A/N: Let me start this with: I AM FREAKING-LY SORRY!!! I'm very sorry for the super long delay! Took me at least a year! I'm so so so so sorry. I wasn't able to use the PC too much meaning I can only use it for at most 30 min. I mean, how in the world can I write a story with that short time? Anyway, I'll try to take less time in updating stories, okie? Thank ya guys! Luv y'all!
I changed the spelling of my name. You simply have to take the "u" from the "shoujou". Alright people? Haha. My Name is "Kaze no Shoujo". Thank ya.
Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto, but if I ever did, Sakura and Sasuke are married now. Hahaha.
"Words Spoken"
'Thoughts'
(Author's notes)
Love Can Change Everyone
Chapter 14: Konoha no Shinobi to the Rescue!
Later that day, when Sakura woke up, Sasuke was reading her diary.
As she saw this, Sakura quickly stood up and snatched the diary away from his hands.
"What on earth are you doing?" Sakura asked.
Sasuke laughed and then shrugged. "I was bored so I looked around for something to do."
Sakura rolled her eyes as she put away her diary. "You're weird."
"Thank you." He simply answered.
He stood up and looked at his watch. "Well, it's about time I go home..."
"Yeah…" Sakura answered, suddenly remembering what happened to them a while ago.
Noticing this, Sasuke told her, "hey...umm...I'm sorry about a while ago...don't worry...umm...it doesn't mean anything...it was…umm...kind of an accident."
"Y-yeah…" she, somehow, stuttered.
There was an awkward silence before Sasuke decided to leave. Sakura bid him goodbye and Sasuke was off.
Next Day, the rest of the gang was so happy when they saw Sakura standing at their waiting place.
"Good morning Mrs. Uchiha" Ino grinned as Tenten and Hinata laughed. The boys simply grinned while each of them wrapped an arm around Sasuke's neck.
"Itai. ( ouch)" Sasuke simply mumbled, avoiding eye contact with Sakura.
"Since when did you two get married?" Neji grinned.
"We just told you to make a move. We didn't exactly mean 'go get married'." Shikamaru teased.
Sakura sighed. "It's Ms. Haruno and we did not get married."
Sasuke sighed too. "Yeah."
"Then why are you two avoiding eye contact?" Tenten asked. Neji nodded while letting go of Sasuke. He walked towards Tenten and hugged her.
"And that far away from each other?" Hinata silently added, a bit afraid that Sakura might get mad at her.
Indeed, Sakura and Sasuke were standing far away from each other.
"We're not." Sasuke said before immediately walking towards Sakura.
"Exactly." Sakura added. She looked at Sasuke as Sasuke looked back at her. They blushed a bit as they remember what happened yesterday. The rest of the gang simply stared at them with raised eyebrows. Tenten and Neji were still hugging while Ino and Shikamaru stood close to each other. His right arm was encircled around Ino's shoulders. Not wanting Hinata to feel too awkward, Ino held hands with her. After a few seconds, Sasuke and Sakura broke eye contact and held hands.
"See?" they both said, showing their entwined fingers. At the same time, they had the same thought in their mind, 'forget about what happened yesterday!'
"If you say sooooo" the gang sang.
"Come on lovers. We'll be late for school." Shikamaru said, shaking his head at the two of them. With that, they all headed towards school.
At school, during lunch break…
The Konoha no Shinobi were happily eating lunch with each other when suddenly, someone came running to the table next to them.
"oi Oi OI!!!" a guy shouted. "Did you guys hear about Temari and Shino??"
That grabbed the gang's attention. They thought that they were the only ones who knew about the two dating.
"If it's about the two of them going out, we already know that." A blonde girl said, grinning. The rest of those who were seating at that table nodded.
"no No NO!" the guy shouted once again.
"I hope he'll stop shouting in three words…" Ino muttered, getting irritated. Sakura laughed as she silently agreed. The others heard what Ino muttered and laughed too.
"Then what is it?!" the blonde returned.
"Theybrokeup!" the guy said in a jumble.
His friends stared at him, not understanding. So did the Konoha no Shinobi.
"…what?" the blonde asked.
The guy took a long, deep breathe and yelled, "THEY BROKE UP!!!!"
