Warnings
COPYRIGHT
In Soviet Russia, you own Naruto. Here and now, Naruto owns you.
Foreword: Thishas likely already been done. One-sided romance angst ahoy.
The Point.
By Arkhe
"You're annoying." Sasuke admonished. "Stop bothering me."
Sakura pulled away dejected and the dark-haired youth went on his way. It wasn't totally unexpected though. Everyday, it was always like the one before. After training, she wears her heart on her sleeve and he will turn her down again. She promises that circumstances will change tomorrow, however only to find the process to repeat itself the next day.
Sighing loudly to herself, the pink-haired ninja-trainee turns to go to her own activities when she spots the other member of her team avidly watching her from his spot on top of the bridge's rails. She interprets the sight of his smile as a gloat at her loss and it sets her off.
"What the hell are you looking at, Naruto?" She lashes out.
"Wanna go out and get some ramen with me, Sakura-chan?" The blond boy smiles broadly.
"I'm never going to go out with you. You should know that by now." Her bitterness comes out in waves.
He slumps a little and closes his eyes, the grin becomes a little more forced than it was.
She takes no notice and huffs loudly. Focusing on a million things beckoning for her attention elsewhere, Sakura turns to leave...
"Does it hurt less every day?"
...only to have his soft spoken words stop her.
Ever so slowly, she turns to face him, but he doesn't meet her eyes. She finds him too busy staring down at that little clump of grass surrounded by barren soil and growing at the foot of the bridge.
The anger simmers, but she is adamant to clear it up instead of approaching with violence (as is her normal means when dealing with her blond teammate).
"What?" She coarsely asks him to clarify.
She has a guilty satisfaction from seeing him half-flinch from the venom in her tone. He repeats himself but words it differently.
"It happens everyday." He quietly asks. "Does it hurt?"
Indignation courses through her, as disbelief is written into her face. How dare he!
"OF COURSE IT DOES!" She shouts, her face burning red from the exertion to scream.
At this point, she is about ready to throttle him, or lay him across the chin and send him careening into the water below. However, logic barely intercedes in time as she's entirely too curious to see where he's heading with this.
"What the hell is your point?-!" The question us honestly the only thing from saving him from something terribly painful.
He blinks confused. He wants to look at her, but he's too fearful and manages to catch himself from doing so. The question had caught him off-guard as he never expects them to be lasting this long through a conversation on their own without something else between -like a mission or the other teammate.
In all fairness, she can't believe it either.
He perceptively eyes her fist and she catches a longing that perhaps he wished to have been on the tail end of it by now. Possibly to avoid answering the question.
But he answers anyway -she knows he could never refuse her.
"See, see... It's like this."
He gestures with his fingers extended, hands parallel.
"It's like a schedule."
Her eyes narrow at his choice of words, but allows him the benefit of the doubt.
"Everyday, you wake up, Sakura-chan, and everything's all sunny and stuff and it all just makes you feel good inside. It's obvious when we see you in the morning. Then as the day goes on, everything is just getting along better, you know? You're all smiles and it's all just perfect. You're building up to something great! Nothing can go wrong!"
He tries to explain, whilst tripping over his own words. She nods as he goes along. He's eerily outlined the start of most of her days perfectly.
"Then, then you put all your feelings on him... And you know that something, SOMETHING has to go right. Cause every day before was bad, so today HAS to go right, right?"
She hesitantly nods to his question. Something hits a little too close to home.
"But then the asshole rejects you again. And suddenly, things just don't look so bright but you keep goin', Sakura-chan. You try to make the best of things and finish the day. Then when it's time to sleep, you stay up knowing there's something wrong with you and that you'll just have to try harder tomorrow."
He's practically ranting and she notices it. But he's nailed her perfectly and though it causes a pit in her stomach, she lets him continue because she's caught in the middle of something and she can't let it stop now.
"And then there's the new day... And you give it your biggest smile and you put everything behind you because TODAY, you honest to God HOPE that it's gonna be different today, cause she's NEVER looked at you the way she looks at him but you know that something's gotta give... Every little thing you do has got to mean something... But it just happens all over again..."
Sakura's eyes widen at his words. It's not just about her feelings anymore. it's all... symmetrical. Her rage is drowned out by the emptiness and she lets him continue because she just can't stand to hit him anymore. He doesn't notice his slip up and he goes on to conclude.
"So anyway, the point is... Even though this schedule hurts less everyday..."
"In a way..." He freezes, catching his voice.
"You kinda wish..." He tries to conclude again but finds it stopping before it can leave his mouth.
His eyes dart around pensively... Desperately for something... Then he looks up, for the first time catching her eyes since the conversation started and there's too much emotion...
His cerulean blue eyes silently screamed as if the world was hanging on a line.
"The point..." His voice gives out and his eyes glaze over, seeing something through her.
Then all of a sudden, Naruto's posture straightens, his eyes scrunch tightly and that forced grin plasters his face again.
"I don't know. I'm getting some ramen."
Unbelievably to his audience, Naruto hops off the rail. She can only watch him walk past, as her mind attempts to decipher what his unsaid conclusion was.
"The day's still young, Sakura-chan." He calls out over his shoulder. "It's not tomorrow yet."
His shout pulls her wandering mind back and immediately, her heart takes hold. She suddenly realises that she didn't need him to finish it. She knows what went unsaid all too well.
"Even though the schedule hurts less everyday..." She mumbles whilst sparing a sidelong wishful glance to where her heart had been following her dark-haired avenger.
"...In a way, it also hurts more."
Then she turns back to the blond outcast's retreating figure.
"And you kinda wish you could stop."
He disappears from view.
"But the point is: you can't."
End.
Author's Notes:
Just a quick story and a shout to say, 'I'm not dead!'. XD I know it's not usually up to par with Fox Identity, but I'd wanted to get this out of my system. Hopefully, he's OOC is plausible...
Now, for those of you waiting on Fox05a, I swear it will be out in a week or two. Watch out! It's coming... Coming for you!