(SasuNaru) Not Friends Anymore

Cherry Blossoms Do Bloom

"Let's get inside before anyone else sees." Naruto suggested, placing his hand on Sasuke's lower back gently pushing, gesturing them to go inside. When they all three managed to get in before any closer friends saw, Naruto sighed.

Immediately the blonde walked to the kitchen that was still in the same room as the entrance, considering his, now previous, living space was rather small. He started preparing a kettle of tea.

Sakura took a seat at the dining room table, with eyes that showed she was in shock. She wouldn't even speak which was very unlike her. Sasuke followed Naruto to the kitchen and opened up the cupboards, pulling out three white ceramic cups with handles, aligning them on the counter.

Sakuras hands were up on the table, nervously playing with her fingertips, her eyes wouldn't leave her painted nails. Is this really happening. Her thoughts consumed her, not accepting the fact she was kept out of his arrival. Even though her mind was warped, she had remembered her real reason for going to Naruto's house in the first place. Her olive green eyes lifted just as the blonde walked over to her setting down a hot cup of tea, taking his seat across from her, while Sasuke sat at the end of the table between them. Blue eyes met green eyes, in a very emotional and intense way. Sakura frowned at the man in front of her, not out of anger but with sadness.

"I'm so sorry for what I said...That was so not like me, and it's obvious you had a lot going on," her eyes shifted to Sasuke but the look on the other man's face gave her a sense of shame, making her return her eyes back to the blonde, "friends don't say those things to friends in need. I should've known better, everyone's worried about you. You wouldn't leave your house for two days. You haven't even been to Ichiraku in almost four days and that's not like you at all." Her voice was heartfelt, she really was sorry, but after the way she yelled at him, she'd understand if he didn't accept her apology.

It really didn't help that Sasuke was there, not that she was complaining. She still couldn't wrap her mind around that. But Naruto forgave her. He's been pretty shallow for a while now, also very distant after Jiriya's passing. "It's okay Sakura...Really I'ts fine." He reassured her. Sasuke was shocked to hear how awful the blonde really was treating himself. He had no idea of the isolation he put himself through.

Naruto knew this wasn't necessarily the time to be worrying about what happened, he needed her to jump on board with understanding what's going on with Sasuke. He knew she was dying to know and was probably in a spacey reality, just like he was.

She took a sip of her tear, leaning back in her chair while holding the glass close to her face. It wasn't long until Naruto started to speak on the situation at hand. "Sasuke found me at Jiriya's grave, and said he'd come back. That there was nothing left for him outside of the village. We talked for a while and he finally agreed to come back. Kakashi Sensai was able to get him pardoned by the leaf village and the Feudal Lord," he paused for a moment giving Sasuke a glance as if asking for permission to bring up the circumstances that were put into place. Sasuke responded with a shake of the head as if saying 'no', Naruto shifted his eyes back to the pink haired girl, and went with his back up sentence in case he'd not want to say anything just yet. "He was released today."

"I heard some villagers saying he was here, but I obviously didn't believe that." She said in response, still in complete awe at the whole thing. It seemed she was satisfied enough to not ask any questions that may overstep. Naruto was glad to see it was enough to keep her from continuing this conversation.

"Sakura..." The dark haired started to talk, not exactly sure what to say, "I'm sorry for everything..." He wasn't sure if an apology was really what he should've said but it felt right trying to make up with her. Her eyes met his with a sparkle. She knew her chances with him were
less then slim, but it didn't change how she felt about him. "Im just glad to have you back!" She said with a big smile. Her cheeks were rosy.

She took one final swig of her tea, placing the empty cup on the table before standing up and adjusting her clothes. "I've got to get going, I apologize for interrupting whatever you guys were doing. Let's go out for drinks tomorrow night. That way we can all catch up, like the good days." She said with her smile only spreading up higher. The two boys were shocked to see her willing to leave freely with no other explanation.

Naruto nodded to her in agreement to going out the following night. It honestly sounded fun, and maybe help the whole awkward part of this new beginning of him being in the village. He followed her to the door to say his goodbyes. "I hope he's serious about staying." She whispered so that only he could hear her. His face started to warm up knowing Sasuke definitely was staying, he nodded attempting to hide his blushing. "He will Sakura...I promise." She only smiled again and took her leave.

After some time Naruto managed to pack up most things into two large duffle bags, he realized he didn't actually have much and anything he couldn't take, he would come back for another day.

Even though Sasuke was upset to heart how he's been the last few days, let alone couple of weeks, he still managed to keep the tension on the topic to a minimum.

The two kept up small talk, it was nice still being able to talk as if they were twelve again. Only now their conversations consisted of memories from when they were younger, and adult things. Naruto tried not to bring up anything that may trigger Sasuke into a bad mood, since he remembered how easy that was to do back then.

When they finally made it back to the new house, Sasuke started to help him unpack, when he unzipped the bag that he had just set down on the bed, there was a picture frame on top of the clothes that were shoved inside. He picked it up only to study it, it's been years since he's seen the picture of the old team seven, and Naruto had it encased. A small smile crept up on his lips, just as Naruto looked over at him.

I was so naive... Sasuke thought to himself before placing it beside the bag.