Until Then

Chapter 13: Conversations

Maybe he hadn't given the pinkette as much credit as she deserved. For a while he always pinned her liking him as a petty infatuation. That was until their first Chūnin Exams a long time ago. He witnessed how with fierce eyes she protected him and Naruto, while recklessly throwing herself forward to devour the evil and pain he was going through.

He folded the note, keeping it inbetween his fingers.

Taking notice of his surroundings, the bustling crowd of workers going back and forth down the streets, the children playing and running around a big oak tree- something he didn't get to enjoy for a while at the same age.

Despite being mostly isolated in Orochimaru's hideouts with minimal contact, he somehow still felt excluded and isolated in a crowd full of people.
There was a ache in him, wanting to return.

'But what if you don't have her to come back to?'

He knew he couldn't be with her. It was a bizzar thought to begin with, that his mind was even travelling down that untouched road. The pink haired girl was a mere friend, he thought. But he needed to go back.

Because even if he didn't want to allow himself to be with her, he had to be near her. That was the most he could offer at this point. It was a take it or leave it situation. If she was smart she'd leave it, but he knew her, which always meant otherwise.

It was time.

••••

"More pork chops?" the royal chef offered to Sakura, wearing a smile and a spotless white outfit despite all the sizzling foods he had prepared stretched across the long table.

The pinkette looked up, chewing a mouth full of sushi from first course. She shook her head politely, while instead Temari-who was sitting across from her, motioned to the chef to add more pork chops onto her plate.

Sakura's eyes widened but she couldn't deny it was some of the best food prepared she'd ever tasted.

It was at Gaara's insistence that the Konoha medic joined them for what he called "simple lunch" but where the actual simple part was, she couldn't seem to find.

At the head of the table sat Sunagakures red-headed Kazekage, with his sister right opposite Sakura at the middle. Infront of them was a spread of delicacies in small glass bowls.

"Eh... I'm late aren't I..." A voice admitted sheepishly from the entrance.

Kankurō.

"Nice of you to join us." The eldest sibling of the three said teasingly as she lifted up her fork with a piece of chicken, pointing it at him.

"Sakura-san, it's been a while!" He greeted, bowing slightly out of respect.

She automatically mirrored his movement as he came around and sat down next to Temari.

Even though she had been in the village for over a week now, she had been so busy in the labs that she didn't get a chance to see the puppet user.

The young Kazekage hadn't said much throughout the lunch even though he had been the one to initiate it. Sakura noticed he was much quieter in the presence of his older siblings.

The last time she was here, Naruto and Sai came too. Sure Sai was awkward in his attempts at conversation, but at least it was something, and Naruto usually made up for the lack thereof.