Don't own the characters, don't claim to. I just claim to messing with them.
A figure dodged to the left, as a kunai flew past him, the ground racing upwards then stopping. The image blurred, only a few leaves visible, twirling slowly to the ground, one by one they fell.
"Oi, Sakura-chan! Oh oops, she's still asleep." Naruto quietly shut the door behind him before creeping towards the slumbering girl. Plopping down on the stool, he watched his friend lie unconscious. It had been three days now, of which each day Naruto came in to see her, once in the morning and once again at night. "Wake up already."
Another leaf fell, but there was something there. Colors blended as the blurred figure drew closer, a warmth enveloping everything. Fading in and out, the figure leaned closer. "I won't."
It was bright, too bright as Sakura slowly opened her eyes. Focusing, she waited for her eyes to grow accustomed to the light. She felt completely disorientated, a sense of helplessness mixed with her feeling of being lost. "Sakura-chan! You're finally awake!" The blonde exclaimed happily. Sakura turned towards the voice to see Naruto beaming joyously at her.
"Where am…"
"The hospital, you've been asleep for about three days."
"Three days!" Sakura yelled rising up quickly, which she soon regretted feeling the room spinning rapidly around her. Falling back onto her cushiony pillow, Naruto waved her down.
"Whoa you shouldn't do that. You're not complete better yet. You should have seen Tsunade-obachan. She nearly pulled her hair out when she say you. Then when she saw Sasuke she nearly fainted." Naruto rambled, grinning boyishly at the memory. "It was actually pretty funny." Sakura's eyes grew wide at the mention of the Uchiha's name. Slowly the past events flooded her memory.
"Sasuke…where is he?" Feeling an urgency gripping her insides, Sakura prayed he was alright." Naruto's grin disappeared, as he grew quieter.
"Well right now, I'm guessing they have him locked up. Tsunade-obachan could barely look at him. I think they're going to hold some discussion or other about what to do with him."
He's locked away. All this searching and he's finally back. But now… Sakura turned away, her mind and heart filled with worry. Naruto noticed and instantly tried to cheer her up. He hated to see her sad. Her smiled were always a treat for him, and there were something he never wanted to see her lose.
"Don't worry, he'll be alright. They won't do anything to him. I mean we've been looking for him right? There's no way to they're going to keep him locked up forever or anything. They just want to make sure he doesn't run away again so it'll be ok, I promise. Besides you should concentrate on getting better. What good is a medic-nin if she's stuck in bed?" Smiling back weakly she nodded. Naruto was right, she needed to get better. The sooner she did, the sooner she could see Sasuke.
"Are you sure you're feeling well enough?"
"Yes I'm fine now see." Sakura moved about to prove her point. Ino frowned still unsure.
"Alright, if you say so. You recovered rather quickly. Your wound was pretty serious." Sakura only smiled, she glad to be out of the hospital. Working there great, but being a patient was another story.
"It wasn't that bad." Sakura defended as Ino's eyebrow rose.
"Sure it wasn't. You only ended up in the hospital for a week because of it." Scowling, Sakura continued down the streets of Konoha with Ino. Normally Ino would have parted ways with her by now, but today she didn't. She said it was because she was worried about her health still but in reality she was more concerned about another matter. Any decision about Sasuke had yet to be made and Ino wanted to make sure Sakura's mind was occupied in other matters in the meantime. It wasn't easy but she managed to get her friends to keep quiet. A few threats here and there kept the loose lipped on their toes. Gripping Sakura's arm, she quickly dragged her towards her house, the sooner they were inside the better.
"What's the rush Ino?" Sakura inquired as they both hastily walked up the three steps that lead to her door.
"Oh, no reason, I just feel…uh…energized!" In piped cheerfully, laughing weakly at her lame excuse. Sakura merely looked at her warily, wondering if perhaps Ino had been overworked with missions or overloaded with jobs at her flower shop.
"Right." Unlocking the front door, she stepped inside her empty home. Ino hurried in shutting the door behind her while trying not to look suspicious. "Want some tea?" Sakura asked heading for the kitchen only to be pushed out by Ino who insisted on doing for her.
"You may be feeling better but you still just got out today. At least try and take it easy for a day." Sighing Sakura sat down in defeat.
"Fine, fine happy now?"
Ino smirked, "You'll be thanking me later for this forehead girl." Sakura twitched, biting her tongue. "Sure…I will…Ino…pig. She replied, saying the ending under her breath. Although they patched up their friendship, it was still rare not to see them begin their name calling fights, of which was probably resulted from habit those many years long ago.
Moments later the two sat across from each other calmly drinking their tea. To say the least they had managed to hold a civilized conversation with ach other with minimum arguments and no mention of Sasuke. Ino was about to call the day a success when Sakura spoke, not looking up from her tea as a somber look shadowed her features. "Hey Ino."
"Yeah."
"What's gong to happen to Sasuke?" Ino flinched, her perfect plan crumbling before her. In truth, she knew it would come up sooner or later. She had been biding her time. Although she had managed to get over the Uchiha, Sakura hadn't. It was only natural for her to keep him in her thoughts. Ino sighed propping her chin unto her hand.
"I don't know." Silence over took them, as the room suddenly grew heavier within its atmosphere.
"He'll be fine right?"
"Yeah, of course he will. It's Uchiha Sasuke after all. He can survive anything." Ino imputed trying to lighten the pink haired girl's mood. Sakura remained silent, as she gripped her tea cup, her fingers perfectly curved around its smooth surface.
"The hokage, Tsunade-sama, she'll forgive him right? They'll forgive him right?" Ino's face fell, how was she to respond, the truth or a lie.
"I…don't know." Two green orbs gazed up at the blonde girl.
"What about you?"
"Me?"
"Can you forgive him?" Sakura's eyes gleamed with worry, perhaps a bit of fear. She knew Ino had liked him before, but a lot of time had passed since then. She wasn't sure what the girl thought of him anymore. Ino smiled warmly at her friend that in itself was reassuring enough for her.
"Of course, no matter what he's still very important to me, even if my feelings for him have changed." This brought a smile to the worried girl's face.
"Thanks Ino."