Listen to My Story
Chapter 10: Birthday Party.
Sakura's POV
It was half past noon when we left the mall and went our separate ways. The dinner party started at seven, so I had six and a half hours before it started. We would've hung out longer to kill time, but Ino went ballistic when she found out the time, saying she didn't have nearly enough time to get ready.
Before we left, I'd bought a dress for the party. It wasn't one of the expensive one's from that dress store. Instead, it had been a dark green dress that had caught my eye in another store. It was cheap(-ish. My wallet was still sending back echoes when I talked into it, though) and decent (meaning that it didn't look like a royal gown from five centuries ago).
I put the bag that had the dress in it on my bedroom floor and took out a (shock!) book. I read the day away, and before I knew it, it was five already.
It would take me about forty-five minutes to get to Hyuuga Manor by foot, so I had about seventy-five minutes in prep time.
Which, honestly, was too much. So I took my time in the shower, and afterwards put my hair into its famous pigtails. I changed into my dark green dress that had spaghetti straps and went down to my ankles. Simple. And I wouldn't have it any other way.
I'd finished right on time. I put on comfortable black flats, grabbed Hinata-chan's present, and was about to leave when my mom stopped me.
"Honey!" she said. "Where are you going, all dressed up like that? God, Saku-Peary, you look great!"
"To my friend's birthday party," I answered. "It's a fancy dinner party at Hyuuga Manor."
"Oh!" she exclaimed. She was still surprised that I was friends with the heiress of such a rich family. "Hyuuga Manor, is it? Well then…stay right there, Saku-Peary! I have to go and get something."
I did as I was told, worried that I might be late. There were crashes and booms coming from my mom's room upstairs. The smoke detector went off after a questionable explosion noise.
Finally, she came down.
She stepped in front of me, smiling and wiping soot off of her face.
"Here," she said, holding out her hand. She obviously had something she wanted to give to me.
I held out my hand, and she dropped something cold and light into it.
I looked at it. It was a necklace. Not just any necklace, but a silver chain necklace. The silver chain necklace.
"Mom, this is…," my voice trailed off and I gazed at it, remembering.
I told myself to stop. I didn't want to remember.
Mom smiled. "Yes," she said gently. "It's the necklace that you gave me for my birthday."
"Which birthday was it again?" I asked her, trying to remember. "Wasn't it your-"
"You're just so cute!" she shouted loudly, thumping me on the back with every word. I winced.
I looked at the clock.
"Mom, I'm late. I need to go now," I said. I made to leave again, but her hand stopped me.
"I'll take you, Saku-Peary," she said. "I'll drop you off in the car. Just call me when it's time to pick you up."
"Okay," I said.
When I arrived at Hyuuga Manor, everybody was already gathered at the front gate.
"So these are your friends, Saku-Peary," she said as she gazed at them. She absentmindedly turned off the engine and got out of the car despite my protests.
I didn't want to be there when my mom embarrassed herself and me, but then again, I might be able to stop her if I was present.
So I reluctantly got out of the vehicle too, and walked over to them.
"Sakura-chan!" Hinata-chan cried out with joy, walking over to me and giving me a hug.
She looked stunning in a black ballroom gown-style dress.
I was too busy focusing on my mom to notice that Kiba was staring at my best friend like a zombie and two other someone's were staring at me.
"Is this Hinata?" my mom asked.
I sighed, and let go of Hinata-chan. "Yes."
"I'm Saku-Peary's mother," she said while bowing respectively. "Thank you for taking care of my baby girl for all of this time, all of you."
Hinata-chan bowed in response. "It's been my pleasure," she said.
My mom suddenly hugged her in a huge squeeze. "My God, sweetie, you are so cute!" she exclaimed.
Hinata-chan turned scarlet.
I pulled my mom off of Hinata-chan and said, "Don't kill her."
"Oh, I'm sorry," said mom. "I guess I'll go now since you obviously want your poor, hard worked mother to leave." She began sobbing into her hands.
Everyone looked shocked and awkward at this sudden outburst.
"That's correct," I said.
Mom uncovered her hands and turned to me. "Saku-Peary~!" she pouted. "You're making mommy feel lonely."
"I'm sorry," I replied in a monotone.
"Bye!" she said, beaming wildly. And with that, she left.
A maid lead us into the ballroom, (yes, they have a ballroom) where the dinner party was taking place. Several tables were scattered here and there, never entering the space obviously meant for (dare I think about it?) fancy ballroom dancing.
Hinata-chan opened my present before the party officially began.
"Oh, Sakura, I love it!" she said happily, gazing at the butterfly necklace I'd bought for her. "Thank you!" She hugged me.
We all sat at a table and commented on each other's clothes (actually, we all listened while Ino commented on our clothes), laughing, and doing what normal teenagers do in this kind of situation; gawk at all of the expensive/fancy stuff.
But even though I was laughing and gawking right along with them, my thoughts weren't on the party anymore.
They were in the place where I always told myself not to go, and always went to anyways.
