t h r e e ;
"Do you have to go?" Ezra mummbled as she looked down. She heard an annoying chuckle that she became all too familiar with.
"Yeah, it's for training." He replies lowly. "You want me to get stronger, don't you?" His crystal clear blue eyes glazing over with a small smile on his face. "I'll get stronger for the both of us. You'll see."
Ezra lifted her head up to look at Naruto. They both stared deeply into the other's eyes like they were the only two people there at that moment; completely ignoring Sakura, Kakashi, Tsunade, Shizune and Jiraiya.
Jiraiya placed his hands on his hips with a wide smile on his face. He nudged Kakashi and the bored man looked at the two young ninja, already knowing what the old pervert was trying to say. He saw their connection too. He saw it the moment the two crossed paths.
"Be careful." Ezra says slowly. Again, Naruto smiled.
"Of course I will." He says.
"See you when you get back."
He smiles before he leans in to hug her. Hugging her tightly, he slowly took in her cinnamon. Scent once last time. After a couple more seconds, he finally let her go and turned to leave.
"Bye guys!" He throws a cheery wave in the air as he marches off with the Legendary Sannin, Jiraiya in tow. Ezra watched them leave but was stopped shortly by Sakura. She frowned.
"Excuse me." She says in the most polite voice she could muster up. Sakura looked down at the ground, refusing to move.
"Can we at least talk, Ezra?" She asks.
"I have nothing to say to you, so what do we have to talk about, Sakura?" Ezra crossed her arms and furrowed her eyebrows. She shifted all her weight to her left leg and waited for the girl to speak.
"About what happened between us."
"Oh, you mean about you slapping me for no reason?" Sarcasm laced in Ezra's tone. "Did you want to slap me again or something?"
Sakura shook her head vigorously before taking in a deep breath.
"I-I wanted to apologize." She says softly, Ezra almost had to crane her neck a bit just to hear what she said. "I was wrong for what I did and I really feel terrible about it."
"As you should." Ezra slightly nods, shifting her weight over to her right leg.
"I've been wanting to apologize sooner, but I can never seem to find you." Sakura says. "Seeing you today was a good opportunity to do so. I'm really sorry Ezra. I should've been a better friend to both you and Naruto in that moment. Sasuke's gone and he's never coming back. It's not your fault, nor Naruto's, nor mine. He left on his own free will. I was angry that he told you and not me, you're right. And I was angry because you didn't convince him to stay. So, I'm sorry." Sakura bowed after her stament, her cheeks red and eyes shut tight. She'd never been the type to apologize, she never felt she had a reason to. But since she started medical ninjutsu with Sakura, Ino, and Tala, she realized her wrongs in the situation once everything came down. Both Ino and Tala told the girl she was wrong, shortly after she'd gotten a good talking to from Lady Hokage herself. She honestly thought Ezra was a pretty cool person, from what Naruto told her. Also from short times she's come across the girl. The two of them weren't friends perse, but Sakura was willing to make that change. Especially if she was someone special to Naruto as he said she was.
Ezra stared at Sakura for a moment contemplating on if she should accept the apology or not. She know that she told Ino and Tala that she would, but now that the opportunity presented itself, she doesn't know if Sakura is being genuine. She looked the girl over, watching her short pink hair fall forward as she bowed.