"WHAT?" the blonde exclaimed and that was echoed by the Konoha no Shinobi.
Sasuke, Neji, and Shikamaru were standing up, shocked by the news. Sakura, Hinata, Tenten, and Ino's jaw dropped slightly. That was enough to grab everyone's attention.
Slightly blushing in embarrassment, the gang calmed their selves and ignored the stares that everyone was giving them.
"What the heck?" Tenten whispered.
Neji, who sat beside her, said, "the two of them broke up?!"
"but…why?" Hinata whispered too.
"Didn't we just see them kissing and hugging…like…2 or 3 days ago?" Ino asked, totally confused.
Sakura, Sasuke, and Shikamaru stayed silent for a while. Then…
"do you think something happened between the two of them?" Sakura suddenly asked. The rest stared at her as if she was insane.
"…what?!" Sakura asked, slightly laughing at the way they looked at her.
"Sakura," Sasuke chuckled as he wrapped an arm around her shoulders. He just sat beside her anyway. "They wouldn't break up if nothing happened between them"
"You never know. They might be…I don't know…just playing with each other." Sakura shrugged.
Now it was Shikamaru's turn to chuckle. "Sakura, you saw how they kissed and hugged. Did they look like they were just playing with each other? Do you seriously think that they really hooked up for nothing and now that they got tired of each other, they broke up?"
Sakura turned to look at Shikamaru, who was sitting beside her too. Sasuke sat at her right, Shikamaru sat at her left, and Ino sat beside Shikamaru. Hinata sat in front of Sasuke while Neji sat beside her, meaning he sat in front of Sakura. Tenten sat beside him.
Shikamaru, arms crossed, looked back at Sakura. Then, Sakura broke into a smile, feeling kind of childish. She, the once mighty leader of a feared group in school, was being scolded by Shikamaru and Sasuke. Well, not exactly 'scolded' but the two boys were trying to make her see that Shino and Temari broke up for a reason.
Shikamaru smiled too and so did Sasuke. Then the three started laughing and soon the rest did the same. After a while, Shikamaru spoke up again, "Plus, I know Shino. He really loves Temari."
The gang fell silent, all thinking.
"Why don't we ask them, then?" Hinata suggested.
"That's a good suggestion!" Ino agreed, nodding. She grabbed Shikamaru's arm, uncrossed it and held onto it, slightly hugging it. Shikamaru simply smiled at her actions.
"It is." Neji agreed. "But there is one big problem."
Neji wrapped an arm around Tenten's waist, hugging her. Tenten nodded as she relaxed in his embrace. Hinata felt a bit awkward as the couples hugged. She silently wished that Naruto was there. Just the thought of him made her blush.
"Hinata?" Sakura asked, leaning forward to check on her friend. "Daijoubu?" ( Are you alright?)
"E-eh? Y-yeah. I'm f-fine." Hinata stuttered.
Neji, taking it that his cousin was feeling awkward, friendly wrapped an arm around Hinata's shoulders. Hinata smiled at her cousin.
"Alright." Shikamaru declared. "Back to our topic then."
"Yeah" Sasuke agreed. "Well, that big problem is the fact that the couple is no where in this cafeteria."
"And no where in school." Sakura added.
The gang turned to look at her. "Really?"
She nodded, munching on her forgotten cookie. Watching her, the rest realized that they were forgetting about their food too.
"You know what," Ino said. "Let's just look for them later."
Tenten bit on her burger, "yeah. I'm sure we'll find them later."
"I hope so." Hinata commented, drinking her tea. (yeah, people here in Japan drink tea for lunch or what so ever.)
"Let's just eat for now." Neji said, suddenly feeling hungry.
"We'll look for them after school." Shikamaru and Sasuke said in unison before grinning at each other.
With that said, the gang continued eating in a quick pace since the school bell was about to ring.
After school…
The gang was at the classroom, packing their notebooks and those stuffs in their school bags. They were the only people in the classroom.
The guys were finished packing and so was Tenten and Hinata. They were only waiting for Sakura and Ino.
"Hey." Sakura said. "You guys go ahead. Just wait for us at the gate."
"Why?" Sasuke asked, not wanting to leave Sakura behind.