Ever since mom had brought out the necklace, I'd been thinking about him. I couldn't help it. I couldn't forget him. Never.
"Sakura," Sasuke-kun said in that deep, beautiful voice of his. "Why did you come?"
I shifted around awkwardly in my dress. "Because…I was invited, so…," I kept looking down, never meeting his eyes.
"I thought you said you weren't coming," I heard him say. He mimicked me in a high-pitched, whiney voice. "'Sasuke-kun! I hate you! I'm not going to your birthday party anymore! Die, you Popsicle!' is what you said."
I finally chanced a look into his eyes. Dark onyx circles, mesmerizing as they were, they were cold. Chambers of ice I would never survive.
"W-well," I said, my voice rising in anger. "Sorry! But I really was angry at you! How could you have said something like that to Gaara?! What did he ever do to you?! He's always nice to people, and there you were, being so mean to him! I won't forgive you for that!"
I wasn't looking away from his eyes anymore, despite their iciness. I bored into them, searching for some hint of guilt. But, no. He never showed any of the emotions he was feeling. As expected of the Popsicle.
His hard expression softened a bit. "You don't have to forgive me."
I smiled. "Friends?"
"Friends," he nodded. "Dobe."
"Damn you, SASUKE-KUN!" I shouted at the top of my lungs. He laughed and ran, and I chased him, smiling.
This is how it should be, I thought. This should never change.
As the sun set, we settled down at his dining room table and sang Happy Birthday, then watched him blow all ten candles stuck into the icing out in one go. We clapped, and dug into our slices of cake.
"What did you wish for?" I asked him, spearing my entire slice onto the fork. I'd never been one for manners when it came to chocolate cake.
He stared at me for a while, for so long that I didn't think he'd answer, but then he said, "It's a secret. I bet you can't eat as much cake as I can!"
"Interesting," I said, grinning. "Alright, then. Let's go!"
Sasuke-kun and I had our cake-eating contest, and of course, he won.
I burped and giggled, happily stuffed with cake.
"Happy birthday, Sasuke-kun," I said. His parents and older brother, Itachi, all smiled.
"Thanks," he said.
Naruto's POV
Sakura-chan looked great tonight. That was all I could think about until about half an hour after she arrived. That's when I started noticing some thing about her, rather than what I saw.
Something that I've noticed about Sakura-chan is that she spaces out a lot. Especially when we're all together. It doesn't happen when it's just two or three of us (including her and me).
I couldn't help but wonder what she was thinking about. She just wasn't someone who you could read. Sakura-chan was too guarded for me to understand her way of thinking. She was complicated. It wasn't a good thing, but it wasn't a bad thing, either.
Of course, there are other things about Sakura-chan that I've wondered about, too. Like her hair. Is it really natural? And her eye patch. Why did she wear it? When did she start needing one? And why wouldn't she ever invite us over to her house? But for the most part, I thought that her thoughts seemed harder to guess.
I guess she's just a person full of mysteries, I thought.
The dinner party began, and we all got to get food. Sakura-chan only got a glass of water filled to the bring with ice. Someone was going to get a brain freeze.
"Aren't you hungry, Sakura-chan?" I asked her.
She shook her head. "I guess I just don't have much of an appetite today," she said.
Well, her appetite had seemed perfectly fine at the mall. She ate two tacos from Taco Bell, for ramen's sake.
Well, no wonder she isn't hungry. She must be stuffed, I concluded.
Once everybody had gotten food and sat down, Hinata's dad stood up and did all of that formal talk you're expected to do at a fancy party.
Hinata walked up to the front, and he announced her as the Hyuuga heiress. We all clapped, and dug in. Hinata had to eat with her dad.
Later, people got up to talk and dance. Neji and Tenten got together, and Ino threatened Shikamaru into dancing with her, too.
Poor guy, I thought.
Sakura-chan just sat and watched them go onto the dance floor.
I decided to ask her to dance, and I was walking towards her, but-
"N-Naruto-kun!" said a familiar voice.
I turned to see Hinata standing there, red in the face (did she have a fever?).
I smiled at her.
"What is it, Hinata?" I asked.
"W-" she stopped and tried again. "W-would you like to dance with me, Naruto-kun?"
I looked at Sakura-chan one more time. She was watching Shikamaru and Ino waltz awkwardly with each other.
Hinata looked at Sakura-chan too.
"Alright," I agreed. "Let's dance."
I offered her my arm, and she took it, beaming.
Sakura's POV
When Hinata-chan asked Naruto to dance, I could tell he'd looked at me. I pretended to pay attention to Shikamaru and Ino to try and push him in the right direction.
Dance with her, Naruto! I thought. She loves you so much! Come on, do it!
Luckily, he did.
I watched the two sweep onto the dance floor with everybody else.
A/N: That's the end of Chapter 10! Wow! 0.0 Double-digits already! 0.0 Well, anyways, hope you guys liked it! Please review! Because I like reviews! I'll give you a tart~! +.+ Yes, that's right! Come to the Tart Side!