Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.

Not a Fairy Tale

"So Sakura, what were you doing upstairs?" Tsunade asks me as we're washing dishes in the kitchen after dinner. "There was a lot of shuffling and some banging as well."

"Nothing much. Just cleaning some stuff up." More like I was washing and she was drying.

"Oh? What kind of stuff?"

"Just old stuff…"

Her face clouds with worry.

"Sakura-" she begins but the door bell rings.

I've just been saved by the bell. Literally.

"I've got it!" I say, finishing the last dish and rushing out to answer the door. Behind me Tsunade makes a frustrated noise and I know she's probably going to castrate whoever's interrupted us. I, on the other hand, am fully prepared to give that person a life time's supply of chocolate.

"Hey, Saks." Kiba says leaning all over the door, acting like he owns it.

"Hey, Kiba." I say, and my eyes go wide because I've just noticed the hugest dog I've ever seen standing right next to him. All I can do is point with my mouth gaping open.

He grins.

"This is Akamaru. Akamaru say hi to Sakura!"

He arfs and walks over to me. He's not as big as I thought he was. He's up to my knee, but that's a lot smaller than I first thought he was. He's cute and I can't help but fall in love with him.

I guess there is such a thing as love at first sight.

"Hi Akamaru!" I coo, and start scratching him behind his ears. He drools and licks my face.

"I think he likes you."

"I think I like him too."

Tsunade walks towards the door. Frowns. Then walks away, saying, "I really don't want to know. But Kiba you're going to pay for interrupting the conversation I was trying to have with Sakura."

"Um…Okay? But as a consolation for the future pain you are going to cause me, can I take Sakura to the park with me and Akamaru?"

"Fine." Tsunade yells from the stairs, "But I want her back by ten. You both have to go to school tomorrow."

"Sweet! Thanks!"

"Don't get to comfortable Kiba, because if she's home anytime before or after ten. I'm going to call your father. Have fun you two!" She comes back and all but shoves us out the door.

"I think I should have had a say in that."

"Well too bad."

I stick my tongue out at him.

"Was she serious about calling my dad?"

"Yeah."

I start banging on the door.

"Why are you banging on the door?"

"I need my keys and phone."

A second later Tsunade opens the second floor window and chucks my keys and phone at me.

"Go away!" She yells and slams the window shut.

Kiba just watches amused.

"Not a word of this, alright?"

"Sure, Saks, whatever you say."

I glare at him.

"Let's just go."

So we head silently to the park, side by side. I can't help but notice that it's all gray and misty outside. Like it's going to rain again soon. It's been raining all week.

We turn and reach a familiar path. I've taken this path so many times. It's the same path that I took when my parents were alive.

"Park, park, park! Sakura lighten up, we're going to the park!"

"Naruto I am…lightened! It's the park! There's a slide and swings! Sasuke's the one who needs to lighten up."

"Naruto don't even start with me."

When we reach the entrance to the park, I can't help but flinch. It reminds me of the conversation I'd had with Sasuke a little while ago.

"So Sakura, tell me something about yourself?" Kiba asks out of the blue.

Akamaru had long since left us, opting to roll around in the wet grass.

"What do you mean?"

"Well all I know about you are rumors. I don't know much that's true."

I consider this for a moment. He's right. He doesn't really know much about me.

"So what do you want to know?"

"Your likes, dislikes, dreams for the future."

His eyes crinkle when he smiles. I didn't notice that before.

"You're starting to sound like Kakashi."

"Shh! Don't tell anyone but I'm Kakashi in disguise. I'm incognito."

I smirk. "Don't worry about me. How about we have a deal? I'll tell you about me, if you tell me about you because you still know more about me than I do about you."

"Alright, but one condition. No deep stuff. Deal?"

"Deal."

"So Sakura, why don't you start?"

"Okay…so dreams for the future…I'm not really sure. I used to want to be a doctor, but I kind of don't want to anymore."

"Why not?"

"Deep stuff."

"…Ok, this is an exception. There's always an exception to every rule."

"Fine. It reminds me of my mom. She was a doctor."

"They you should stay with that Saks. Some day you'll thank me for telling you this, because no matter how much it'll hurt in the beginning, it'll be worth it in the end. You'll end up feeling closer to your mom."

"How do you know?"

"Cuz mine was a groomer. A dog groomer. She loved animals, and even though it hurt at first, I'm doing it on the weekends. Grooming dogs, I mean. And I have Akamaru. It helps me remember my mom. What she was like."

I smile at him. I'm still not sure, but maybe I will become a doctor. I'm definitely considering it again. I don't tell him this but I've been considering it since I met him.

