SAKURA AND VERSACE

08|

TAKE CARE

A week after the medication incident, and her mother filing a very lengthy report to the school administration, Sakura was settled into online classes. Usually, only for exchange students or students with language barriers, principal Tsunade thought it was best until they found who'd pulled that horrendous prank.

While Sakura settled into the classes well, Naruto was far from impressed with them. Clearly, he'd gotten used to having Sakura around during school hours. He'd pointedly complained about them no longer being able to ditch together. Luckily, even though she was now taking classes from home, and could still see Naruto on a daily basis. The young man made sure of that. It was only right seeing as they were heading into the last quarter of Naruto's final year of school.

That being said, Naruto had a host of events coming up. From his game before school ended championships to his senior prom. The latter excited Sakura a lot. The prom committee had already released the theme, Luxurious Bodies, or something along the very high-fashion lines. Sakura didn't know what else it could be with a cheerleader like Ino in charge of the planning.

"Maybe we can do a red undershirt?" She asked over the phone. Sakura had done well of coaxing Naruto out of renting an orange tuxedo, but that left her with the dilemma of introducing other colors to him. And he wasn't making it easy. "That way I can just get a red dress."

"You do look really good in red," Naruto mumbled, probably exhausted from practice and still slightly upset about the orange tuxedo. "I guess we can do red." Sakura suppressed a squeal, she'd already gotten a couple of nasty looks for walking into such a high-end dress store in a crop-top, she didn't need any more ugly looks thrown her way.

"Have I ever made you regret doing something with me?"

"Other than me allowing you to fry an omelet in your mother's good skillet?"

"Haha, you're so funny," Sakura rolled her eyes at her boyfriend's cackling, "Just get off of my phone before I change my mind about being your prom date."

"Yeah, yeah, talk to you later Sakura-Chan,"

"Later" definitely meant in person as he hogged the covers and whined about her feet being cold, "Talk to you later Naru-baka." Sakura listened for a breath longer before she heard the call end.

Now she had to find Naruto a red dress shirt and maybe a red tie, or would that be too much?

Sakura continued to go throw the racks of clothing and only stopped when someone tapped her shoulder. Turning her head, Sakura is met with the stare of Ami Koiyaka, one of her many classmates. She's a pretty girl with purple hair and brown eyes who's an inch or so taller than Sakura is. While the two aren't friends, they are peers and hold mutual respect. Nearly three years of being placed in groups together did that.

"Hi Ami-San, are you dress shopping too?" Sakura's tone is pleasant.

"Yeah actually, it's pretty hard trying to find a color that doesn't clash with my hair and one that Lee isn't going to whine about!"

Sakura snickered, it was no secret Lee loved the color green, so much so to an obsessive point. "It's the same with Naruto! Talking him out of an orange suit was way harder than I expected."

The girl next to her rolled her eyes, "Boys, they like what they, like, well, sometimes."

"Sometimes? Naruto is very specific about his orange hues." Sakura explained, "He knows the difference between apricot orange and sunset orange for goodness sake."

"Not that silly, I'm talking about you!"

Sakura felt her brows furrow in confusion, "Me? What do you mean me?"

Ami shrugged, "Just you, we were all really surprised when you two got together. No offense Sakura-San but even I was betting he'd get back together with his ex-girlfriend, Hinata-San! But you two are really cute too!"

Ami's reassurance doesn't sit right in Sakura's stomach. She didn't know if the other girl was intending to hurt her feelings, but if she was her mission was accomplished. Did people think she wasn't worthy of Naruto? Did Naruto think that?

Sakura allowed a faux smile to take over her face, "Well, I'm here now."

"Exactly and you proved a lot of people wrong!"

Sakura frowned as she turned her head away, "Yeah."

Sakura leaves the mall empty-handed and heavy-hearted. The chat she'd had with Ami weighed on her more than she wanted to admit. She had always prided herself on her ability to keep her emotions in check until she was alone, and that ability, gratefully, was still intact. Making it through the parking lot and into the safety of her car before she heaved a tearful sigh. And while Sakura refused to sob and wail over a couple of people's mean opinions, a few tears did escape. Because she was allowed to be hurt even if the situation was superficial.

People were just super sucky sometimes.

MOON RIVER

Naruto is waiting when she pulls into her driveway, seated in his own car, the music laying so loud Sakura can hear it before she even approaches.

"Are you trying to go deaf?" Sakura asked as Naruto rolled down the window, "Because if you are, you're succeeding."

"No, just trying to piss off that old lady across the streets."

"She's going to call the police on you." Naruto pulled a face, "Of course she is, she hates my guts. She told your mother I was defiling you."

Sakura stifled a laugh, the old lady that lived across the street was a sweet woman but held little respect for Naruto. After catching the two teenagers getting handsy on Sakura's porch a few nights ago, the lady made it no secret she thought her boyfriend was distasteful.

"Just come inside, I'm hungry anyway." Sakura moves away from the car door as it swings open and Naruto steps out. He's in his gym clothes but smells clean meaning he took a shower after practice before coming over. "You didn't get anything at the mall?"

Sakura's mind immediately wandered to the interaction with Ami, "No, I heard something that put a bad taste in my mouth."

"Don't worry about it then," Naruto shrugged as Sakura opened the house door, "I can order take out or something. And whatever was said was probably untrue anyway, especially if it made you react that."

"Hey! What do you mean by that?!" Though what he said had inadvertently made Sakura feel a lot better, that last part of the sentence caught her attention more. Naruto pulled a sly smile, "Nothing, maybe."

MOON RIVER

A tempura midday lunch later, Naruto and Sakura were enjoying the newest addition to the girl's room, a sixty-inch tv her mom had moved from the basement now that Sakura was bringing company over a lot more.

"Why'd you pick this movie?" Sakura groaned at the gore of it all, American scary movies seemed to have a lot of it.

"What's wrong with it?" Naruto turned his head towards her and she pulled a face, "I've never seen so much blood and body parts in my life."

"You're going to be a nurse Sakura-Chan, you have to get used to it!" Naruto whined.

"I'm going to be a pediatric nurse baka! I'd work with children."

Naruto looked sheepish, "Oh."

"Oh," Sakura mocked him causing Naruto to let out a sound of fake outrage and pinch her elbow, "Ouch! Don't pinch me!"

"Don't make fun of me then- Oh, look his head just got decapitated!"

Sakura groaned into her pillow, "Dis-Gus-Ting!"