Sweet Spring

( 4 )

After about an hour, Sakura no Hana made their way to a local comic cafe. The three sat outside and savored their drinks as they relaxed in the sun.

"So -" Ino began off, drinking her iced coffee. "Something is going on with Ningyo Haku's famous duck hair hottie."

Sakura made a face and swirled a stirring stick into her double coffee. "Yeah, your right. He acting weird around Hinata."

"Oh come on." Hinata piped up, resting her chin on her black coffee. She scrunched her face, clearly perplexed. "He's always like that, reserved, awkward and quiet. I know, I've been friends with him since I was little."

"I mean if you say so. He just seems distant, you know?"

"I'm sure! Don't worry about it."

Ino chuckled and took her straw out, aiming it at Hinata. "I mean, I don't care but I figured you might've thought it was odd, Hina. Since you've known him for so long." She glanced at Sakura, who responded with a smirk.

Sakura chimed in, and the pair mischievously smiled at Hinata. "Did you guys have . . . past relations?" The pink-haired girl bumped the blushing girl's arm. "If you know what I mean.

Hinata scrunched her face up and burst out giggling. "Of course not!"

"You sure?"

"Yes, Sakura."

"Positive?"

"I sure am, Ino."

"Really?"

"Our parents were close friends, so I became friends with him. I saw him as date-worthy material, just my good friend." She sipped her coffee, then became a little red. "I can't say the same for Naruto-kun."

Ino rolled her eyes playfully and sighed. "Tell us something we don't know, Hinata." Taking a drink of her iced tea, she continued. "I knew you would be the first out of us all to fall in love, hm?"

Taking a paper napkin from the table, Sakura laid the back of her hand on her forehead and sighed wistfully while giggling. "It's just so romantic, you know?"

✻ ✻ ✻ ✻ ✻

Shinrin Boys Academy had a various amount of dorms for the male students to live in, and for their security, Ningyo Hako resided on the main campus. The four boys were in Sasuke and Kiba's dorm, and Sasuke himself was arranging the folders on his laptop. Many of his vocaloids when he was a solo singer that went viral made him cringe were in a forgotten file. Most of them were covers of more famous artists and not much of his work. Seeing the comments of girls praising his voice and of . . . other things made him nauseous. Flopping onto his bed, he groaned out loud.

"Whatcha looking at, Sasuke?" Naruto called out, his mouth full of ramen. Sasuke rolled over and looked down at Naruto, who was playing a card game with Kiba.

"Just some of my old covers. It was cringy."

"Oh damn, the ones before we formed the band?" Kiba asked, looking up. "I told you, don't dwell on those, bro. It messes with your current mindset. And get down from the top bunk, it's my week to sleep up there."

"I thought it was good!" Naruto chirped out and slurped up some noodles.

"Yeah, yeah," Sasuke called back and slid down the ladder, and grabbed his phone off the charger. "But it's good. It just reminds me of how the band formed. And you think everything is good, dunce." He socked Naruto in the head and chuckled lightly.

Sai looked up from Kiba's desk across the room, his hands covered in ink. Grabbing a colored pencil, he looked back at his drawing and spoke. "Yo, you think Naruto will ask out Hinata?"