"Summer Sprig"
By: LittleDarkOne
The sun beat down mercilessly upon the little village of the Hidden Leaves, and anyone who was bold enough to leave the shade to explore this new day. A gentle breath of wind blew by, ruffling the lone girl’s loose locks. Fingers intricately grasped every silver strand, pulling and snapping them back into a higher ponytail than before. Tiny beads of sweat were now free to fall down her slowly roasting neck and face. She panted, plopping down uselessly under the lone sakura tree, drinking in the cool shade it provided. She spread herself out upon her stomach, letting her hands support her head as her teal colored eyes glared angrily up at the smirking sun. "Bah! Why make summer so hot?!" She shouted to the unchanging sky, huffing as she set her head back down upon her sweated arms, hoping to find some comfort.
"Can’t take the heat, Ino?" The voice asked tauntingly.
The girl snapped back to attention, shifting her angry eyes from the grass to the girl that appeared over the hill’s crest. "Hmph, and you can, Sakura-Big-Forehead?" She replied back with a question, letting the merry grin tug at her lips.
"Stupid, Ino-Pig…" She mumbled under her breath, making her way over to the other. She made a place for herself, nudging the girl over so she too could take a seat in the shade. "The heat isn’t so bad." She said simply, finally answering her question from before. Slowly still she laid herself out upon her stomach, matching the other girl’s pose.
"Sure…" She grumbled, looking off to the distance. Angrily she flicked her ponytail off her shoulder, letting it fall to her side in the strands of emerald.
She noticed her hair flicks every now and then, growing further annoyed with each one. She huffed, grasping the thick mass of hair. "This is probably the reason why you can’t take summer."
She glared up at her in response, "Well, maybe I just shouldn’t come out at all during summer."
"Maybe, then you can spare everyone seeing your ugly pig-face." She said with a grin, letting the sweat-matted locks go.
"Maybe you should grow more hair to cover that big forehead." She stuck her tongue out to the other girl, attempting to hide a smile due to her previous insult.
"Hmph." She snorted, crossing her arms ahead of her, and resting her chin upon them. Sea-green eyes drifted off towards the horizon, watching the children at the base of their hill play.
A finger absently twirled a golden dandelion just in front of her, letting the silence consume the bitter conversation moments before. Growing bored with the slightly wilted flower, she turned her attention back to her companion. "Why did you come up here?" A simple question used only to bite away the silence.
"I just did." She shrugged, shifting her head to the right, letting her cheek rest on her outstretched arms. "I don’t know, I guess I thought you might want some company."
"That’s the nicest thought you had about me, Sakura-chan." She giggled, poking the girl’s nose in play.
"Yeah, yeah." She waved a hand in the air to swat the bother girl’s hand away. "We are friend’s… We’re obligated to be nice to each other every now and then, I guess…" She said seriously, though a smile soon got the best of her and took her pinkened lips upward.
She nodded, showing her agreement towards the statement. "Have you given up chasing, Sasuke-kun yet?" She asked absently, turquoise eyes trailing back to the little flower.
"Never!" She growled, as if the girl was implying for her to give up so she could take him. "I’ll make him mine…" She said softly now, her voice slowly dropping back to a normal tone.
"Maa… Why don’t you give up? It’s been a year now…" She said simply, though still not looking up from the dandelion.
Her brows furrowed, studying the girl’s placid profile. "Why this question all of a sudden?"
Ino shrugged, still twirling the almost dead flower. "I don’t know, seemed like a time to ask. It’s not smart to ask when you’re chasing Sasuke-kun or when you’re near him, is it?"
"I guess not…" She said faintly, not truly understanding her reasoning behind these questions. "Have you given up on, Sasuke-kun?" She asked, interest sparking in her eyes.
"I have." She stated, picking off the brownish-gold petals of the lone flower.
"Ha! One rival down, now he’ll be all mine!" She grinned maliciously, but the other girl never have a retort or a look and the fire of it all died when it seemed she wasn’t even listening to her. She blinked, scooting a tad closer to the thoughtful girl; "You don’t care about, Sasuke-kun anymore?"
"I just don’t see a point in chasing someone who doesn’t even like me." She said simply, picking the remains of the plant. "But, then I’m just being a hypocrite." She added with an ironic smile.
"Hypocrite?" She blinked once more, trying her best to piece what the other girl was trying to say bit it all seemed like nonsense to her. "Hmph, well… Whatever your reasons, I don’t care; I know Sasuke-kun has to like me!" She said, looking away once again and folding her arms ahead of her.
Ino’s eyes fell upon the girl now that she had looked away. She buried her head in her arms, letting strands of hair fall over her shoulder, but the heat didn’t seem to bother her anymore. "What makes you so special, Sakura-chan?" She asked, quirking a silver brow.
Confused eyes met hers and she tilted her head in response, "What do you mean?"
"I mean… Well, every girl in Konoha is after, Sasuke-kun…" She said softly. "Then what makes you so special? Why are you going to get the prize?"