"Okay. Dislikes. You're turn to start Kiba."

He scrunched his nose. "Cats."

"Cats?"

"Cats."

I snigger. "I think maybe you're just afraid of them."

"Saks! Have you seen those things? They are evil."

"Sure. That's why they're so fluffy."

"Exactly! It hides their true intentions."

"…Okay…"

"Well fine then, Miss Smarty Pants. Why don't you use that big brain of yours and tell us all what you dislike."

"Sakura you're so smart. Just like that stupid boyfriend of yours. Well actually…he's more of a know it all…But that's not the point."

"What is the point Naruto?"

"Um…I forget, but it involved me sweet-talking you into getting Sasuke to buy me ramen."

"Idiot."

"I dislike a lot of things."

"Like?"

"…Blood. I dislike a lot of blood. And I dislike darkness."

"Sweet! Okay, likes? I wanna go first for this one!" I give him a look. Not only did he just move on from what I said in two seconds flat. But he managed to change the subject and irritate me all at once…

Kind of like what Naruto used to do…

"You went first last time!"

"You went first last time, Naruto."

"Too bad!"

His tongue sticks out.

"Too bad!" He sticks his tongue out at me. "What was I saying again?"

"Likes?"

"Oh, yeah! Dogs. I really like dogs. Like Akamaru. Only I love him. Okay, your turn!"

"That's it?"

"Yup. Well there's more but you know…Deep stuff."

"Liar."

"I know. Your turn. Go!"

"Okay. I like the rain."

"The rain? Why?"

"I didn't question why you liked dogs!"

"Well, yeah, but my love for dogs is pretty obvious."

"Because no one knows that you're crying."

He's quiet for a moment and he leads us to the swings. We both plop down.

"People say I'm like the rain."

He looks at me. He's confused.

"I'm all washed out and I do that too. Wash things out. Like, you know, them…"

He rocks a little bit, back and forth, but I start to actually swing.

"I've got another dislike." He says.

"What is it?"

"When people are sad. Got another dislike?"

"Fairy tales."

"Why?"

"Because they're nothing but lies. False hopes and false promises of happy endings."

"And you don't believe in happy endings, Sakura?"

"I stopped believing in happy endings a long time ago."

"What about fairy tales?"

"Them too. I stopped falling for them a long time ago."

He's quiet again. But then he whistles. A long piercing sound.

"Come on. We've been out here for three hours, and I only have twenty minutes to get you home."

Akamaru arrives just then, and I realize the whistle was a signal for him to come to Kiba.

"Let's go."

We walk home slowly, and when we reach the porch, we've still got five minutes left."

"Sakura, you're just like the rain."

"Wh-"

"Here me out. You're just like the rain because after the rain comes and washes everything out, it begins everything anew. It gives everything a fresh start. It washes away all the grime and dust that make up bad thoughts and replaces those thoughts with the homey feeling of something good happening."

"Kiba…"

"You should go in now Saks. It's ten and I would really appreciate it if Tsunade didn't call my Dad."

"Bye Kiba." I whisper and head in.

"Right on time. Damn. I was really hoping he'd be at least a minute late. Or early."

"Good night." I call and head right up the stairs. Being with Kiba had made me forget about what I'd been doing before dinner. Now that I was in the house it came back to me with a sense of urgency.

On my bed, in my room, right where I'd left it was the half folded piece of crumpled up paper.

"I made it when I was little. It's very special to me."

I grabbed it, suddenly not wanting to wait anymore.

"Like ripping off a band aid."

I just wanted to get it over with.

Sakura's Princess Wishes

Please do not read my princess wishes unless I say you can.

Princess wish number one:

I wish for my whole family to love each other and be happy forever.

Princess wish number two:

I wish for my friends and me to always be friends forever.

Princess wish number three:

I wish for nothing too bad to happen.

Thank you princess wish granter for at least listening to my wishes.

-Sakura Haruno

The words begin to smudge and I wonder why.

I wonder why my face is all wet.

And then I realize that I'm crying.

"These are good princess wishes Sakura!"

I cover my mouth to muffle the sobs.

I was mean I withheld this chapter!

You have no idea how many times I was called mean or jerk in my reviews for my threat. It warms my heart to know you all care.

But I didn't really withhold this chapter. I just sorta forgot about my history project and so I was doing that…In fact I'm going to finish that up right after I post this chapter.

So thanks to all of my loyal reader (who no matter how angry they are at me) review.

REVIEW CUZ MY THREAT IS STILL IN PLACE!