Space to Breathe - [ Sakura Haruno ]

CHAPTER 17

Weeks passed after her meeting with Shikamaru and they'd continued to lunch together at least once a week.

It was as Shikamaru was about to part ways with Sakura one day after their lunch, which had turned into dinner and then a late night snack after staying together all day, that she scowled.

Shikamaru followed her gaze and saw the object of her discontent.

A blur of yellow and orange barrelled towards the pair of chunin, only stopping barely a foot in front of them.

"Sakura!" Naruto exclaimed her name, a wide smile on his face, "man, I haven't been able to speak with you since... uh?"

The boy thought for a moment before Sakura groaned, "before the Chunin exams, when I left Team Seven."

"Oh, yeah!" Naruto nodded, not seeming particularly upset with the way things went. It rubbed Sakura the wrong way, seeing him act as if nothing changed. "Did you hear? I got a new sensei, too!"

Sakura nodded at that, "good job, Naruto," she said somewhat sincerely. No matter which way you looked at it impressing a sannin wasn't an easy feat.

Naruto rubbed the back of his head sheepishly at the praise, "heh, thanks Sakura!" He looked her in the eyes, bouncing on every word.

"How about we go get ramen to celebrate?" Naruto asked, and Sakura couldn't help but recoil at the suggestion. "C'mon, it can be a date, now that you're not interested in Sasuke!"

Sakura's face twisted at the boys words, her fists clenched so tightly her knuckles turned white. She felt nauseous, to think he thought so little of her still.

"I'm not your teammate anymore, Naruto," she grit her teeth, "but you're still treating me the same as before."

Shikamaru took a small step forwards, slightly in front of Sakura, minutely blocking Naruto's view of her.

"But Sakura, I-" Naruto tried, but Shikamaru shook his head at the boy with a disappointed gaze.

"I left your team," Sakura went on, "I found a sensei who cared, I made chunin, I became the captain of an actual team!"

Tears welled in her eyes as she watched the blonde squirm slightly from behind Shikamaru.

"I became a real shinobi, one just as capable as you or Sasuke." She spat, channeling her sadness into bitter rage through her words, "but you still have the fucking nerve to treat me like a trophy. Like something that you can just leave behind, only to compete for me in some one-sided competition against an asshole Uchiha who cares for nobody but himself! An asshole of an Uchiha who would, and has, turned on his own comrades because his little ego got hurt."

"Well let me tell you something, Naruto," Sakura pushed past Shikamaru, who stepped aside, his posture straighter than usual, ready in case some sort of physical confrontation broke out.

"I care as much about you an your fragile idea of a perfect Team Seven as I do the dirt I left Sasuke lying on the last time he tried his shit." She took a step closer, her face only a few inches from Naruto's. "Team Seven was never going to work, because all three of you were too blind to see past your own idea of it."

"For Sasuke, it was a stepping stone."

"For Kakashi, it was a chore."

"For you, it was supposed to be like a storybook," Sakura seethed, "I was supposed to be some damsel in distress for you to save, Sasuke your best friend and rival, Kakashi an actual mentor."

"But it didn't work out that way, so stop pretending I'm some weak, fragile piece of glass that can't handle herself," her voice became quiet then, barely a whisper. "Otherwise, I won't be as kind to you as I was to Sasuke."