Naruto Fan Fiction ❯ Distant Thoughts ❯ Friends Again ( Chapter 7 )

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]

Disclaimer: As much as I wish it were true, Naruto is not mine.

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Chapter 7: Friends Again
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She let out a small smile. Her pale pink hair glowed with the mid-day sun. Emerald eyes glittered with happiness as she shifted in her bed. The room was slightly warm and Sakura kept her eyes on Ino as the blonde girl closed the oak door to her hospital room. She too returned a hesitant smile and made her way to the chair that has been used by all her guests. She righted it to where it sat to Sakura’s left, closer then where it was, near the foot of the bed. Ino pushed the strands of hair that blocked her blue eyes behind her ear before speaking up.

“Sakura-chan, what are you doing here?” She whispered, her voice barley left her mouth. She didn’t expect Sakura, of all people, to be submitted in a hospital. The building was full of grief and death, something she never would associate Sakura with. Sakura, to her, will always be the bright small girl that she help that one spring afternoon. She never truly wanted to fight over Sasuke, but she could help but feel jealous that everyone took to Sakura so fast. After that day, Sakura seemed more loved than her, and Ino didn’t like it. But she did always regret breaking her close friendship with the green-eyed girl. Nothing seemed the same afterwards.

Sakura sighed lightly and averted her gaze to her hands, which where gripping the white sheets. “I don’t really know Ino-chan. They say I got this poison or something in my blood and that it deals with mind-jutsu,” Sakura smiled and looked up at her, her eyes squinted shut, “don’t worry about it though, I’m fine.” Ino looked through that fake smile and shook her head,

“Big-forehead Sakura,” she murmured playfully, “you always get into trouble.” Sakura continued to smile, “Of course I get into more trouble with Ino-pig around.” Ino leaned forward and ruffled Sakura’s hair a little and laughed, Sakura joined her.

Sakura was the first to stop laughing, “Ne, Ino-chan?” Ino slowed to a chuckle and looked at Sakura curiously. Sakura frowned a little and continued, “Did you visit Sasuke?” Ino looked down, she knew that Sakura was going to ask if she already had the knowledge that he was here.

“Mmm, I did. Actually I found him at his house and had him taken here. I don’t know what was wrong, but after he got up, he left.” Sakura smiled, “He jumped out the window and ran.” Sakura nodded her head when Ino finished talking.

“I expected as much from him. Ino, you know that I am not after him anymore.” Ino shot her head up, surprise showing in her eyes. “No, I didn’t know. So I won?” Sakura chuckled, “I would never lose to you Ino, it is just that I feel that my ninja abilities need to be my first priority.” Ino gave Sakura a scrutinizing gaze, under the harsh gaze Sakura slightly blushed and Ino gave off a knowing smile.

“It’s not that you don’t like Sasuke-kun anymore, I think you like someone else too.” Sakura blanched. ‘How could she know me so well, even after being rivals for so long.’ Ino moved the chair closer and leaned in. The light outside the covered window finally starting to fade to a darker hue then it’s orangey tint it had earlier.

“So tell me Sakura-chan, who is it?”

~~

Kakashi walked away from the office of the Hokage. He had talked earlier with Tsuande about the small things that Sakura had mentioned to her nurse. Tsuande had earlier agreed with him that the initial attack was possibly meant for Sasuke, but after Sakura said that the dreams, which were possibly a result of the mind-jutsu, mentioned her in it, they were unsure. It should be talking about Sasuke and if the person who’s chakra is implanted in her body realized it wasn’t him, should have stopped. But they haven’t and Kakashi suspected that the fall from the earlier mission had something to do with it too. And he knows Sakura is holding back on telling him about it. ‘She is too into her training to tell anybody her weaknesses.’

He lazily places his hands into his pockets, his lanky figure leaning somewhat back. Once reaching the final door, he pushed it open with his foot and stood looking out. The door closed behind him, his silvery hair moved slowly in the light breeze. His one visible eye looked west and watched just as the sun made its way down, under the horizon. He let out a shaky breath and continued to walk towards the part of the village that the Uchiha Clan was located, or where they would be if there were any left. He had to check up on the boy that ran from the hospital.

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His dark eyes blinked awake. His head was spinning and he grunted, placing his hand to his eyes, rubbing the sleep from them. Sasuke shifted off the bed, but a heavy hand fell onto his right shoulder. His body stiffened and he gradually turned his head, a tall dark figure stood behind him. The face was hidden in the dark and he couldn’t make out anything in the shadowed room. The figure shifted and stepped back,

“Oi, Sasuke. I wouldn’t expect you not to sense me enter your room. I thought you would have jumped at me by the time I even touched your window.” Kakashi’s mask wrinkled with a smile and he moved to turn on the lights. The sudden brightness hurt Sasuke’s eyes, he waited for them to adjust before he started to question his Sensei’s reason for being here.

