Talking: “....”
Thinking: ‘.....’
Inner Sakura .......

&@&@&@&@&@&@

Open Your Eyes

“Sasuke-kun...” A quiet, soft voice said in the darkness. She stood there, again, at the same place where she tried to stop him from going. Sakura Haruno, one of the kunoichi of the Hidden Leaf village Konoha, stood there, looking at just darkness again, while the wind made her pink hair move slightly. She didn’t took her emerald eyes away from where he once disappeared.

“Don’t worry, Sakura-chan! I will get him back! It’s a promise of a lifetime!” She smiled a bit. She knows he is right. After all, he is Naruto Uzumaki, her team-mate, her friend, the one on who she could rely on. The blond-haired boy with bright blue eyes, that was always full with life when she saw him.

“But how can we find him...?” She whispered, looking down. ‘We don’t know were he is, we don’t know what Orochimaru is doing to him.... Maybe he is already dead...’ Sakura shook her head wildly. ‘No! He is not dead... He... he’s strong!’ Yes, because he is Sasuke Uchiha. The second last one of the Uchiha clan. Dark, sometimes with a mysterious blue shade, black hair and just plain black eyes, which could transform in the Sharingan. He then gained the look of a vicious person, with his eyes as red as blood. But he wasn’t the only one. He has one brother, the one who killed the entire clan; Itachi Uchiha.

“That’s why he left,” Sakura whispered. “to kill his older brother. To gain strength to do that.” Sakura wrapped her arms around her. She only had a red, thin, long vest without sleeves and green knee length shorts wearing. Standing there in the wind all the time makes it cold after a while.

‘I don’t want to go back, maybe he’s coming back right now! I mean, if he comes back, I want to be there to... to welcome him! And give him a slap in the face. But... I’ll probably get weak in the knees again...’ Sakura laughed a nervous laugh.

Sakura now shivered. Tears appeared in her eyes. She quickly wiped them away. ‘I’m so stupid... Crying again over him. I don’t want it to look like that I can only cry, because I promised Naruto... I will get stronger, for the both of them!’

Sakura shivered again. Suddenly, she felt something warm on her shoulders. She looked behind her. A gently smile was seen on a young boy’s face.

“What are you doing, Sakura-chan? You’ll catch a cold like that.” Naruto said, still his hands on her shoulders.

Sakura looked surprised, “Naruto? What are you doing here?”

Naruto still had a gentle smile on his face, his blue eyes looked even bigger in the dark. It was clearly to see that he wore the same thing he always does; An orange pants and a black T-shirt. Sakura had his jacket, which was also orange, and a bit of blue on the front and the back and a white collar. “I could ask you the same question. I was looking for you. I hadn’t seen you at all this afternoon-“

She cut him off, “You were worried about me?” She asked, her eyes wide, as if no one ever worried about her.

Naruto blushed and scratched the back of his head. “Well, yeah. I mean, Konoha isn’t that big, you know.”

Sakura smiled, a soft expression on her face. “Thank you, Naruto...”

Naruto blushed like mad now, “N-no problem, Sakura-chan.” He tried to shake his blush off by changing the subject, “S-so, what are you doing here, Sakura-chan?”

Sakura’s smile disappeared again. “Oh, well... nothing important really...” She turned away from him, looking at where she was staring at before, holding Naruto’s jacket that was over her shoulders tightly.

Naruto looked with her, seeing the same as she did; darkness. “Are you... expecting someone?”

Sakura still looked forward, hiding her face from Naruto. “No... no, not really.”

“Sakura-chan... is it Sasuke?” Although Naruto doesn’t want to talk about her crush, he didn’t want to see his crush sad.

Sakura quickly turned around after hearing his name. “What? How do you-“

Naruto cut her off, “Sakura-chan, did you forget my promise? I will save him, remember? I’ll bring him back! And you... you’ll be happy again...” While he said that last sentence, although he was smiling, he had a look of sadness in his eyes. He tried to hide it, of course, but Sakura could see it clearly.

