II.

Sarada has been seated at that table for, at least, an hour. All by herself. Hitoshi told her he would leave for a minute to do go to the toilet, but, so far, he hadn't returned. What the hell was going on?

How could a man invites a woman to have dinner with him (carrying flowers and stuff) and, then, simply disappear? She didn't know if it was just her, being logical with every bit of her life, or if she was just overthinking things, but she could not figure out what's the sense in inviting her, from the start, if he intended to go missing from the beginning.

She thought for 15 whole minutes –from the moment they met outside the hospital, until the one which they walked together to the restaurant – that she would actually date someone that night… You know, one of those things that two young people make to get to know better and, who knows, get serious about that?

Well, it was not like it had too much importance for her. So many guys had already asked her out and had invited her to do so many different things ... Picnics, to have coffee, to walk around some public place, to have ice cream, to go to bookstores ... And she had turned down all of them. Simply because she felt like that was not the way things should happen. You know, some random guy inviting her to go out with all the intentions of sticking his tongue down her throat at the end of the night ... It did not seem quite right.

It was not like they were seeing her for who she was from deep inside ... They asked her out because she was the Haruno-Uchiha heir. Just because she was a "walking genetic prized ticket" with her perfect chakra control and her powerful doujutsu. Truth to be told, she does not consider herself half of the ninjas her parents are. They would pursue her because she had close ties with the political elite of the Leaf Village ... And maybe because she was not exactly ugly.

In fact, his father used to say that she was a perfect princess. One of the famous "Uchiha girls". She had privileged genes that made her hold her slim form in a beautiful proud way and that this makes her stunning beauty a lot more prominent. She had always laughed at that. It was not like that, she knew. He had seen a picture of Grandma Mikoto and she just knew she was far from being like her grandmother... And, well, dad was dad ... It's not like his opinion was exempt.

She sighed. He could see the maître watching her with pity. He has come to offer her wine twice. A glass of red wine rested in front of her… Almost empty.

She looked at her watch again, completely impatient and disgusted. Another 10 minutes had ticked by. She was not the person who waits for someone. She hesitated to accept all her invitations, and when she finally decided to put behind all her excessive caution about the hidden intentions she thought her suitors have, one of them leaves her, taking roots in a fancy restaurant.

Actually, it was the talking with Chouchou that made her decide let herself to get carried away by what life had to offer. Her Akimichi friend, a confident and funny woman, was never alone. She attracts so many men, being authentic, self-confident and true to herself and knowing exactly what she wanted and liked, instead of worrying about what others expected of her. The guys looked at her because she had the posture of a lively and strong woman. And she lived her love life intensely.

For the Uchiha, everything was so different... She wanted to be as radiant the redheaded kunoich. She wanted to be free ... but she was always too busy trying to be perfect and make her parents proud. She was too concerned about her own career, worrying about what she needed to accomplish in order to be Hokage one day... Her heart... well, that she relegated to the background.

But there was always that little curiosity ... That one that made her want to know what it was like hanging out with guys. She wanted to know what it was like to have fun with somebody, laugh, feel shivers downing her spine and have butterflies in the stomach ... In a romantic way.

She complained with ChouChou about her suitors. People who came to her and have never before wished her, at least, a "good morning!". And her friend simply said that everyone would continue without knowing her if she did not give them a chance. "That's what dates are there for! And you don't have to kiss anyone if you don't want to." Her friend said.

Although she had been waiting for a certain someone, Sarada did not feel the urge to talk about it. Even with Chouchou. It was so old-fashioned admit aloud that she was waiting for her prince like the princess that everyone assume she was ... Waiting for her golden and shining prince.

She sighed once again. Maybe it was time to leave. To stand up and leave there the clothed napkin as if it was the representation of her imaginary perfect prince. As a sign of an 'enough of this'. After all, the man she was waiting for was far from being a prince. Not after leaving her alone for so long in that place.

When she thought of getting up, the waiter brought a beautiful dessert with ice cream and bits of caramelized fruits; he excused himself and placed it in front of her.

"But I ... I didn't order this!" The young Uchiha protested in the exact moment she registered the image of the dessert being placed in front of her.

"That's a gift." The bald man, around 50-years-old, replied grandiosely.

"From whom?" - Sarada, somewhat puzzled by this, questioned him. Her eyebrow was slightly raised, still somewhat incredulous about that.

"From a secret admirer." Answered the man with a solemn tone - He ordered to give this message to you, Madam.