“Kakashi-sensei, why are you here at this time of day?” Kakashi moved around the room, he first ignored his student, but then turn to look straight at him. Sasuke gave a wary glance at him, he always felt somewhat weird at the attitude Kakashi presented anytime he was around his students. He always seemed laid back, but defensive at the same time. ‘How does he do it. It looks like he hardly try’s.’

“I am here to see why my little student ran away from the hospital earlier.” He ruffled Sasuke’s hair and sat down beside his on the bed. Sasuke growled and moved up and away from his teacher.

“I do not have to explain it to you or anyone.” He crossed his arms and turned his back on him. Kakashi shifted on the lumpy bed, but his vision stayed on his student. “I should be given an explanation, what if the reason you were there affected you on a mission. It could hurt you or your teammates.” Sasuke didn’t turn around but merely shook his head.

“It wont bother me again and nothing will happen to either of my teammates.” Kakashi nodded, knowing that Sasuke couldn’t even see it, and stood ready to leave.

“You cant watch them all the time Sasuke. Any of your personal problems may effect your whole team, or at least one of them.” Sasuke spun on his heel, he gave the tall man a scrutinizing gaze, “Did something happen that your not telling me?” Kakashi shrugged his shoulders and made his way to the open window.
“Maybe you shouldn’t have left the hospital so soon. You might’ve missed someone that was there.” With that he left the young boy to his own devices.

Sasuke just stood there, contemplating on what his teacher said. ‘Probably Naruto, stupid baka.’ But the strange feeling had yet to leave him. “Maybe a visit wont be so bad.” He whispered. He too opted to just take a more direct root and left through his window. He didn’t even notice Kakashi standing underneath the tree near his window.

‘Didn’t take him long.’ He chuckled and moved a hand through his messy hair. ‘Maybe now I could get some answers.’ He moved slowly to follow Sasuke for another session of eavesdropping.

~~


Neji couldn’t get the thought of a missing Sakura out of his head. Yes, he was tempted to go and find her. But he had earlier made a promise to himself to not care. No matter what he was going to keep it. Nothing will get in his way. The picture of a girl with pink hair came to mind again and he quickly shook his head to get rid of the mental image. He growled to himself, no matter how much he was curious to confront the foreign feelings inside him, he was determined to ignore them.

He laid back in his bed, the room was dark and seemed to take on the same sensation inside of him, emptiness and dark. The room was also cold and he refused to pull up the blanket to cover himself. He rather just lay there and stare at the ceiling above him.

The glow of the moon penetrated the thin curtains and the thin rays of lights fell across the room, some on his face and others on other parts of his pale skin. The skin underneath the glow seemed to be paler then others, but Neji didn’t mind the intrusion of light. He instead turned his head to the side and just stared out, looking up at the bright lighted orb that hung in the dark sea of stars.

Neji rubbed his head with his left hand and shifted into a more comfortable position to rest. ‘Tomorrow I will start a harder training cycle. Anything to keep my mind of that girl.’ He closed his silvery eyes and slowly the pull of sleep took over until his chest rose and fell in a rhythmic movement.

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“NEJI! As in Hyuuga Neji, cousin to Hinata?!” Sakura blushed harder as Ino started to laugh. She lightly slapped Ino in her left arm and that just made Ino laugh harder. She leaned slightly back and almost fell backwards if she didn’t catch herself just in time. Sakura’s face remained that of a tomato, her eyebrow twitching at the blonde girl.

Ino calmed down and let out a small giggle before looking at her friend. “Ne, Sakura-chan, when did this happen?” She leaned in and placed her thin elbows onto the mattress, Sakura leaned to the side because of the slight pressure and looked at Ino.

“I don’t really like him that much Ino, its just a passing emotion every time I see him.” Ino raised her eyebrow at her, “Is it the same you get when Sasuke-kun is around.” Sakura shrugged her shoulders and moved to get up off the bed, trying to change the subject. Ino sat back up to let her friend some room. “What are you doing?” Sakura ignored her and walked to the window to move the blinds away from the glass. She placed her hands onto the window and opened it, a cool breeze entered the room once the clear barrier was lifted. Sakura moved her head to the side and looked at Ino, “Hey Ino-chan, lets take a walk.”