"Well, Shino and Temari might be in school and if you're going to wait for us here, we might miss them." Sakura explained as she threw her pencil case in her bag.
"True. Alright then." Sasuke agreed before he led the gang out of the classroom.
"Hurry up though." Shikamaru added, looking back at them.
"No problem" Sakura smiled as she gave him a 'thumbs up' sign. Shikamaru smiled back before walking away, shaking his head a bit as he realized how much Sakura really changed.
"Ow..kay.." Sakura sighed as she turned around to look at one of her best friends. "What is it you want to talk about, Ino?"
Ino sighed too. She sat down on her desk, facing Sakura.
"Sakura…I think I'm in love." Ino stated.
"What? You just realized that now?" Sakura answered. It has always been easy for her to see if her best friends are in love.
"What?" Ino asked, surprised. "What do you mean I just realized that now? Have I been that obviously in love for a long time?"
Sakura smiled as she sat on a desk too. "Well, not really for a long time. Just when you met Nara Shikamaru."
Ino blushed at the mention of the name. "I…uhm…I don't know, Sakura."
Sakura stayed silent, listening to her.
Ino continued, "I feel like I love him. I know I've liked different boys before but this is different. He makes my heart beat faster and he makes me blush a lot. Plus, I feel like I want to be with him. I'm not sure…but isn't that love?"
"I don't know about love that much too." Sakura honestly answered. "But I know for one that you do love Shikamaru. Well, I just feel like you do. Although I do not know that much about love, I think that as long as you are wanting to be with that guy…then you must really love him. Crush is something different. Crush…you don't really think about marrying the guy and staying with him forever."
"I can stay with Shikamaru forever!" Ino blurted out before turning red. Sakura laughed.
"Then you are in love. So what's the problem with that?"
"Well," Ino fidgeted. "I…I'm not sure if I should love him."
"…what?" Sakura asked, completely puzzled.
"I mean, I don't want to get hurt. I don't want to love someone who doesn't love me."
Sakura smiled softly, "Ino, loving someone can't always be easy. There are trials. You can't just choose who you want to love. You can't always love only those who love you back. Loving someone can be painful at times. Sometimes things get really hard that you just want it all to stop. All you have to do at those times is stand up and move on. If the guy doesn't love you back, it only means that he's not the one for you. Then, instead of crying over it, stand up and move on."
"Anyway," Sakura continued. "We don't even know if Shikamaru doesn't love you or if he does. I think he does."
Ino stayed silent for a while, taking Sakura's words in. Then, she smiled and answered, "You're right, Sakura. Things might be hard and painful when a person's in love. But one shouldn't stay down forever. And…you're right…we don't even know if Shikamaru doesn't love me."
"Right." Sakura agreed.
"Thank you Sakura!" Ino practically yelled as she jumped off from the desk and hugged Sakura tight.
Sakura laughed and hugged her back. "Alright, alright. Now we must go and meet the others."
"Right." Ino said, still smiling. She felt better now. Even if Shikamaru doesn't love her back, she'll try to move on. AND she'll stay friends with him, just because she can't imagine a life without him. With that thought, she pulled Sakura out of the classroom, running.
"At long last," Sasuke announced. "Here comes the two."
Ino and Sakura came running towards them, or actually, Ino came running towards them, dragging Sakura with her.
"What were you two doing?" Shikamaru asked. Hinata and Tenten nodded.
"Chatting." Sakura answered, as Tenten pulled her closer. Hinata was right behind her, pulling Ino.
"Sorry." Ino quickly said before Tenten and Hinata pulled them into a conversation.
"What were the two of you doing without us!" Tenten exclaimed. Hinata nodded.
"Sorry." Ino apologized once again.
"We simply had a conversation about love." Sakura said, smiling at the two.
"Oh, I see." Tenten and Hinata returned at the same time.
"Y'know Sakura. She's a great person to turn to about advices in life." Ino explained. "I just asked for one about love."
"Yeah, Tenten told me Sakura is good in advices." Hinata said, looking at Sakura.
"No I'm not." Sakura denied, shaking her head.
"Oh come on Sakura! We all know you are." Tenten grinned, wrapping an arm around her friend's neck.
