Chapter 6: Friends

Amused, Sakura observed as Naruto slurped down his third bowl of ramen. When he noticed her grin and looked at her questioningly, she said, "You're eating even more than usual today. Had a hard day?"

He nodded enthusiastically. "Life isn't easy as a Jounin," he explained. "We had to escort a group of guys… every time we lost sight of them, they did something stupid. And they really were in danger… it's a miracle that we brought them back safely…" He placed the bowl on the table and sighed contently. "Ahh… I feel better now. I didn't have time to eat anything good while I was on that mission."

"Did you know that Sasuke is now a member of the Anbu?", Sakura asked casually.

"Really?" Naruto was not as surprised as she had been. "Wow. He has come really far…"

Bitterly, she said, "It may be an honor, but I am worried about him. The anbu missions are dangerous. He left today and will be gone for a few days."

"I see…" Naruto muttered. Then a wide grin appeared on his face. "Anosa, anosa! I have a great idea! Why don't we invite a few people over to my place? I mean, we never got to celebrate your wedding! How…umm… how about tomorrow? Then you won't have to be alone in the evening!"

At first she wasn't exactly thrilled about the idea, but Naruto was already making plans and counting out the people who were in Konoha at the moment. Eventually, she agreed to come. She waved him good-bye and promised she'd attend. On her way back home she pondered that maybe Naruto was right. It didn't do her good to be alone.

***

When she arrived at Naruto's apartment around eight, loud voices were already coming from inside. She pushed open the door and threw a shy "Hello" into the room. Naruto had invited a lot of people; she hadn't been aware that so many of them were currently in Konoha. Sitting with him at the table were Ino, Shikamaru, Hinata, Choji and some other people Sakura had seen during the exam but didn't remember their names. Later even Lee showed up.

Ino had brought along a bottle of sparkling wine and generously filled Sakura's glass with it. "We have to celebrate your wedding, right?", she had said, with a bit of jealousy flowing in her tone of voice. "To the happy couple! Even though the husband is missing today!"

Sakura grinned weakly.

Over the evening she drank a few glasses without considering that she wasn't used to alcohol at all. At around midnight, while the others were still sitting at the table talking to each other happily, Sakura was drunk from that sparkling wine. She had hardly eaten anything because she was still so angry at Sasuke.

Her head was dizzy, but in a pleasant way. It was great not having to think about Sasuke, and if she thought about him nevertheless, she just laughed a little. It was like freedom. She didn't care about anhything; there was simply this wonderful dizzyness in her head.

Naruto noticed her condition with time and tried to make her lie down for a while in his bed. Sakura obeyed and he left her alone. For a while, she stared at the ceiling with so many thoughts running through her head.  Thoughts she usually would have worried about but which only made her laugh stupidly in her current state.

When Naruto returned to check on her, she asked him, "Naruto? Do you love Hinata?"

He was a bit taken aback by the question, but he replied, "Well, I like her a lot."

She laughed at that reply and sat up. She threw her arms around his neck loosely so she wouldn't fall over. "You know, I love Sasuke." She giggled. "Or that's what I thought. Do you know why he married me? To restore his clan! Isn't that funny? He wants me to have his children, because that's all I'm good for! I am not a good Shinobi, so why should I take the Jounin exam? Heeheehee." She was still laughing, although she did not feel like it any more.

He tried to make her lie down, but she did not feel like sleeping. "Sakura-chan, you're drunk. Just try to sleep."

"I'm not drunk!" she protested, although she knew he was right. "I never drink."

"Mh. Well you sure chose the very best moment to start," he muttered.

She finally gave in and laid back down. He pulled the covers over her and returned to the others after making sure she was feeling well enough to be left alone. As soon as he was gone though, she threw the covers off her and went over to the door and out on the balcony. Fresh night air blew into her face. She bent herself over the banister and stared down to the ground. She was three stories above the ground. She sat down on the broad wood of the banister, so that her legs were dangling above the ground. "It's a pity that we don't have a balcony," she said to herself.

"Sakura?", she heard someone say from within the room. It was Ino. When she saw her friend sitting there, she yelled, "Are you insane? Do you want to fall over?" She grabbed Sakura by the hand and tried to drag her back onto the balcony.

"Let go!" Sakura protested. "I'm not stupid enough to lose my balance here."

"If you were sober, I might believe you," Ino murmured darkly. She didn't let go of Sakura's wrist, but made no further attempts to pull her off the banister.

A few moments of silence passed, then Sakura asked uncertainly, "Ino? Are you… are you happy with your life?"

"What kind of a question is that?", Ino scoffed. When Sakura didn't reply, Ino inhaled deeply and said, "Well… not always of course, but mostly yes, I'm happy. I mean, I will never forgive you for stealing away Sasuke, but I think I'm okay with things the way they are. What about you? Are you happy with him?" There was only a slight hint of jealousy to her voice. Maybe she had indeed forgiven Sakura.

"Of course," she lied. After a moment of silence though, she said, "Sometimes he wakes up in the middle of the night screaming. Then he is like a completely different person.  When he looks at me with those eyes, it scares me deeply." She looked down at the black pavement several meters below her. "Sometimes I wonder…" Ino looked at her expectantly, but she decided not to finish the sentence. "Do you think he would cry for me, if I fall down from here and break my neck?"

"What are you saying, Sakura??"

"Nothing, Ino," she replied tiredly. "It was just a joke." She turned over and jumped back onto the balcony clumsily. "I guess I should go home. Thank you all for the party." She left the bedroom and passed the others with a polite goodbye. Naruto and Lee offered to escort her home, but she declined. Naruto's place wasn't far from home anyway. She muttered another goodbye and left Naruto's apartment.

When she arrived home, she locked the door from the inside and tripped over the first step at the entrance. She didn't bother to get back up, instead curling up into a ball and falling asleep exhaustedly on the living room floor.

...tbc...