sun would be setting.

I shrugged as I chugged down my coke can. I almost coughed from chugging it down too much. "Is there something wrong with that? I thought you loved sunsets and sunrises... and the school rooftop."

"I do. I was just asking," She quickly replied as she sipped her coke.

We were silent for a moment as we just both gazed into the scenery.

"Naruto. . ." She softly said.

I turned to her. "What now?"

I tried to act as if I was annoyed and uninterested in whatever she had to say, but the truth was, I was drinking in her every word. I wanted to know every little thing she had to say no matter how unimportant it was.

"What's your dream?" She asked.

My heart skipped a beat. "Eh? Dream?"

"Yeah...like what do you want to do when you grow up."

Pause.

"I don't know. . ." I lied.

The truth was, I had a dream. . .but the dream was so impossible. . .and she wouldn't understand, also, if I told her my dream, I'd have to tell her about my family, my dad. . .

"You're hiding something," She pointed out.

I stopped myself from looking surprised. How did she know? Was I that easy to read?

"I'm not hiding anything," I lied again.

She leaned over to me.

"Li-ar," She teased as she flicked my forehead.

I winced as I rubbed my forehead.

"Tell me your dream," She pressed.

I looked away. "You'd laugh."

She raised an eyebrow. "Nuh uh."

I glanced back at her.

Pause.

"Tell me your dream first," I said even though I already knew it.

She sighed as she rolled her eyes. "Fine. I want to be a doctor when I grow up – a really good doctor so that I could help people. . .I always wanted to help people. . .and anyways you already knew that. Remember I told you when you were um – well. . .when I took you in when you were badly injured?" She asked. "Speaking of that, why were you so badly injured?"

I rolled my eyes. "You're nosy."

"Mm. . .I like to know about my friends, you know. And you. . ." She looked at me in the eye. "I hardly know anything about you except that you're a knucklehead, dumbass, do reckless crap, and has an average of a F-."

I chuckled. "That's enough to know about me."

She shook her head. "No it's not.. why won't you tell me anything?"

I chugged down some more coke.

"Sakura, it's not important. . ." I mumbled.

I haven't told a single soul about my whole past or my dream. No one asked me anyways. The only one who knew most about me was Sasuke and even he didn't know everything. All my life, I'd always been secretive about myself. I always wore this fake smile, fake laugh when inside, I was dying. After my parents passed away, I didn't receive any attention whatsoever from anyone except Sasuke. And Sasuke. . .well, he's not the type to care or give attention to someone heartily. He always cared for people in his own secret way. That's when I began to pull pranks, make loud mouthed jokes to receive attention even though the attention wasn't. . .good attention.

She finally gave up after that and we fell into another silence.

The sun set and darkness was soon taking over the sky, soaking everything in a lighter navy blue color.

I yawned as I stretched.

"We should get going... besides, I'm hungry," I said as I headed towards the door.

"Me too, let's go get something to eat!" She said eagerly as she followed after.

"Ramen."

"Whatever. Anything's fine."

I placed my hand on the knob of the door and tried to turn it.

A slight pang of panic shot through me though when the knob wouldn't turn.

Panicking, I tried to turn the knob again and again, but it wouldn't budge.

"It's. . .it's. . .locked. . ." I said hoarsely.

Pause.

"What?!"

A/N: Where am I going with this? You'll see :P