She felt so overjoyed, she just received the best news this morning. Both of her best friends are coming back home to Konoha after their three years of training with their respective masters. She thought it'll take them two more years to come back.
She was so happy she almost cried out of joy.
What a perfect timing too, as there's an upcoming festival in the village, this would've been a fun reunion get together.
When she heard the news from her coworkers in the hospital that Sasuke and Naruto finally reached the village, she immediately left her work. She thought her shishou would understand. She had to greet her former teammates, she just had to.
She ran and ran around the town and not cared if the streets were overcrowded. Then, she finally spotted a blond spiky head and a messy black bangs framing its face.
"Naruto! Sasuke-kun!" She yelled from the top of her lungs.
"Sakura-ga?" Sasuke blurted out first.
"Sakura-chan! Long time, no see!" Naruto then yelled at her direction, waving at her eagerly.
She noticed that Naruto was now wearing a black jacket and orange pants, while Sasuke was wearing a brownish gray poncho and a black band around his forehead.
When she finally reached the two, she hugged both of them in unison, almost choking them from her strong and tight embrace.
"Oh my god. Oh, you two! You've grown so much!"
"You didn't change much yourself, Sakura-chan!" Naruto replied once Sakura let go of them. Sasuke just stared at the two, knowing full well where this was going.
"Eh?" Sakura blinked her eyes, feeling slightly confused.
"You still look exactly the same, nothing changed at all. Dattebayo!" Naruto rephrased himself, giving her a genuine smile and a thumbs up.
She felt the veins in her temples pounding as she clenched her fist, reaching Naruto's face with full force, knocking him two meters away from her.
The strangers around them passing by looked at the scene frighteningly and quickly walked far away from where Sakura was standing.
"Hn." Sasuke gruntled in amusement.
"Sa-Sakura-chan. Did you-really have -to do that on our first day back here?" Naruto asked, before completely passing out.
She ignored him and smiled at Sasuke cheerfully as if nothing happened.
"Sasuke-kun. Let's have a dinner at Ichiraku tonight, all four of us. I'll invite the Lord sixth as well."
"Do you really have to call Kakashi that now?"
"He's the Hokage now, fuck's sake. Have some manners, Sasuke."
Sasuke was shocked, never in his life would he expect that Sakura, of all people, give her an attitude too. At least she didn't pulverize him just like what she just did to Naruto two minutes ago.
Three days have passed by since then and the trio decided to go as a group at the anticipated fireworks festival in the village. Sakura invited Kakashi too, but he just said he'll just let the three "kids" of them have fun without him as he had to be with his other friends.
Sakura wore a navy blue kimono with cherry blossom printed in it, with her short hair tied up in a bun.
While she was waiting for her two best friends to arrive at the park, she was bombarded by so many couples looking rather happy themselves. She felt envious as she was already 18 years old and never have a boyfriend yet.
She even saw Ino with her boyfriend, Sai, at the crowd. She would greet them but she figured she shouldn't disturb their date.
She hadn't seen Madara for a couple of weeks now and it did disappoint her since she really wanted to get to know him more. The last time they met was when he asked her out for a lunch after colliding onto each other from that strange flower field in the middle of the forest.
He said he'll see her again, but he never specified when. She wanted to ask Sasuke if he saw Madara since he came back, but she didn't want to explain how she met him.
She had a crush on Sasuke, but thankfully she finally grew out of it when she started training with Tsunade-shishou. Though, she wouldn't deny that he really had grown to look more handsome and more appealing to ladies.
His personality didn't change much though, still mostly quiet and somewhat rude, but Sasuke had always been a little nicer to her, at least.
What she did notice something new about him though was how much he'd been looking and staring at Naruto, differently.
It was much different from three years ago. They were rivals. They were best friends but they were also enemies in each other's eyes.
It was complicated.
Naruto, on the other hand, had grown as well. He looked more mature now, but his personality, unfortunately, didn't grow all too much.
He still acted like a 15 year old, much like what he used to be from what she could remember before he left the village. She sighed to herself.
"Cherry blossom!"
Sakura's ears perked up, that voice was familiar to her. She may had been longing to hear that voice again for a while now. When she looked around to find the owner of the voice, she saw Madara wearing a plain blue kimono walking towards her.
"Wha-"
"There you are. I've been looking for you, my cherry blossom!"
Her heart suddenly started beating so quickly.
"My cherry blossom?" She mumbled shyly. Madara smiled at her as he stretched his arm to her. Before she could reach his hand with hers, she heard another deep voice behind her.
"Madara? The fuck are you doing here? Sakura, you know him?"
The two men she'd been waiting for finally appeared both on her sides. She looked at both of them and back to Madara again.
"Uh-,"
"Teme? Who is this guy?"
"What the fuck are YOU doing here? You're already back?"
"So what if I have?"
"Bastard." Madara replied, glaring at Sasuke. He looked over at Sakura who was in between the two other men, and his expression softened again. "You look even more beautiful tonight, cherry blossom."
She blushed at him.
"Sakura-chan, are you dating this Sasuke-teme impostor?"
Madara's eyes shifted from Sakura to the blond knucklehead. He grabbed Naruto's collar and leaned his face closer to his, intimidating him.
"What did you just fucking call me?"
Sakura pushed Madara away from Naruto, but Naruto stepped forward again to try and start a fight with him. She went in between them again.
"Naruto, we're not dating and his name is Madara! Uh no- stop it! Don't fight! Madara, um. Hey."
Madara looked down on Sakura again, his angry expression changing back to a gentle smile.
"Hey. I'm sorry if we haven't hanged out since then. ANBU duties. As an apology, I'll treat you everything you want." He said softly, then grabbing her right hand and dragging her with him on the way to the booths section of the park.