Before Ino could tell Sakura how crazy she sounded, the petal pink haired girl jumped out the window. Ino gasped and ran to the window, the chair fell over and was left forgotten on the floor. Ino glanced out the window and saw Sakura waving up at her, “Come on Ino-chan, its such a nice night.” Ino placed a hand on her face and let out a strangled breath. But soon she too made her way out the window and joined Sakura on the level ground.

“Where are we going?” Asked Ino, falling in step with Sakura.

Sakura smiled and answered, “You’ll see.”

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Sasuke made it to the hospital some time later. He stopped at the entrance and continued in with his hands in his pockets. He shuffled up to the front desk and looked up at the old woman who sat behind it. The gray haired lady looked down suspiciously at the dark haired boy. Sasuke ignored the look and spoke up,

“I’m looking for Naruto Uzumaki.” The old woman looked down and searched through a variety of papers before looking back at the boy. “I’m sorry, there is no one here by that name.” She hacked out, her voice raw from probably all the years of yelling emergencies through the hallways of the hospital. Sasuke could feel his heart skip a beat when she announced that Naruto wasn’t placed anywhere on the hospital premises. That would only leave,

Sasuke slammed his hands on the desk top and glared at the old woman who jumped at the sudden sound. His eyebrows drew together, “Where is Sakura Haruno’s room.” It was a demand, not a question. Any seriousness that the nurse had was gone while she struggled to search through the papers to find the room number of the girl that the boy in front of him wanted. She sighed with relief when she found it and looked at the serious boy.

“She is in room 162a,” before she could finish with the directions, Sasuke was already rounding the corner.

She shook her head and looked at the other figure that walked into the lobby. She smiled and waved as the silver hair man raised his hand and continued to walk in the direction of Sakura’s room.

Sasuke caught his breath and slowly opened the door to room 162a, what he was met with was an empty room. The bed was left unmade and a chair was left on the cold tiled floor. He steadily walked in and passed by the bed to the open window. The wind blew into the room and through Sasuke’s dark hair. He leaned his head down and out of the window, his eyes glancing back and forth, but soon retreated his head back to look around the room once more. He sighed and sat on the window sill,

“You know Sensei, I’m not that out of it that I didn’t notice you following me and standing near the door.” A head popped in from the hallway, “So it seems, it also seems that our little Sakura-chan has pulled a Sasuke on us.” Sasuke flushed and continued to look out the window,

“Do you know where she went?” asked Sasuke. Kakashi just shrugged and leaned on the siding of the door.

“Not a clue, but if she was able to leave then she must be feeling fine.” Kakashi turned around and left. Sasuke turned on the sill and jumped off, landing neatly on the ground below. He looked up at the moon and back to the road to his house, ‘What a pointless waste of my time this was, she wasn’t even here.’

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Sakura stopped close to a bench that sat underneath a tall tree. Ino came to a halt beside her, she looked ahead, she quickly glanced at Sakura who moved to sit down. Ino hesitated but she too moved to sit on the small wooden bench. Sakura gave off a small smile,

“You remember the last time we were here Ino-chan?” Ino looked at her sandal-clad feet before answering, “This was the last time we were ever seen as friends.” She whispered and looked at Sakura, water started to glisten in her blue eyes. Sakura smiled sadly, “I always regretted becoming rivals with you Ino.”

Ino sniffled, “Then why did you do it?” Ino looked at her, waiting for an answer.

“Why did you go along with it?” The question caught Ino off guard, she never knew why she did. She just was so angry that day, and maybe she wasn’t thinking straight.

“Can’t answer it can you? That’s the same as me on your question. I wasn’t thinking right and I was so mad because I always thought you looked so much better then me. I thought I could never match up to you.” Ino continued to look at her, surprise evident in her eyes. Though Sakura didn’t notice, her head was bowed to prevent from looking at Ino. She was afraid of what Ino thought of her and Sakura didn’t think she could take it. Her head shot up though when she felt arms wrap around her. She could hear a light choke sob come from the girl beside her and soon Sakura couldn’t keep in her own tears.

Two bodies hugged each other under the spring tree. With each breath the wind took, the leaves moved and let some light from the moon to shine upon them. Neither paid attention to the time of night or the cold air that passed by them. Soon the tears dried and they let each other go.

“Ino-chan, I don’t want to be rivals anymore.” Ino looked at her and wiped the tears from her own cheeks, she smiled.

“I agree, best friends again?” She held out her hand towards the other girl. Sakura smiled brightly,

“Agreed.” She took Ino’s hand and shook it before letting out a string of giggles. The blonde girl soon joined her.

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AN: *wipes away a tear* Awww… Ino and Sakura are friends again. I don’t know about you guys out there but I think they make the best of friends. Its funny how alike they sometimes both seem.