All the Colors
chap. 5
"Melon soda, please."
It had been a few weeks since Sakura had really ventured
out alone. It wasn't that she was traumatized so much as that she didn't feel
like it. Spring's beginnings had lured her outdoors, resplendent with the
promises hidden in the green buds that covered seemingly everything. She sipped
her drink, similarly green and effervescent, and watched people go by.
It was still hard for her to accept many details of what
had happened. She had always felt that her love for Sasuke was so strong and
pure that she wouldn't be fooled by such an act. While she hadn't exactly
thought Naruto too much of a gentlemen to play such a trick, she hadn't expected
that he'd be so convincing. Sakura wondered whether that said more about him or
about her.
Of course, the whole thing left unsatisfied what she had
really been wanting- Sasuke. But now she had to wonder if he would really be as
gentle and loving as she had always expected, since he and Naruto were nothing
alike...
"Sakura."
The voice from her right side nearly made Sakura jump out
of her skin as she was wrenched from her contemplation. As if by some extremely
odd cosmic joke, Sasuke was sitting on the stool next to hers. Looking at her.
Or was it him? He noticed her expression.
"I know about his little prank." Sasuke smiled faintly,
taking her breath away just like it always had.
Reluctantly tearing her eyes from him, Sakura stared into
her drink.
"Yeah. Well, I bet it isn't anything you'd have ever done."
She heard him cough, and glanced back at him. "Do you remember that time in the
woods, the day Kakashi-sensei tested us, when we kissed?"
Sasuke looked blank. "No."
"Oh, then you're the real Sasuke. Good." They both looked
at the scarred wood of the sweet shop's countertop. Finally, he spoke again.
"You know, there can never be anything between us."
Sakura swallowed her mouthful of soda a little faster than
she had intended. "Well, thank you for letting me know."
"But Sakura..." Something in his voice made her look up at
him. He was watching her, not with intensity, not the way she had always dreamt
of. Just watching her.
"Maybe we can work something out."
Her laugh was humorless.
"Work something out? What's the point? If you don't feel
anything, there's no use in even having this discussion.
His sigh rippled through the air, already filled with
birdsong. She felt it in her heart and all the way through her spine. "I didn't
say I didn't feel anything."
She glanced at him again. Now his eyes were intense,
although still somewhat distant.
"What do you mean?"
"You'll see."