She blinked in confusion at the girl’s words before she turned her head, "Because I’m not going to give up on him. I’ll wait forever if I have to."
"Forever." She mumbled. "It’s a lot harder than you think, you know. And besides, no matter how long you wait I don’t think, Sasuke-kun will ever choose you."
Her eyes narrowed as she thought the other had said such a thing in malice or in jealously. "I’ll show you." She grumbled, casting her soft colored eyes to the other girl. However the ivory-haired one didn’t turn nor even look like she was paying any attention to her, and the anger ebbed away. "What’s gotten into you, Ino-chan?"
"I don’t know…maybe just Sasuke-kun has." She mumbled, resting her head upon the crook of her arms.
"What?" She blinked. "Did he talk to you or something?"
"He did." She said simply, still gazing off into space.
She was growing tired of her friend’s behavior, but it didn’t seem that Ino took notice of her raging frustration. "Tell me what happened then! Stop acting so weird!" She growled as she succumbed to her riling emotions. At first she assumed the heat was the thing getting to her white-haired friend, but now it seemed she talked to Sasuke…without even telling her about it before. She kept an angry frown, but continued to wait until she made sense again.
"I’ll tell you." She said simply, a hand absently snaking out to twirl a blade of slightly yellowed grass. "I finally cornered, Sasuke-kun after weeks of watching him and trailing him. You could imagine how surprised I was when I finally got him all alone, no one else there to bug."
Sakura furrowed her brows, trying to remember the time when she herself was not following Sasuke. She looked over to her friend by tilting her head on her arms, ‘I remember, once I got sick in January…could she be talking about then? That was a long time ago!’ She blinked, dismissing her thoughts as her friend’s voice caught the air once more.
"He didn’t seem upset, or even try to leave when I found him. He was just unnaturally calm…but, maybe it was normal for him not to care, he is incredibly stoic." She grinned slightly. "But, I got him all alone and I was so excited. Then he turned to me, and asked what I wanted. And I told him it was him of course, and I went towards him, about to nab him as mine when he turned to me with that smirk on his face and a knowing gleam in his eyes."
"What happened?" She asked, drawn into the story now.
She glanced up from the grass, sticking her tongue out to her, "Maa! Let me finish, Sakura-big-forehead."
"Hmph." She snorted, resting her head back on her arms, and awaiting her to continue.
Her eyes trailed from her friend, back to the grass she was idling twirling in her fingers. "He told me that he had no interest in me at all. I asked him if he found someone else, I got really defensive and even asked if it was you." Sakura’s eyes widened as she wondered if in fact their Sasuke, turned out to be hers. "And he told me, that it was no girl in Konoha…"
Her face-faulted as she looked sadly at her fellow ninja, "R-Really? He said that?" Her eyes soon narrowed in a determined glare, "Who is she then? Did he tell you?"
She didn’t bother to look up this time, merely continued to twirl the blades of grass. Now, she seemed to ignore her questions, as she was just about to answer them anyway. "He told me that it was someone everyone loathed, someone he even hated before. I was really confused at that point, and didn’t bother to make a move when he walked right past me and to the door." She lowered her head fully, engulfing the scent of the ground. "And then he turned to me, right before he left me alone. He told me that he saw that I was after someone else as well, and my goal had never truly been him."
"W-What…? That’s so confusing!" She mumbled, continuing to gaze at her friend in hopes that she would begin to make sense. "What did he mean? Who does everyone hate? Who do you like?" She grumbled, an arm coming to clamp over her head and hold it between her second arm. "…Do you know, Ino-chan?" She asked meekly.
A small smile pricked her lips upward and she nodded weakly. "Just piece the things together, Sakura-chan…" She said simply, glancing over before she set her eyes ahead again.
Her brows furrowed before a light flickered in the depths of her aqua orbs, "You can’t mean…?"
She hid the small grin at the look on the other’s face, and instead decided to continue on with the story, "I rolled the information Sasuke-kun gave me in my head for hours in hopes of coming to conclusions. And, I finally did and I realized why I was chasing, Sasuke-kun all along. Also, I noticed who Sasuke-kun took interest in over every girl in the village. It was, Naruto."
At the mere name of the fox demon vessel, Sakura felt her heart stop and she gave a weird look to the smug Ino. Her face plunged into the earth and she whimpered sadly, "Why, Sasuke-kun? Why?"
Ino then reached a hand over to set upon the girl’s skull, her fingers absently dipping into the passion pink locks. "Come on, Sakura-chan, the pretty ones are always gay."
Her head shot up to the comment, and the other barely had time to retract her hand. "Not my, Sasuke-kun!" She growled, refusing to believe her words.
She sighed softly, her eyes taking on a disbelieving sheen for a moment before she set a smug grin upon her face. "Come on, Sakura-chan…there’s always gonna be girls out there. But, when does a fox-demon come along?" She chuckled to herself as she raised her body from the grass in a fluid motion.
"That’s not funny, Ino-pig." She mumbled, watching as the other girl brushed off the flecks of dirt and mashed grass.
"Sure it is." She grinned, looking over to her as she extended a pale hand.
