The Ultimate Weapon (Naruto Fanfic)

8-Beginning to Understand Anger

After an afternoon of watching Tazuna build a bridge with Aoi, Sakura began to get bored by the lack of conversation. At first, she had been ecstatic over the fact that she had him all to herself, but as no conversation progressed farther than a few words, she soon lost interest. Sakura sighed. Right now Aoi was over by Tazuna with a beam of wood on each shoulder. Tazuna motioned behind him, and after a nod Aoi set his load down near another worker.

Once Tazuna was done having Aoi carry all the beams for him, Aoi returned to stand by Sakura. Sakura noticeably straightened as Aoi approached, though she stayed sitting on the bridges railing. When they had stood there for a while, Sakura finally got up the nerve to speak.

"So Aoi, why did you want to be a ninja?" Aoi looked up at the bubblegum haired girl, faking a smile as he answered her.

"I don't know. It wasn't a decision, it's the only thing I know."

Sakura stared down at him, not understanding. "You didn't make the decision? Did your parents force you into it or something?"

"You could say that," Aoi looked back across the bridge, seeing Tazuna and the workers still hammering things together.

"That's rather hard. I would hate not being able to choose my future." Sakura huffed a little, looking at the sky.

"I never thought of the future." Aoi stared at Sakura as her attention snapped to Aoi and her face held a confused look.

"Not at all? I mean you must have thought what type of ninja you want to be, or if being a ninja was what you wanted to do. Even if your parents forced you, you didn't ever wonder about going against their wishes and becoming a baker or something weird like that?"

"I just trained."

Sakura just looked at Aoi, and they had a miniature staring contest. Aoi's face held no remorse, sadness, or regret, no matter how hard Sakura searched it. After a while, they both turned away, and the silence stretched between them again. Sakura was deep in thought, while Aoi was wondering slightly why he had never met his parents. The silence spanned, and eventually Sakura looked down at Aoi, a thoughtful look on her face.

"If you weren't a ninja, what would you want to be doing?"

Aoi regarded her apathetically, "I don't have any other skills."

"Are you sure? What about cooking or cleaning?" Sakura looked down at him, an open and defenseless air about her.

Aoi considered. "Naruto taught me how to clean, so I suppose my room is clean. I cook as well I suppose."

"What foods can you cook?" Sakura leaned down. Because Aoi had said he was able to cook, Sakura instantly found him more attractive. No matter what, every woman would agree that a man in the kitchen was an attractive thing.

"Rice balls, ramen, chicken, and beef."

"Why don't you make more things?"

"Naruto will usually only have ramen in the apartment." Sakura sweatdropped lightly. Naruto's addiction to ramen was ridiculous to her, and everyone else for that matter.

"Maybe you should do the shopping. I'll take you out and teach you how when we get back to Konoha." Aoi simply nodded, and Sakura squealed inwardly. In her mind she had just landed a date with Aoi.

_+_

The week had passed quickly, Sasuke and Naruto training, and Aoi accompanying Tazuna and Sakura to the bridge each day. Each day was uneventful, but when the week was almost up tension was high. Everyone knew that Zabuza was likely to return the next day, but they tried for easy conversation regardless. It lasted for a while, until everyone grew silent within their own thoughts.