Disclaimers: I do not own Naruto… it would be cool if I did though… 3
Chapter 10: Realization… Happily Ever After???
Sakura slowly opened her eyes, and as she saw the small rays of sunlight, seeping into the darkness of the room, she sat up from her bed and stretched out her arms.
Sakura looked at the small clock on her bedside table, it was almost 6 am. She let out a small yawn and quickly got out of bed. As soon she had a change of clothes and was completely ready, she went down the stairs and walked into an empty kitchen.
As she scanned the vacant room, she couldn't help but notice the shinning of the wood of the table, and the neatly pushed in chairs. She moved her hand along the glimmering tiles, and smiled. "I guess oka-san couldn't leave without tidying the place up…"
Sakura took one more look around the house, and went out, making sure to lock the door before she left. As she slowly walked down the road, she couldn't help but think about her parents; how they were doing right now, whether or not they had reached the sand country. Sakura hated to admit it, but she did miss them, despite all their lack of affection towards her. That's right, yesterday night, they both allowed her to stay here in Konoha, here, with Naruto, Ino, and everyone… especially Sasuke. Even though her parents were disappointed with her decision, they still allowed her to stay.
Sakura turned on the corner and walked towards Ino's house, she still had an hour before she'd have to meet her team. Sakura smirked. Ino would be so surprised to still see her here. In fact, everyone would, except for Sasuke, of course.
Sakura jumped on the tree beside Ino's house. She quietly opened the window and entered Ino's room. As soon as her feet made contact with the hardwood floor, a kunai found itself on her neck. Sakura froze. And as soon as the pressure on her neck had receded, she turned around and saw a very shocked Ino.
"S-Sakura?" Ino stuttered, "W-what are you doing here?" she couldn't believe her eyes, was a genjutsu cast upon her? Ino shook her head and immediately shut her eyes. "Okay, when I open my eyes, she'll be gone, I just know it."
Ino's eyes slowly fluttered open, and when she looked ahead of her, she could still see Sakura there, standing in her room, right in front of her.
"Ohayo, Ino…" Sakura greeted.
A small tear escaped Ino's eyes, "Sakura!" Ino happily cried, and jumped on her friend. A loud thud was heard from the floor below.
"Ahh!" Sakura screamed as she tried to get out from under her friend's grip, "Ino, get off of me! You're acting like I died or something!"
Ino finally let go of Sakura and grinned from ear to ear as she started her talking spree, "You're here, I can't believe it! How? Why? What happened? What abo-"
Sakura cut her friend, "Ino, calm down!" she laughed, "I'll tell you, don't worry!"
The two friends sat down on Ino's bed and started one very long conversation…
--
Sasuke leaned on the railing of the wooden bridge and watched Naruto slowly walking towards him; his hands were in his pockets and he was staring down at the ground.
By the time Naruto reached Sasuke, he looked up at the raven-haired boy, "Ohayo… teme…" he greeted him in a sullen voice.
Sasuke smirked, "Dobe," he just leaned on the railing and continued to stare at the sky, a peaceful aura surrounding him.
As Naruto noticed Sasuke's actions, he immediately balled his hand into a fist, "Teme!" he shouted, "I can't believe you, Sakura's gone and you act like you don't even care!"
Sasuke just looked at Naruto, "You'll understand soon, dobe…" he simply said.
"Understand?" Naruto scoffed, "I don't get why you even seem happier now that she's gone!" Naruto gripped Sasuke's collar, "After everything she told you, all her feelings for you, you still don't care!"
Naruto was about to punch Sasuke when he heard someone calling their names, it was very distant and soft, but he still heard it. When Naruto turned his head to see who it was, he immediately let go of Sasuke and stared in disbelief.
"Ohayo, Sasuke-kun, Naruto!" Sakura cheerfully called. By the time she reached the two boys, Naruto stared at her like he saw a ghost.
"Naruto, will please stop looking at me like that," she pouted, "You're scaring me… you look like you saw a ghost."
Naruto's eyes were as wide as saucers, he was completely speechless… he lifted his trembling hand and pointed at Sakura, "S-Sasuke… I-it's S-Sakura's ghost… it's here to haunt us because you never told her your feelings! Ahhh! Run!!!!" Naruto screamed.
The idiot was running around in circles until Sasuke hit his head, "Dobe, that's really Sakura…"
Naruto immediately stopped complaining about the pains on his head and looked at Sakura once more. Naruto looked at the smiling Sakura and cautiously walked towards her. He looked at her suspiciously, poked her from shoulder to shoulder, and pinched her cheek.
"Oww!" Sakura screeched and hit Naruto one more time on the head, "Naruto-baka, what are you thinking! Do you want a poor girl to get bruises on her beautiful skin?"
Naruto stared at Sakura and realized it was their Sakura-chan. The young boy grinned, "Sakura-chan's back!" he squealed, "Yay! Sakura-chan's back!" the blonde boy kept on shouting. He hugged Sakura really tight and turned around in circles with her, until you could see stars circling around her head.
Naruto abruptly stopped when he felt a strong hit on his head. He quickly let go of Sakura and gripped his head, "Ow… teme… what was that for?" the boy whined.
Sasuke had an annoyed look on his face, "What makes you think you can hug my girlfriend?" he coldly replied, looking away from both of them.
Naruto's mouth literally fell out, and Sakura's emerald eyes widened near the size of her forehead, "What?" they asked in unison.
"Teme, when did this happen?" the fox-boy grinned, "I didn't know you had it in you, teme, come on… tell me… when!" he pleaded, his curiosity taking over him, he nudged Sasuke until his veins started to pop.