She kept her glare, though accepted the hand and she too rose above the ground. "I don’t care, I’ll just steal him back, then." She mumbled, absently brushing off the excess nature from her dress front.
"Good luck in that." She said simply, resting a shoulder against the pale-barked sakura tree, her arms crossing over her chest.
She heaved another weary sigh before she too crossed her arms, looking across to the horizon where the sun was beginning to set. Her eyes trailed up to the tree that was being drenched in scarlet and the pale pink petals that were falling due to the heat. "Ino-chan, you never told me the rest of your story." She said finally, having come to realization that she still didn’t understand why Ino was chasing Sasuke when she didn’t like him.
"I didn’t?" She asked innocently, looking over to her with a skeptical gaze.
"Yes!" She said simply, taking a few steps over to her seeming oblivious friend.
"Oh…well, would you like to hear the end of it, then?" She asked.
"That’s the point of me telling you, you didn’t finish." She rolled her eyes. "Fine, yes, I’m asking you to tell me the rest."
She reached above her, a hand grasping the thin branch of a cherry sprig, and she jerked it downward causing more petals to fly into the air. She kept a little smile as she took the sprig and set it in front of her. Her hand absently twirled the little thing, while Sakura watched on in pure confusion, as she still didn’t make a thought to explain. "Well, I did realize why I had been chasing, Sasuke-kun all this time when I really had no feelings for him. It was mainly because of you, Sakura-chan." Ino smiled as the girl merely blinked to her. "I was chasing him only to be around you, and of our own childish rivalry, to out-do you so you would notice me instead of him. I never realized my intentions before, but he helped me figure them out." She explained, reaching the hand with the cherry sprig in it out to her.
Sakura stared at her wide-eyed, nearly tripping as she walked up to claim the little branch. Her hands clasped around it tightly, gathering it to her chest as she racked her brain for something to say. After all, it wasn’t everyday someone went up and told you that they liked you. At least, that’s what she assumed Ino just told her, just with fewer words and more thought. Her gaze shifted to her feet as she tried her best to find something to say, ‘…I don’t understand. I like, Sasuke-kun…not…Ino-chan…right?’
She sighed softly, setting a grin onto her lips. She leaned back against the tree, crossing her arms once more; "Sakura-chan, just know what I mean, alright? I’m not asking for a response, just wanting you to maybe come to your senses about, Sasuke-kun…" Her head turned to the side allowing her eyes to take on a slight crimson hue, causing them to be bathed in a dark violet. "The sun’s nearly gone, why don’t we head back now? We have missions tomorrow…"
She twirled the sprig idly in her hands before she looked back up to her friend whom had been talking to her, but she was vaguely paying attention. "Ino-chan?"
She blinked, looking over, "Hai?"
She took another thick breath of summer air and clutched the cherry sprig tighter, "Thank you…but, there’s no guarantees I’ll give up on, Sasuke-kun…I have to win him back after all…" She inwardly grinned. "But…I’ll figure things out in my own way, eventually."
"That’s all I ask for." She said simply, pushing off from the tree she stepped over to her. "Besides, you wouldn’t be you if you gave up chasing that boy." She giggled slightly. Her arms came to drape behind her head and she turned to begin a pace down the hill, "Lets go then."
"Right…" She said simply, watching as the girl retreated down the hilltop. She slowly made her way down the grassy hill, all the while watching Ino. She toyed around with a little thought before her voice caught the air, "Ino!"
"Huh?" She looked behind again to see the pink-haired girl trotting to catch up. She tilted her head to her, wondering about her outburst but shrugged it off as just wanting her to wait.
She finally caught up to the other girl, looking triumphantly up to her, and Ino quirked a brow in question but Sakura shrugged the look away. A determined glow was set in her eyes, much like the one that she got whenever she was chasing Sasuke, but this time it was focussed to her fellow ninja much to her surprise. She leaned up to the taller girl, her eyes closing and letting her dark lashes taint her cheeks, her lips came to rest gently against the other’s cheek. Ino continued to stand still, mainly from disbelief at the little action Sakura just did. She rested back on the heels of her feet, a small smile seen upon her lips and a smug look in her eyes. "I promise to think everything over, Ino-pig."
"Hmph. You better then, Sakura-big-forehead." She grinned to her, slowly coming back from the shocked look she once had.
"Come on!" She yelled as she ran down the hill front, leaving her comrade behind.
It took her a moment to realize the girl had left before she was quickly trailing after, a hand coming up in a vain attempt to sweep the blush from her cheeks. "Matte, Sakura-chan!" She smiled, her feet catching the smooth dirt of the village path.
"Maa! You hafta catch me!" She yelled back childishly, looking over her shoulder to stick her tongue out tauntingly.
She kept the little smile upon her face as she continued to run after the girl, absently watching the cherry blossoms falling back to her from the present she had given Sakura. Her eyes trailed up to the slowly darkening sky, and the summer heat didn’t seem to affect her anymore. She inwardly wondered if all the summer days could be this blissful…
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