- - - - - Second Sunshine Story - - - - -

Title : Tanpopo - Dandelions

Characters : Hinata, Sakura, Ino

Length : 898 words.

Rating : G. Your grandma wouldn't be shocked.

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Sakura knew Hinata liked Naruto. It was so obvious that it was quite a testament to the boy's lack of observational skills. And of course, since Sakura knew, Ino knew. Which meant that most of Konoha probably knew about it now if they'd cared to find out.

"Hinata, if you like him so much, just tell him!" Sakura pestered during the month break before the chuunin exams resumed. The girls were sitting at the edge of the meadow, watching the academy students picking flowers for their ikebana. The Hyuuga girl was fiddling with dandelions, but absentmindedly - not from nervousness.

"Sakura-chan, you know I'm not brave enough," Hinata whimpered in response. "Besides... uh, it's just a crush. I'll get over it."

"Oh, really?" said Ino, with a grin that would have terrified her teammates.

"Yes! Please, don't tell anyone. Especially him. Um... I don't think I could stand it."

"What are you afraid of?" asked the pink-headed girl. "You have to be straightforeward. Naruto's so thickheaded, it'd take him years to figure it out on his own."

"I don't think he's quite that dumb, Sakura-chan," Hinata replied defensively. "Um, I think Naruto just shows off around you. To impress you."

"Haha, yeah! And it doesn't work. Does it bother you? I'd be angry." Sakura stared at the leaves of the birch they were sitting beneath and lapsed into a vision of Sasuke. "If HE were rubbing up against some hussy I'd teach him a lesson-"

"HEY! I don't like the way you worded that!" Ino snapped. "Sasuke would never do that, because he's got me!"

"Oh, yeah!"

"YEAH!"

"Prove it. Since when has he ever cared about you?" Sakura's evil little grin didn't quite beat Ino in the 'insane' department, but it was still ominous.

"Since he realized YOU were worthless!"

Hinata sighed. Her attempts to have the two other girls involved in normal, if childish, conversation had been crushed and doused in gasoline and lit on fire again, as it usually was. She wasn't the best at being social, but she'd have liked Sakura and Ino to be friends again. She liked people to be happy.

But it was nice, she guessed, that they were both so sure of their affection that they were able to fight about it. They liked Sasuke because he was cool and talented and ridiculously good-looking, and he had a bloodline trait.

She didn't like Naruto because he was any of those things. (Probably because he WASN'T any of those things.) He was awkward and goofy and embarrasing to be around and wore an orange jumpsuit, and inside him he had a thing that had killed more people than all the Uchiha clan had put together.

"Worthless! Who's worthless! I'm not the one who plays with FLOWERS all day and panics if she can't find her lip gloss!"

"Your petty insults can't touch me, Forehead." Ino crossed her arms. "I have a right to be proud of what I do."

"Your - your - AARGH!" Sakura did the same and turned her back on her ex-best friend.

"Um, you two... um, what if Sasuke doesn't like either of you?" Hinata ventured. She twirled a dandelion between her fingers. It looked like a small, greenish sun. "He doesn't really seem to care about... um, that, right now."

"He will," said Sakura in the tone of voice that added '-or else'.

"Really, if you think about what he's got available, I'm the only option he has. I succeed by a process of elimination." Ino knew it wasn't true; she was just trying to goad Sakura further.

"B-but that's not a good thing, is it?" Hinata wondered. She would be rather insulted, personally, if Naruto picked her because there was no one else.

"It's good enough for me! I'd still get to be with Sasuke-kun!" Ino seemed triumphant. Forehead was sulking.

"Oh." Hinata added a few more dandelions to her collection.

"You shouldn't bother with those weeds, you know," Sakura commented conversationally. "They're full of pollen. They give people allergies."

"He's not allergic," Hinata said automatically, and then blushed. "Um. I mean, I know."

"Who's not?" Sakura seemed genuinely curious. Hinata just shook her head vigourously.

"Nobody!"

Ino laughed.

"Sakura just hates anything that's not bright flaming pink. Besides, dandelions are very fortunate flowers. They signify happy unions and prosperous surroundings." Her voice had taken on that slightly hollow tone that meant she was reciting from memory. "In dreams, a dandelion surrounded by greenery is a sign of good luck."

"Really?" Hinata asked. She looked at the bright yellow heads. That sounded promising.

"Well, I guess so. I mean, they're just flowers. They don't really mean anything, people just think they do. Hey, class is over. You have to take your sister back home, right?"

"Yeah." Hinata stood up as Hanabi drew closer. The other kids were leaving in groups, hands stained green from their attempts at ikebana. She fingered her bouquet, but didn't drop it.

"Come on, sis," said Hanabi. She wiped her hands on her dress. "I'm sooo hungry..."

Hinata smiled and waved to the other girls as she headed off, followed by her petulant sibling. She tucked the dandelions into her pocket, careful not to damage them.

She left Hanabi at her house and made a slight detour. He wasn't in, for which she was grateful. She left them on the windowsill.

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Concrit will be loved and appreciated!