"Whatever." Sakura muttered, smiling slightly. Suddenly, a person from behind hugged her, causing Tenten to let go of her. Sakura looked up to see who the person was and was not surprised to see Sasuke.
"Enough chit-chat ladies." Sasuke smiled.
"Yeah, especially when we don't know what you're talking about." Neji chuckled, pulling Tenten in a hug too.
Shikamaru did the same with Ino and said, "Plus, we have to look for Temari and Shino, remember?"
The girls looked at each other and grinned, "Alright dudes!"
Right after the four said that, they burst out into laughter. They can't imagine they just said that.
The guys looked at each other, then back to the girls. They all had the same thought in their heads: 'dudes...?'
"Since when did you girls start saying 'dude'?" Sasuke asked, laughing slightly. Shikamaru and Neji were doing the same.
"Yesterday!" Tenten laughed. The other girls nodded.
"We saw it in TV yesterday." Hinata grinned.
"Yup, and we decided to say it to you guys." Ino and Sakura laughed.
"You crazy people." The guys laughed.
"Alright enough of those and let's look for the couple." Shikamaru declared, after a minute or so. The gang nodded and started walking out of the school.
They walked and walked, not really knowing where to go. Neji suggested they do this, just incase either Temari or Shino is walking near the school.
They walked in pairs (one with 3 though because they're 7), but not exactly by couples. Of course, Neji and Tenten walked together, hand in hand. Behind them walked Hinata, Sakura, and Ino. Behind the 3 walked Shikamaru and Sasuke. All of them were talking about something.
At that time, Shikamaru and Sasuke were talking about love too.
"Sasuke." Shikamaru started in a low voice. Sasuke looked at him, drinking a can of coke that he bought a while ago.
"Have you ever been in love?" he asked that caused Sasuke to nearly spit out what he was drinking. nearly. (lol.)
"What?" Sasuke asked, surprised at the sudden question.
"I said, Have you ever been in love?" Shikamaru repeated, his hands in his pockets.
"…uhm…well, yeah…yeah." Sasuke awkwardly answered.
"how does it feel?" Shikamaru asked once again.
Sasuke stared at him as if he was insane. Well, at that time, Sasuke did think Shikamaru was insane. "I don't know. Shikamaru, are you alright?"
"Yeah, I'm fine." Shikamaru chuckled. "Sorry for the sudden questions."
"No problem." Sasuke returned.
There was a pretty long silence before Sasuke spoke up again. "Shikamaru."
"Yeah?"
"Are you in love?"
"…."
"Shikamaru!" Sasuke said, trying to not laugh.
"what?" Shikamaru answered, looking down at the floor.
"I said, Are you in love?" Sasuke asked again.
"…I think so." Shikamaru at long last answered.
Sasuke smiled. "Ino?"
Shikamaru looked up and glared at him, "how did you know?"
He laughed in return. "You two weren't that obscure."
"…Not like you and Sakura are." Shikamaru muttered which caused Sasuke to stop laughing.
"Whatever." Sasuke said, shaking his head. "But speaking of Sakura…if it's about love you were about to ask me of…it's better if you ask her."
"Really?" Shikamaru asked, looking at the pink haired girl walking in front of him, a fair distance away.
"Yeah. She's good at advices, as I remember when we were younger." Sasuke replied, nodding. "Plus, she knows Ino pretty well. At least well enough than the two of us."
Shikamaru chuckled. "True."
"Mind if I talk to her?" he continued, pointing at Sakura.
Sasuke smiled, "No problem. I was the one who suggested you should talk to her."
"I just want to make sure my bestfriend won't kill me for talking to the girl he loves." Shikamaru laughed, earning a glare from Sasuke.
"Just go and talk to her already." Sasuke said with a sigh and a smile. Shikamaru did as he was told and walked towards Sakura.
The 3 girls at that time were apparently talking about clothes and fashion stuffs.
"Hey" Shikamaru started. Ino, Hinata, and Sakura turned to look at him. "Mind if I borrow Sakura for a while?"
Sakura raised an eyebrow as the 2 other girls nodded. Sakura and Shikamaru walked together, Sasuke walking in front of them alone. Hinata and Ino were walking in front of him but soon, they pulled Sasuke with them and started talking.
