A/N: I am so, so very tired tonight. But, on the bright side, this is the time when I write the best. Why? I don't know. That's just how it is. So hopefully this chapter will be good enough to make up for the long, long time you had to wait for it…
A Promise Made on A Sakura Tree
Chapter 4
When Naruto arrived back at his apartment with his arms laden with cleaning supplies, he found Sakura already hard at work sorting between things that needed thrown away, and things that could be saved. With a frown of dismay he saw a good heaping pile of trash, and a rather small pile of useful-ness.
"Sakura-chan! I need this stuff! I don't have the money to go out and buy a whole new kitchen!" Naruto whined, handing over the requested cleaning agents.
'At this rate, you might as well get a new apartment, dobe.' Inner Sakura sighed in annoyance while the real Sakura pulled on a pair of thick yellow rubber gloves.
"Just stand there and do what I tell you to do." Sakura commanded from her spot in the kitchen. Anything with more then one layer of mold or moved on its own was thrown in the garbage pile. Once sorted, Sakura had Naruto drag bag by bag of garbage to an alleyway dumpster while she scrubbed down thirteen years worth of yuck.
From the kitchen the cleaning duo moved to Naruto's bedroom, bathroom, and finally living room. By the time they were done, Sakura was red in the face, sweaty, and her hair was falling loose. Naruto sat on his clean couch and stared at the pink haired girl in amazement.
'Wow…that sure was nice of Sakura-chan to clean my place up. It's a wonder why Sasuke-san doesn't like her…' Naruto thought, watching as his teammate stood up and stretched. Now, Naruto may be blond and hyperactive, but he wasn't exactly stupid.
He saw the way Sakura looked at the dark haired Uchiha when she thought no one was looking, and how downtrodden she looked when he acted like a jerk. It was clear even to him that she liked him, and that her feelings were wasted. This was part of the reason why Naruto didn't like Sasuke; he had such a good thing waiting for him, but was too thick to open his eyes and see it.
"Alright, that should do it," Sakura said before collapsing on the cushion beside Naruto.
"You'll need new dishes, but at least this place is livable." The pink haired girl leaned back and closed her eyes, enjoying the moment of relaxation. The morning had flown by quickly; already it was past noon.
"Sakura-chan, you didn't get to eat lunch! Let me repay you by buying you some ramen at Ichiraku's." Naruto suggested with a goofy grin. Sakura's stomach let out an embarrassing loud gurgle, and the girl had no choice but to accept.
'Cha! You'd better offer something after all that slave work we went through!' Inner Sakura yelled, punching the air.
"You don't know how wonderful that sounds, Naruto-kun." Sakura answered with a wary smile. So, once she had cleaned herself up a bit and was declared beautiful by her inner self, Sakura announced she was ready to go.
"Great! Hey, Sakura-chan, guess what? Last week I heard there was this new kind of ramen that had this weird fruit in it! So I decided to eat some. It was red, and…" Naruto talked of that tale from the time they left his apartment to the time they reached the ramen shop.
Sakura didn't mind his gibbering; all she had to do was nod in the appropriate places. Other then that her mind was free to wander, though to her surprise she did listen to over half of his story.
"And then I tried to poke it with a toothpick, but I got bored so I used my shadow clone jutsu to pulverize it into red mush, and that's when I realized it was a vegetable the whole time!" Naruto finished dramatically as the two shinobi sat down at the shop counter. Sakura laughed as Naruto's story came to an end; she had really enjoyed hearing it.
"Hey, Naruto." The shop owner said, grinning at his best customer.
"Who's your friend?" His grin grew wider as Naruto's face darkened.
"This is Sakura-chan; she's on the same shinobi squad as I am." Naruto explained hastily before ordering two bowls of ramen. Sakura sat her hands in her lap and made polite conversation with Naruto while they waited for their food.
"Here we go; two hot bowls of Ichiraku ramen! Eat it up Naruto; I've got plenty in stock today." The shop owner sat down the white bowls of noodle soup in front of each ninja and walked away, most likely making more in case Naruto's stomach decided to go overboard on the food.
'This will be the most delicious thing to ever pass by my mouth.' Sakura thought as the steam rose from the bowl and tickled her nose. After a few bites Sakura was able to relax, and to Naruto's delight she truly seemed to be having a good time.
"Sakura-chan, you have a bit of noodle right about…here." Naruto pointed to the same spot on his face. Sakura picked up her napkin and wiped her face off.
"Did I get it?" she asked, her eyes attempting to look down and locate the object.
"No, but I can do it." Naruto said, picking up his own napkin. And before Sakura could utter a sound of protest her companion reached over and gently wiped her mouth off.