Sasuke looked at Naruto, "It's none of your business," he glared.
Just then, a puff of smoke was seen and Kakashi appeared in front of his students.
"Yo," he greeted, waving at his students. He looked from left to right. He stared at his pink-haired student and blinked. He blinked for the second time, and after the third time, he waved at Sakura, "Yo, Sakura, it's good to see you're still here."
Sakura gave her teacher an enthusiastic look, "It's good to see you too, sensei."
Just then, Sakura's sweet look turned into one of a devil's, "But sensei… you're late!" Sakura roared.
Kakashi laughed nervously, "Ano, well, you see I was on my way here when I saw a little cat stuck on the highest top of a very tall tree and I couldn't leave it there, so I helped the little cat get down."
"Liar!" Sakura and Naruto shouted in unison.
Kakashi coughed to get his student's attention, "Well, just so you know, today, you have a day off," he finally said.
"What!" his two loud students exclaimed, "You make us wait this long to tell us we have a day off!"
Kakashi grinned, "Well, it's not my fault you came too early, so there you have it, see you all tomorrow!" and with that he disappeared.
Sakura sighed, "Well, what do we do now? We've got a day off…"
Naruto suddenly became silent and thought for a while, "Let's go to Ichikaru and eat ramen!" he announced.
"There's a place I'm going to go to," Sasuke stated, "Are you coming, Sakura?" he asked the pink-haired girl as he started to walk towards the opposite direction from his friends.
Sakura stared at Sasuke and smiled, "Of course I am," she then looked back at Naruto, "Ja ne, Naruto, see you tomorrow!" she quickly waved at him and ran towards Sasuke to keep up with his pace.
The two walked in silence as they passed by many people, and by the time they reached an empty street, Sakura broke the silence.
"Hey, Sasuke-kun," she asked, "Were you serious about what you said a while ago?"
Sasuke looked at Sakura, "What I said about what?"
Sakura looked down at the ground and blushed, "W-when you s-said that I was y-your g-girlfriend," she stuttered.
Sasuke continued to look in the direction they were going, "Of course."
Sakura looked at the road they were on, "Ano, Sasuke-kun," she called for his attention.
"Hn?"
"Where are we going? This isn't the way to the town," she noticed.
"I know," he simply replied.
"Then where are we going?" Sakura asked.
"You'll see," Sasuke replied.
After a few more minutes of walking down the same street, Sakura abruptly stopped as Sasuke entered the gate of a strange looking house, "Sasuke-kun, where are we?"
Sasuke turned around and held his hand out towards Sakura, "Are you scared? Don't worry I'm right here," he smirked.
Sakura took his hand and allowed him to lead her into the house. As the two opened the door, they could see nothing but pure darkness beyond the door.
"S-Sasuke," Sakura nervously called him, "Whatever you're planning, you better stop, this isn't a funny joke…" she gripped his hand tighter as she started trembling; she hated the dark more than anything in the world.
Sasuke gently gripped her shoulders and slowly pushed her in, "Don't worry, I'm here, just walk forward okay?"
Sakura nodded, "O-okay," she slowly entered the house and as both she and Sasuke entered the dark room, the door suddenly closed tight behind them.
Sakura, startled, jumped from shock and immediately held on to Sasuke and shut her eyes tight. When the lights suddenly turned on, she heard a loud, shouting noise coming from behind her, and she slowly opened her eyes and saw all her friends in the room.
"Surprise!" everyone in the room shouted.
Sakura didn't know how to react to this, all her friends, were here, for her, they all really cared for her. Before she knew it, Ino, Hinata, and Ten Ten went up to her to talk.
"You guys, you didn't have to do this for me!" Sakura squeezed her friends tight, "I love you guys so much!"
Ino returned her friend's hug, "Of course we would do this for you, you're like our sister, we would be devastated if you left us! It would feel as if we lost a member of our family."
As the seconds turned to minutes, and minutes into hours, Sakura couldn't help but smile at the scene around her. Everyone was laughing; everyone was content being in each other's presence. She watched as Naruto was being hit on the head by Ino. As Hinata and Ten Ten were giggling over a joke said by Rock Lee, and as everyone were playing games and just having the time of their life.
Sakura looked out the window and up into the dark sky; she couldn't help but be captivated by the mysterious beauty of full moon. "Niichan, I don't feel so alone anymore, even though your not here with me… though your not here to protect me or make me smile…
I used to have so many fears; I hated taking risks… especially without you…
You were somehow always there for me… and living life without you seemed impossible…
But now, I'm not afraid to face reality anymore, I'm not afraid to take the risk needed to reach my dreams. It took me a while to finally open my heart and see it, but I was never alone. There were always people who cared; those who love me and did everything they could to make me smile…"
"Sakura, Sakura!" Ino called, "Come here, let's take a picture!"
Sakura took one last glance at the moon, and walked towards her friends. And as soon as she reached them, Sasuke held his hand out to her.
Sakura took Sasuke's hand and smiled. "All right everyone, smile!" Ino cheered.
Sakura sat in the middle, and posed for the camera along with her friends, " It took me a while to realize it…but in the end, all I had to do was take the hands that reached out to me…Now all I need is to find a dream big enough for those important to my life… Someday, I'll find that perfect picture …"
"3, 2, 1… Smile!"
// No one said that life always had its happy endings… Some dreams aren't just made to come true… //
ShamanShadow here!!!! Ni hao ni men! I hope you guys don't hate me for updating soooo late… school was very hectic and my grades went down… sob… please bear with me as I am going to make changes in the plot! Love all those who review!
R&R Please! 3