“Naruto... I don’t want you to do it alone. I want to help you, that’s what I said, right? I’m going to become stronger, and if we save Sasuke... then we’ll both be happy, we’ll be a team again.”

“Yeah, three-men’s cell, huh?” Naruto said, grinning.

Sakura smiled too, “Right.” Sakura stopped smiling and looked at Naruto. He seemed to be... glowing. “Naruto...?”

Naruto stopped grinning, but a smile didn’t left his face, “Mh?” He simply replied. The two looked at each other for a while. Neither of them said something, until Sakura took a step forward and hugged Naruto.

“S-Sakura-chan! What are you-“ Naruto stuttered, as his crush hugged him, and it felt like she hugged him with everything she got.

“Shhh...” She said, with her eyes closed, listening to his fastened heart beat. “Let’s just... stay like this for a while, please?”

Naruto gulped, but put is arms around Sakura, “S-sure...” Naruto smelled the scent of strawberries coming from Sakura. He loved the smell. He wouldn’t mind if they stayed longer like this.

Sakura sighed, a rather happy sigh. She felt comfortable and safe in Naruto’s arms, something she would never feel if she would have done this with him when she just met him. Naruto smelled like the woods, and a bit like the winter. It seemed that this scent relaxed Sakura, as she inhaled it deeply.

Although neither of them wanted to admit it to each other, they liked this very much. As much as they wanted to stay like this, they knew it had to end soon; it was getting late.

Surprisingly, Naruto was the first one who pulled away, “Sakura-chan, it’s getting late... Maybe we should go home.”

Nodding, but a little disappointed, Sakura agreed, “Yes, we should.”

Naruto smiled, “I’ll walk you home, ok?” Sakura nodded, and they walked home together.

No one said something along the way, but they didn’t had to; they enjoyed each others company anyway.

As they walked, they suddenly noticed that they were already at Sakura’s house.

“Well, here we are, Sakura-chan.” Naruto said as Sakura walked up at her door.

“Yeah,” She said quietly. They didn’t know what else to say.

Naruto shuffled his feet a bit, “Well, guess I’ll be going now.”

Sakura nodded, “Thanks for walking me home, Naruto.”

Naruto smiled, “No problem, Sakura-chan! I’ll see you tomorrow again?”

Sakura nodded again, without saying a word. Naruto began to walk away, until he heard Sakura call out to him.

“Ah, Naruto? If... if you don’t have anything tomorrow... would you like to go and eat some ramen with me at Ichiraku’s?”

Naruto’s eyes went wide and the biggest smile was seen on his face, “Yeah! I-I mean, yeah, sure, Sakura-chan, that sounds great!”

“But remember, it’s not a date!” She warned him.

Naruto smiled with his eyes closed, “No problem, I don’t mind! See ya tomorrow, Sakura-chan!” And with that, Naruto sped way.

Sakura let out a little giggle as she saw him disappearing in the dark, before she went inside.

Shannaro! You have a date! Her inner Sakura yelled.

Sakura blushed, “I-it’s not a date!” She said out loud, “It’s just a friendly dinner, that’s all!”

Tsch, yeah, at his favourite ramen restaurant! Open your eyes girl and see Sasuke’s competition!  

“W-what? Competition over me? N-no, I have a big forehead!” Sakura said, as trying to come up for an excuse.

.... Right, well, see for yourself tomorrow. Try and look dazzling!

“You mean the things I always wear?” Sakura said, mocking her other self.

Whatever! I’m out!

Sakura giggled, already looking forward to tomorrow. ‘Strange...’ She said to herself.

Just when Sakura was about to go upstairs, she noticed something; “Ah! I still have Naruto’s jacket!” She said, as she took his jacket in her hands. She secretly smelled at it, smiling.

“Looks like, another reason to see him tomorrow.”