"Thanks! Thank him for me, please." Sarada smiled, picking up the piece of paper offered by the attendant. She was too happy to believe in this small act of kindness.

She blinked a few times, while trying to close her mouth which was slightly opened in surprise. She needed to control the anxiety of opening the paper immediately. Cleverly, she tried to follow the waiter with her eyes as she felt sudden warm in her heart, caused by the gesture and by the curiosity of finding out who this mysterious person would be.

Ok. She had received one thousand admirers' gifts. But she had never received one in a more appropriated time. He could be a total loser, but at least he had a good timing. That is, she was left there like a sack of potatoes. She had been in a foul mood, impatient and upset. She might as well enjoy a good and sweet dessert. It was a pleasant surprise in a night which things were far from perfect.

Things are really becoming interesting. She was curious. She was puzzled. And she liked being challenged to find out things.

She saw the waiter go through a table on her right, heading toward one of the most remote corners... She would see who it was in a few moments...

Until she felt the paper being taken from her hand and, the sudden act, made her look directly at who or what brought her out of her vigilant trance.

"Would you mind?" She heard a deep, though gentle voice; it was coming exactly from the vacant seat beside her. She looked at him, outraged, to have something personal removed from her fingers without her permission.

When she turned to gaze to the blonde, she saw him smell the paper. Why he was smelling her little note? Before she could say anything else, she saw him eat the paper! EAT!

"Are you CRAZY?" Sarada asked absolutely infuriated. "Why did you eat MY message?"

"It was only rice paper." The young man with long golden hair answered quietly, green eyes watching her almost innocently. And when she thought of "almost", she did it just because she didn't know if he really was unaware he did a strange thing, since he lacked of some basic social skills or if he was playing smart and choosing to hide behind his famous socially awkwardness.

"It is edible. By the way, why anyone would write a message on an edible paper? I don't think anyone who wanted to have his message read would use this type of paper. It wouldn't have lasted long, anyway."

"And now he comes and says these logical things like the 'king of the truisms' that he will never be?" Sarada whispered to herself. She would have facepalmed if it was not considered so rude in a restaurant like that. She was absolutely frustrated. She lost her paper rice clue and the sight of the waiter at once. "The fact is that we will never know, since you ATE the piece of paper that could give us some clue."

He ignored her completely, just watched the black-eyed girl for a moment, picked up her untouched flatware, and stole a spoonful of her dessert. She watched him act like that in completely disbelief at his boldness. He came, ate her secret admirer's note, made her lose sight of the waiter who could take her to her admirer and, not satisfied, even enjoyed the dessert she had won from the suitor that would never have his message read because of Inojin's hunger.

"What?" The Yamanaka asked innocently, realizing the intense glare that the Uchiha princess threw him, completely oblivious to the anger growing inside of her "The dessert is great! You should try!"

"ARGHHHHHH!" She had enough of that night. She pushed her heavy wooden chair back, stood up, completely forgetting her new acquired roses, and walked away, stomping, just like she used to do in her childhood's days. But not before declaring: "You're an idiot, Inojin."

She haven't seen, but behind her, Inojin let out a sly, satisfied smile, as he ate carelessly, a tad of her dessert.

XXXXX

First of all, thanks to you that took your time to read my humble attempt of writing. I'm very much honored to have you here. :) I know I have a lot of problems to express myself, but I'm trying to improve. I swear. :)

Thank you, Guest-san for your kind words. :) Hope you like this new chapter. And I think it can be a bit controversial, 'cause I had to make a few plot choices about characters. Hope you like it.

Thank you, Nana-san. Your advices are very very precious to me. I tried to observe the things you so kindly pointed out to me. There are still some (probably a lot) problems, I know. But I'm trying mightily to follow your advices and correct things. Hope it gets better. I totally have a problem with commas and long sentences. Hahaha It was happens in my first language, I guess. I'll try to rewrite sentences in a more organized way. About the plot, I hope you like it. Thank you so much for your time, patience and amazing comment.

Well, it took me a bit longer than I expected to update. Sorry. Hehehe

I have a few considerations. I see ChouChou as a very self-assured woman. She seems a force of nature to me. I really can see her giving some advice on dates or something like that.

I also thought an annoying Inojin would be fun. I hope you like him. It was not the plot I expected to write for chapter II, but I had so much fun writing it that I thought it would be a crime to delete everything in order to stick with another idea just because I thought about it at first place.

I hope it's "readable".