Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto
Warning/s: Unbeta'ed. Awkward grammar.
Author's Notes: Thank you so much for reading. I wasn't really expecting that someone would read this story hence the author's silence since chapter one. I was merely testing if I could write a fic about one of my favorites OTPs – SasuNaru. This story won't be long though – probably four to six chapters more.
Again, thank you so much for reading.
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"The truth is, unless you let go,
unless you forgive yourself,
unless you forgive the situation,
unless you realize that that situation is over,
you cannot move forward."
— Steve Maraboli, Life, the Truth, and Being Free..
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"You know he likes you, Naruto."
It was lunch break and most of the students were eating at the cafeteria near the school's gymnasium. Naruto and Sakura, on the other hand, opted to eat at the garden near the senior's building because the noise was much less there during break time period.
"Who?" asked the blonde who was currently munching hefty amount of garlic bread. He looked at Sakura before gulping down his fruit juice.
"You know who it is, stupid."
Naruto shook his head, clearly innocent. "I dunno. There are many people who don't like me, too, Sakura-chan. And I bet there are a lot more of them than those people who like me."
Sakura just shrugged her shoulders. "I'm talking about Sasuke-kun."
Naruto stopped eating for a while and looked at his friend. Sakura had been staring at him intently since this morning and it was making him curious.
"I like Sasuke, too, Sakura-chan," he said.
Sakura sighed. "You don't really understand me, don't you?"
"I understand you," Naruto exclaimed defiantly. He was kind of sensitive when people say that to him.
"No, you don't," Sakura said, eyes were still locked to the blonde. "If you do, you won't be here anymore," she mumbled to herself.
Naruto pouted his lips. "What?"
"Nothing." Sakura shook her head and noticed a piece of bread at the corner of Naruto's mouth. He was still an epic messy eater. And he was already fourteen years old, for crying out loud.
She pulled her handkerchief in her bag and shoved it into Naruto's face.
"Whoah!" cried the blonde who almost fell from the bench. He stared at the handkerchief in his hands.
"Wipe your mouth, asshole," said the pink haired girl. "If Sasuke saw you looking like that, you will never hear the end of it."
Naruto grinned. "Thanks, Sakura-chan."
"Hmp."
In the corner of her eyes, she watched Naruto as he gulped his remaining bread. He looked so childish, but it was one of the qualities that made her stick to him all these years. Naruto was an honest and reliable friend. She would never say it out loud, but she was thankful for having the Naruto by her side.
When Naruto finished eating, he began cleaning his mouth.
Sakura was about to eat the remaining portion of her sandwich when she realized something was wrong.
Naruto was scrubbing his face using her handkerchief!
Sakura horrifyingly stared at the blonde.
"What t-the hell a-are you doing?!" she cried, eyes were widening in shock and disgust.
Naruto innocently stared at the pink haired girl."I was wiping my face, Sakura-chan."
Sakura trembled in fury as she clenched her fist.
"IT'S A HANDKERCHIEF, NOT A FACE TOWEL, YOU MORON!"
"W-what? But it's t-the same, right?"
"IT'S NOT THE SAME!"
"Don't worry, I-I am clean. It's clean, see?" He showed the pink handkerchief to its owner, hoping to appease the girl even for just a little bit but instead, Sakura trembled even more.
"ARRRH! IT'S BLACK! BLACK!"
"It's b-brown, Sakura-chan..." Naruto tried to smile coyly.
This only made the girl shriek more.
"When was the last time you've taken a bath?"
"Errr...Last... Tuesday...?"
"It's already Thursday today!"
"But It' was cold, Sakura-chan!"
"You are going to school without bathing?!"
Naruto pouted at this. "But I wipe myself every morning..." he muttered.
"You... You disgusting dog!
Naruto stopped for a while and with a serious face, he said, "Akamaru will be sad to hear that, Sakura-chan..."
Sakura crackled in vehemence. "Do I look like I give a fuck about Kiba's dog, huh, Naruto?"
Naruto whimpered as he ran again for his life.
"But you lend it to me! I thought it was alright for me to use it!"
"Shut up! I'll gonna toss you to the nearest bath house!"
"But it's cold!"
"I don't care!"
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"Is that your friend, Naruto?" Chiiyo-baasan asked. After his cleaning job in the nursery school, he immediately flew to Chiiyo-baasan's place to clean, and Sai followed him like a child would do to his mother. Naruto, who was already feeling sluggish from all the work he had done that day, and so he didn't complain.
"Are you talking about Sai?"
"Yeah."
Naruto smiled at the old woman. "Well, I guess."
"But you were trying to kill him just now."
Naruto laughed as he continued mopping, his mouth was zipped.
He didn't really have to do the cleaning but since Chiiyo-baasan was already weak, he offered his services to her – for free.
It was always the last thing he did before he go home and sleep.
"He was one of my childhood friends, baa-chan."
The old woman smiled dreamily. "Friends, huh? I have a lot of them too when I was still young."
Naruto just smiled at that. And in an inaudible whisper, he added, "He was one of those people who stood up for me a long, long time ago."
The old woman apparently didn't hear it.
"Do you have many friends, Naruto?" She asked.
The blonde stopped mopping for a second.
When Naruto didn't answer, Chiiyo-baasan shook her head as she headed at the back door of the restaurant. "You are really a weird boy," she said.
Then added, "And I like that."
She was smiling.
She raised her hand in the air and waved it.
"Don't worry about not having many friends, boy. The truth is, you don't really need so many of them. You just need two or three. And I'm telling you, it is more than enough."
Naruto smiled a little, in his sky blue eyes were brimming with varied emotions.
"Alright. Time to hit the sack. Don't forget to lock the doors, Naruto," Chiiyo said before she finally disappeared at the back of the restaurant.
Naruto just nodded, silently agreeing to what she said.
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TBC