"I think I shouldn't be the one you should be borrowing, Mr. Nara Shikamaru." Sakura smiled.
Shikamaru laughed. "Then who should I be borrowing, Mrs. Uchiha Sakura?"
She glared at him and answered, "I am not yet married! It's Ms. Haruno Sakura!"
"Right." Shikamaru grinned.
"As for your question," Sakura continued, smiling once again while tucking a pink strand behind her ear. "You should be borrowing Mrs. Nara Ino."
"Ha. Ha. Very funny Sakura." Shikamaru said, shaking his head.
"Whatever." She laughed. "Anyway, what were you going to tell me?" The whole gang turned to a corner, chatting while still looking for Temari and Shino. "Something about love?" she joked.
She turned to look at him when he did not answer after a few seconds. Shikamaru was looking at her with a raised eyebrow, making her wonder why. "What?!" she asked.
"You and Sasuke are really a good couple." Shikamaru exclaimed. "Are you two both psychic or something?"
Sakura chuckled. "Why? Did Sasuke read you as easily as I just did? I was actually just guessing anyway."
"Guessing!? That's a big good guess!"
"Indeed, but it's just because a certain someone nearly asked me the same thing." Sakura smiled, slightly looking at Ino, who was still chatting with Sasuke and Hinata. She immediately looked back at Shikamaru and continued, "So, what were you going to ask me?"
"Well," Shikamaru started. "I was hoping I could get some advice from you about love."
"Ahh…advices." Sakura smiled. "Tell me, Shikamaru, who do you love?"
Shikamaru took in a deep breathe before answering. "…Ino."
"I thought so." She answered, amused. "Do you love her enough to say that you can live with her for the rest of your life? Let's just say, like Neji and Tenten over there." She pointed at the two with her thumb, looking at Shikamaru straight in the eyes.
Although it took Shikamaru a few seconds to reply, he answered her with straight eyes and an honest answer, "Yes."
That reassured Sakura, making her smile. "Then I believe I do not really have to tell you anything."
"huh?" Shikamaru asked, puzzled.
"You love her Shikamaru." Sakura shrugged. "Try asking her out. Tell her your feelings, but make sure you really mean them. As I can see it now, I can tell that you really love her. Those are all I can give you as advices."
Shikamaru did not say anything, taking it all into him. After a while, as the gang neared the end of their walk and search, he replied, "…but what if she doesn't love me back?"
Sakura did everything to stop herself from smiling at that time, "Believe me, she's no where near not loving you."
Being a boy, and since all of us girls know that most boys are dense, Shikamaru did not quite get what Sakura meant by what she said. But whatsoever, that eased his worries and made up his mind.
"Alright." He said, smiling a bit. "I guess I'll really have to confess, huh?"
Sakura laughed. "Yes, of course!"
Shikamaru laughed too before saying, "thanks Sakura. You're a really good help."
"I'm glad I was able to help." She answered, shrugging his 'thanks' off with a shake of her hand.
After that, the gang finally stopped walking and talked to each other.
"We've walked this far and this long." Neji said. "And yet we still can't find them."
"True." Sasuke agreed. The gang fell in silence, all thinking of other ways to look for the two.
"Well," Ino started, "I guess we have no choice but to ask someone in school about their address."
"That will do." Hinata said, nodding in agreement. She took a sip of her drink, happy that she could finally drink. All of them bought their drinks and were holding them in their hands, some drinking, some not.
"Yeah, I guess so." Shikamaru answered. "Plus, we still have to finish our assignments for today."
The rest grunted, and Sakura said, "Don't remind us Shikamaru."
That made all of them laugh. They were all currently sitting on a bench in front of a convenient store, just having fun. Finally, after chatting a bit more, they all decided to go home and continue looking for the couple tomorrow.
TBC…
A/N: There you go! I'm happy I was able to finish another chapter. I thought I'll never finish another one. Haha.
For my readers, the next story I might update will be: Yes, people. I will try to update "Match Makers to the Rescue" too. I will try and you have my word on that. -smiles-
But for those who want my chapters to be long, just review and tell me, alright? But just so you all know,
LONG CHAPTERS longer time to update
SHORT CHAPTERS shorter time to update
Thanks,
Kaze no Shoujo