Warnings
COPYRIGHT
In Soviet Russia, you own Naruto. Here and now, Naruto owns you.
Foreword: Thishas likely already been done. One-sided
romance angst ahoy.
The Point.
By Arkhe
"You're annoying." Sasuke admonished. "Stop bothering
me."
Sakura pulled away dejected and the dark-haired youth went on his way. It
wasn't totally unexpected though. Everyday, it was always like the one before. After
training, she wears her heart on her sleeve and he will turn her down again. She
promises that circumstances will change tomorrow, however only to find the
process to repeat itself the next day.
Sighing loudly to herself, the pink-haired ninja-trainee turns to go to
her own activities when she spots the other member of her team avidly watching
her from his spot on top of the bridge's rails. She interprets the sight of his
smile as a gloat at her loss and it sets her off.
"What the hell are you looking at, Naruto?" She lashes out.
"Wanna go out and get some ramen with me, Sakura-chan?" The
blond boy smiles broadly.
"I'm never going to go out with you. You should know that by
now." Her bitterness comes out in waves.
He slumps a little and closes his eyes, the grin becomes a little more
forced than it was.
She takes no notice and huffs loudly. Focusing on a million things
beckoning for her attention elsewhere, Sakura turns to leave...
"Does it hurt less every day?"
...only to have his soft spoken words stop her.
Ever so slowly, she turns to face him, but he doesn't meet her eyes. She
finds him too busy staring down at that little clump of grass surrounded by
barren soil and growing at the foot of the bridge.
The anger simmers, but she is adamant to clear it up instead of
approaching with violence (as is her normal means when dealing with her blond
teammate).
"What?" She coarsely asks him to clarify.
She has a guilty satisfaction from seeing him half-flinch from the venom
in her tone. He repeats himself but words it differently.
"It happens everyday." He quietly asks. "Does it
hurt?"
Indignation courses through her, as disbelief is written into her face. How
dare he!
"OF COURSE IT DOES!" She shouts, her face burning red from the
exertion to scream.
At this point, she is about ready to throttle him, or lay him across the
chin and send him careening into the water below. However, logic barely
intercedes in time as she's entirely too curious to see where he's heading with
this.
"What the hell is your point?-!" The question us
honestly the only thing from saving him from something terribly painful.
He blinks confused. He wants to look at her, but he's too fearful and
manages to catch himself from doing so. The question had caught him off-guard
as he never expects them to be lasting this long through a conversation on
their own without something else between -like a mission or the other teammate.
In all fairness, she can't believe it either.
He perceptively eyes her fist and she catches a longing that perhaps he
wished to have been on the tail end of it by now. Possibly to avoid answering
the question.
But he answers anyway -she knows he could never refuse her.
"See, see... It's like this."
He gestures with his fingers extended, hands parallel.
"It's like a schedule."
Her eyes narrow at his choice of words, but allows him the benefit of
the doubt.
"Everyday, you wake up, Sakura-chan, and everything's all sunny and
stuff and it all just makes you feel good inside. It's obvious when we see you
in the morning. Then as the day goes on, everything is just getting along
better, you know? You're all smiles and it's all just perfect. You're building
up to something great! Nothing can go wrong!"
He tries to explain, whilst tripping over his own words. She nods as he
goes along. He's eerily outlined the start of most of her days perfectly.
"Then, then you put all your feelings on him... And you know that
something, SOMETHING has to go right. Cause every day before was bad, so
today HAS to go right, right?"
She hesitantly nods to his question. Something hits a little too close
to home.
"But then the asshole rejects you again. And suddenly, things just
don't look so bright but you keep goin', Sakura-chan. You try to make the best
of things and finish the day. Then when it's time to sleep, you stay up knowing
there's something wrong with you and that you'll just have to try harder
tomorrow."
He's practically ranting and she notices it. But he's nailed her
perfectly and though it causes a pit in her stomach, she lets him continue
because she's caught in the middle of something and she can't let it stop now.
"And then there's the new day... And you give it your biggest smile
and you put everything behind you because TODAY, you honest to God HOPE
that it's gonna be different today, cause she's NEVER looked at you the
way she looks at him but you know that something's gotta give... Every little
thing you do has got to mean something... But it just happens all over
again..."
Sakura's eyes widen at his words. It's not just about her feelings
anymore. it's all... symmetrical. Her rage is drowned out by the emptiness and
she lets him continue because she just can't stand to hit him anymore. He
doesn't notice his slip up and he goes on to conclude.
"So anyway, the point is... Even though this schedule
hurts less everyday..."
"In a way..." He freezes, catching his voice.
"You kinda wish..." He tries to conclude again but finds it
stopping before it can leave his mouth.
His eyes dart around pensively... Desperately for something... Then he
looks up, for the first time catching her eyes since the conversation started
and there's too much emotion...
His cerulean blue eyes silently screamed as if the world was hanging on
a line.
"The point..." His voice gives out and his eyes glaze
over, seeing something through her.
Then all of a sudden, Naruto's posture straightens, his eyes scrunch
tightly and that forced grin plasters his face again.
"I don't know. I'm getting some ramen."
Unbelievably to his audience, Naruto hops off the rail. She can only watch
him walk past, as her mind attempts to decipher what his unsaid conclusion was.
"The day's still young, Sakura-chan." He calls out over his
shoulder. "It's not tomorrow yet."
His shout pulls her wandering mind back and immediately, her heart takes
hold. She suddenly realises that she didn't need him to finish it. She knows
what went unsaid all too well.
"Even though the schedule hurts less everyday..." She mumbles
whilst sparing a sidelong wishful glance to where her heart had been following
her dark-haired avenger.
"...In a way, it also hurts more."
Then she turns back to the blond outcast's retreating figure.
"And you kinda wish you could stop."
He disappears from view.
"But the point is: you can't."
End.
Author's Notes:
Just a quick story and a shout to say, 'I'm not dead!'. XD I know it's not
usually up to par with Fox Identity, but I'd wanted to get this out of my
system. Hopefully, he's OOC is plausible...
Now, for those of you waiting on Fox05a, I swear it will be out in a
week or two. Watch
out! It's coming... Coming for you!