Decaying Bluebells

Arc I - Question

Disclaimer: Not mine.

Beta: featherstofly.

Beta: silverseed

Edit: 1/1/2018

Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ

I was moving quietly through the streets, my mind wandering to places unknown. I was heading back to Naruto's apartment from home. I had returned home the following morning and Momma had been quick to pack everything we would need, informing me that she would stop by herself—along with the other clan matriarchs from the Ino-Shika-Cho trio—in a while.

As I passed the school grounds, I caught sight of a (vaguely) familiar girl.

I paused, unable to resist moving towards her. She was a year older than Ino, if I remembered correctly. I had seen her a few times before around the academy, but never bothered to truly interact with her. I stopped myself short of actually calling out to her, remembering myself and feeling a faint flush of embarrassment at my previous sudden urge to greet her.

However, before I could make my unnoticed escape, the girl paused, turning to face me. She smiled brightly. "Oh, hi there. I'm Tenten, what's your name?"

I blushed, my hands burying themselves in my hoodie pocket. "N-Nao. Yamanaka Nao, umm."

Tenten nodded. "I've seen you around. You're something of a prodigy, aren't you? That's cool. Not a lot of girls in my class take their training seriously, you know?"

I thought of Sakura and (wince) my sister, Ino. I nodded. "Y-Yeah."

Tenten smiled brightly. "But I saw you practicing the other day and you looked really into it. Wish you were in my class."

I giggled nervously, fidgeting under her surprisingly warm and thoughtful gaze. Tenten nodded. "Mm. Well, actually, I wanted to approach you earlier, but it never really seemed like the right time. Say, how would you like to be my sparring partner? Please? I really need a moving target and Mina-sensei mentioned that you could use help in evasion, right? So it's a win-win! What do you say?"

My cheeks were on fire, both at the fact that she had asked about me, and that she was actually inviting me to train. I could only nod in response. "Um, y-yes, please. I look forward to training with you, Tenten-senpai!"

Tenten nodded again, smiling. "Cool. Meet me here after school every other day, 'kay?"

"O-Okay. I-I don't know if I'll be able to this week, but I'll try."

"It's cool. See you around, Nao-chan!"

I nodded again before making my escape.

Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ

We were given a week off from school. At least Sasuke and I were, I was unsure if Naruto was, but either way he ended up skipping. Shikamaru and Chōji skipped the majority of those days, as well. We mostly stayed in Naruto's apartment, where Sasuke refused to leave. So we stayed there and in all blunt honesty, we took care of him. Sasuke was catatonic for the majority of the day, merely going through the process of caring for himself—eating, drinking, bathing, etc—but never revealing his emotions. Only when night came around did he allow himself to show us how he really was.

No words were exchanged about that night, no words were needed. Naruto and I merely held him as he cried silently. Even in sleep, with him tucked in between us and all of us curled up tightly, he awoke screaming from his nightmares, and Naruto and I had to console him back to reality. On the nights that Shikamaru or Chōji stayed, it was equally as bad and Chōji even started singing a lullaby for him.