"What the…?" a dark voice said behind them. Naruto and Sakura turned to see their black haired teammate frozen in the shop's opening. He was staring at them, his mouth slightly open. Sasuke looked surprised, but that was the only emotion he let shine through his face. That fleeting sight was quickly reined in, to avoid letting his other emotions come out.
'Why the heck is Naruto-baka wiping off Sakura-san's mouth? That's something only I…oh, forget it. That's the past, this is now.' Sasuke thought, feeling very annoyed. He rearranged his face to look normal, and when everything was under control Sasuke moved closer.
"What are you doing here, Sasuke-san?" Naruto demanded to know.
"Today isn't your day to hang out with Sakura-chan." The blond grinned deviously at Sasuke, despite his annoyance at the interruption.
"Are you jealous that I get Sakura-chan first? I bet that's it. You just can't deal with coming in second, so you've come to wreck my date with Sakura-chan. Admit it Sasuke-san!" Naruto laughed loudly and dipped his chopsticks into his bowl of noodles.
"You baka! I'm twice the ninja you'll ever be! And I'm not wrecking anything! I came to eat a bowl of noodles!" Sasuke growled back, his face inching closer.
"Well I'm gonna be Hokage!" Naruto shot back.
"Hokage my butt!" Sasuke sneered, looking off to the side and smirking. Sakura's body tensed as she watched Sasuke and Naruto batter back and forth. Her first thought was to whack Naruto painfully for calling their lunch a date; the next was about what the blond boy had said.
'Sasuke-san wouldn't be jealous of Naruto-kun and I. After all, Kakashi sensei said we had to spend some time together. And it's not like I mean anything to Sasuke-san anymore, not since the fighting began…then again, maybe he is kinda mad.
I remember when we were little, he'd wipe things off my face like that too…' Sakura winced as the happy childhood memories came flooding out of the drawer she had tried to lock them in.
She stood up then, knowing that if she didn't leave right away then the tears were going to fall. Both boys looked at her at the same time.
"What's wrong Sakura-chan? Don't you want to finish your ramen?" Naruto asked, looking sad. Sakura pushed aside the fresh wave of guilt she felt.
"Thanks for lunch, Naruto-kun. Um, I'll see you tomorrow then, Sasuke-san?" Sakura muttered quickly, not meeting the gaze of either boy. Without waiting for an answer she ran out of the ramen shop, but despite her haste the memories of her forbidden friendship still came, and Sakura knew it was time to give Ino a call.
'I know she's mad at me for being on Sasuke-san's team and everything, but I need somebody…' Sakura rubbed her temples as she came to a stop in front of the flower shop.
'Here I go.' Sakura thought before opening the door. A bell went off, signaling the arrival of a customer. There, at the counter, sat Ino Yamanaka reading a magazine.
"Welcome to-." Ino started, looking up from her reading. Her voice ended when she saw the familiar pink locks.
"Sakura-san? What are you and your giant forehead doing here?" Ino asked, all traces of polite-ness gone. Sakura didn't have the energy to argue today, so she let that little comment slide. For now.
"Ino-san, I need advice. I didn't know who else to turn to…you are the best at it." Sakura twiddled her thumbs in a very Hinata-ish sort of way, knowing that a compliment would warm things up a bit.
"Well, I can't argue with you there. So what's on your mind?" Ino questioned as she played with a pot of roses sitting on the counter. Sakura replayed everything that had happened so far.
"I'm just so confused, Ino-san. I don't like Naruto-kun more then a teammate, though he apparently likes me, Sasuke-san acts like I don't exist, though I'd like to be his friend, and those two act like they hate each other's guts, so they're always fighting." Sakura moaned, burying her face in her hands.
When Ino heard the whole Sasuke ignores Sakura part, she looked happy and willing to help. But now that she heard the whole Sakura wants to be Sasuke's buddy thing, she was back to being rude.
"What do I look like, a therapist? Just try to deal with it, and whatever happens, happens." The blond girl said with a roll of her blue eyes.
"Thanks, Ino-san…" Sakura muttered before leaving the shop, feeling worse then when she had gone in.
'And to top things off, if my parents find out about my one on one time with Sasuke-san, they'll likely lock me away in a tower like some forgotten princess…' Sakura thought with a sigh.
Her mood had taken a big downwards dip, and when she returned home it was obvious to her parents that today was not the day to ask her what was up.
A/N: Sorry, I know I made Ino all mean and stuff in this chapter. But I'll sweeten up their friendship later on. For now it makes for good drama. So Sasuke randomly showed up and caught Sakura and Naruto having a moment… and now Sakura has to spend time with Sasuke, though if caught by their families… well, it looks like I've written a decent chapter then :D