Sakura was confused herself, she wanted to hang out with her two best friends as this was supposedly their reunion get together but she also felt eager to be with Madara.
"Hey, where do you think you're taking her? She's with us, Teme 2.0!" Naruto yelled angrily at him.
"Tch. That little shit."
"He's an Uchiha, huh?" Naruto asked, seeing the Uchiha crest symbol behind Madara's kimono. "Didn't see that coming. Are you related to him?"
"Unfortunately, a cousin. He's in ANBU. And he's a complete ass. Don't let Sakura be with him."
Naruto ran towards the two and made himself in between them, with Sasuke joining along, making Madara and Sakura two men apart from each other.
Madara grabbed Sakura's wrist behind the two and let both of them walk away together without noticing him and Sakura sneaking away from them.
"Madara-,"
"Shhh." He placed his pointer finger over her lips, making Sakura blush with the gesture. "Let's go here!"
He dragged her to one of the booths where most people gathered, so he could hide both of them from the two knuckleheads.
"I'll get the first prize for you."
"You don't have to." She replied shyly.
"Oh, I will."
He pushed aside the people blocking them from the booth as he grabbed his wallet from his pocket. He handed the vendor a couple of yen, then took the ball and hit the target easily. The crowd cheered on him as he easily hit the target again three times. Sakura bit her lip, trying not to smile giddily at him.
The prize she received was a Kurama stuffed toy. She was actually excited to see Naruto again to show what she got, knowing that he is the vessel for the tailed beast.
Madara then took her on another booth and to another, winning her prizes again and again.
When they went to another booth, unfortunately, Sasuke and Naruto found them, squeezing themselves between Madara and Sakura, making the two apart from each other again.
"Sakura-chan, I'll play this game for you!"
"Can't I just play for once?" Sakura exclaimed.
When the two third wheels were busy concentrating on the game, Madara grabbed Sakura's wrist again and took her away from the booth with him, desperately finding another place where they could both hide from the other two.
"Takoyaki," Sakura whispered when she saw the sign from a food stand.
Fortunately, Madara heard her.
"You want to eat?"
"Yeah,"
"Let's go!"
Madara took her to the food stand Sakura saw. He bought both of them some Takoyaki, which Sakura was delighted by. Then, when they were done eating, they just walked around the park away from the crowd and finally enjoying the silence.
They both sat at the empty bench near the lake.
"Thank you, for all of these." Sakura blurted out, looking at all the prizes they were carrying in the bag.
"Anything for you, my cherry blossom." He replied, smiling at her genuinely. Sakura looked away.
"You don't have to call me that. Just say my name in Japanese."
"But it's my pet name for you."
"We're not even dating."
"-Yet. Because I will be courting you."
Warmth seeped into her cheeks, as Madara grabbed both of her hands with his, a pair of black orbs staring directly onto viridian eyes.
"I know this is only the second time we've met, but I just really couldn't stop thinking of you and always wished I could see you everyday. I've never felt such an instant attraction to someone before and I know you feel it too. I may always be busy with my duties, but when I am free, I will always make sure to find you and spend it with you so we could get to know each other more."
A loud, crackling and buzzing sound emerged into their ears, they both looked at the source of the sound and saw many colorful fireworks lighting up the night sky. Sakura gasped at how perfect and beautiful their view was.
"Wow!" She squealed.
When she looked over at him again, she noticed that Madara was staring at her blissfully instead of the fireworks display. She blushed because she realized he would rather watch her enjoy the fireworks than watch the fireworks itself.
An impulse behavior crept into her. She never had a first kiss before, and maybe it's the right time to have it now. She leaned her face closer to his, making Madara's eyes and mouth widen in surprise, but before they could share their first kiss to each other, a couple of bodies squeezed between them in the bench, making them apart from each other yet again.
"Whoa! The view here is so much better. Great choice, Sakura-chan!"
"Hn!"
"Tch."
When the festival ended, the three boys argued who would walk Sakura home. Sakura, being Sakura, got so annoyed by their senseless arguments that she hit each of their heads with her fist.
Yes, even Madara.
Madara just stared at her in awe. Yes, he was feeling sore, but he actually liked that she wasn't shy to show her assertive side to him at that moment, meanwhile the two were disgruntled for being hit by Sakura.
"Really? Even me, Sakura?" Sasuke exclaimed.
"Yes, even you Sasuke! I am walking home on my own! I don't need any of you boys' help. I can take care of myself! Goodbye!"
She left immediately, leaving the three of them behind. Naruto and Sasuke turned to another direction and not cared whether Madara would come along.
Madara, though, still followed Sakura. He ran to catch up with her.
"Didn't I say I can walk home on my own?" She said, irritatingly.
"Yes, in no doubt you can protect yourself from the creeps, but I still would like to take this opportunity to spend time with you. Even if it's just to walk with you."
Sakura looked away, praying to kami that she would just stop blushing for everything that Madara does or say.
"You always know what to say, huh? How many girls have you said those to?"
"No one."
"Liar."
"I mean it. I've never really been this interested in someone to the point of courting them."
"Liar."
"Someday, I will prove to you that I mean every word I say."
She blushed again. The two mostly walked in silence.
When they finally reached her apartment, Madara just looked at her face and admired her beauty one last time. Sakura shut her eyes off, with this he realized that she wanted to be kissed.
He held her chin up to face him closely and kissed the purple diamond on her forehead instead. Sakura opened her eyes in shock.
He held both of her hands and brought it to his lips, kissing the back of her hands.
"Let's take this slow. See you again soon."
Sakura was just left in awe that night.
Since I really need my mind occupied at all times, I might be updating this fic more often.