xi.
Instinct was something Sai heavily relied on in battle, and instinct had never failed him during his time alive. So when it led him to the entrance of the Konoha Hospital in his healthiest state one day, Sai questioned his instinct for the first time. It was from that point onward that the dark haired artist would visit the hospital everyday without fail (except during missions).
During his time there, Sai would hope to find the something that can relieve him of the nagging feeling that something or someone was horribly missing. The nurses have started to recognize his face and would jokingly ask if he had found what he was looking for. Sai gave them his traditional fake smile and left shortly after.
Today, he came across an injured Naruto being helped to walk by his counterpart. The three exchanged greetings and proceeded to enter the hospital where Naruto was instantly wheeled away by one of the nurses. Sai was left with his brooding teammate.
"Did you come to look for her?"
Sai, startled by the sudden question, inclined his head towards the raven haired man, "Her?"
Sasuke grunted, "Nevermind."
And the conversation ended just like that. Sai mused.
xii.
Sometimes she'd like to think that she was the star; a smaller version of the sun and accompanies the moon at night.
But then again, she thinks, stars die out quickly and leave disastrous black holes at its death. So she threw away that thought and continued to watch over her precious boys.
xiii.
Ino stared at the flowers in her hand; a cosmos and the bud of a rose wrapped in clear wrapping plastic. In a daze, she brought the stems to her face and-
"Ino!" an angry voice resonated from the back of the shop. Ino quickly dropped the flowers as her mother marched into view, "This has been the eighth time I caught you daydreaming, young woman!"
Ino internally cringed at the volume of the older woman's voice. Ms. Yamanaka caught sight of the bud on the counter top and her voice rised another octave, "Are you seriously going to give the customers a bud? Have you ever seen flower shops selling buds? There are fully bloomed roses around you!"
Ino was promptly kicked out after the ninth time.
xiv.
Kakashi wished he'd put a certain blonde into a one year mission away from Konoha. He could hear the shouts from a mile away and that's when he knew two weeks of peace were up. The Rokudaime sighed for the umpteenth time that day and mentally prepared himself for the worst.
xv.
The day Naruto returned from his mission, Sasuke had already forgotten the photo incident. It was his way of coping with reality; forget and move on. But his encounter with his replace- er, the socially awkward artist (Naruto had insisted he wasn't replaced) had reminded Sasuke of himself when his legs unconsciously dragged him to the hospital.
Naruto appeared half an hour later, all patched up, and decided it was the best time to drag both his teammates to Ichiraku. They greeted Team Gai on the way, a certain shy Hyuuga heiress was excited for her date with a blonde idiot tomorrow, Choji told them about Shikamaru visiting Sand, and Sasuke felt everything was too normal that it was out of place.
"Teme! Hurry up or we won't get seats!"
So Sasuke decided to let his thoughts go and move on, because that's his way of coping with reality.
tbc.
note1: I am extremely sorry if the quality of the story dropped T_T
note2: I have read all the reviews and I dontdeserveyoupeople.