I've been hanging out with Sakura and Ino latley. They've been amazed by me and less scared since I made Sasuke laugh so hard that day. I was feeling something good but I didn't know what it was. Happieness? I wouldn't know. I forgot the day my sister died right before my eyes but my first friends were pleading to give me a make over. I was refusing. "You could never make me look pretty even if you tried so don't bother." I sighed.
"Don't be modest, Takara-chan! You're pretty but we want to see how many guys you can make pass out." Ino eyed me with a smile. She's actually really sweet at times when Sasuke isn't around.
"I'm not being modest." I sighed with a look of laziness on my face, my inner Shikamaru coming out.
"Well, if you think you're that unattractive then all the more reason to let us play with your looks." Sakura smiled sweetly as we stood in the middle of the streets. "Tell you what, we'll take you shopping for a beautiful dress of your approval and we'll match the colours with the make up and your hair to be a supprise."
I sighed. She had a point with my low self esteem giving more of a reason for them to go through with this but I had no money. "But I have no money to pay for a pretty dress." I pouted.
"You won't need any." Ino smirked. "I got this from my mother but this coupon expires tomorrow and the dresses at the shop are very pretty but I already have everything from there so you can use it." My eyes grew big and innocent as she held out the card valued at $150.
"A-are you sure?" I asked timid as I eyed the card.
"Of course!" They spoke in unison with sweet smiled covering there pretty faces. These girls do get annoying but they're the olny friends I'd ever had and I loved them to bits.
"Fine, I'll do it!" I sighed with a smile to be dragged off to the shop. I ameadiatly layed eyes on a beautiful lolita dress. It was a royal blue with ruffled straps, a massive bow in the middle of the bust, a black and blue laced corset with silk rope to tighten it and a gathered blue skirt, decorated with black lace and matching bows. "That one is beautiful." My eyes were lost in it's beauty.
"Nice pick." Sakura smiled at Ino and got me to try it on.
After a while we went to Sakura's house to do my make up and hair. I felt tugging and pulling of my hair and tickling and itching of my face as they practically attacked me with clips, product, eye shadow, mascara and lipstick. "Why are we even doing this?" I asked as they got excited at my finished look.
"You'll see." They smiled. They got dressed up in pretty outfits too. Sakura was wearing a beautiful, baby pink strapless dress with a frilly, short skirt, printed with cherry blossems as her name states. Her hair was in a bow and in the middle of the shining ribbon was the same flower as printed on her pretty dress.
Ino was wearing purple. Her side part was clipped back with lavender and her dress had a sweet heart neck-line as the haulter-neck hooked over her head. It had frills at the skirt as well and was gathered like my skirt with robbon at her torso, looking like a corset. They led me outside with my eyes covered. "Can I open my eyes, yet? I haven't even seen myself!" I complained.
"Not yet, we need to get there first." Sakura spoke with a swwet tone to her polite voice as she lead me with her hand to my spine.
"Yeah, besides; you'll be able to see how pretty you are by everyones reactions." Ino had the same sweet tone. "Are you sure you don't know where you are?" She asked.
"Yeah, I haven't released my butterflies because they've been so tired since the exams and Gaara." I giggled. Hand to lips.
I felt doors open, heaps of heart beats and gasping as we walked in. "Okay, open your eyes." Sakura smiled removing her hand from my face.
I gasped at the sight. It was a party of some sort, I don't know what but it was amazing. Lantin lit, music swarmed, people smothered area. I was being eyed and as I grew more self contous I turned away. "This is amazing but I want to see how I look, people are staring!" I feaked out as my eye caughed a frozen Naruto, Shikamaru, Neji, Lee and Sasuke and Tenten and Choji. I met amazing people and they looked really good. "Oh my god, what on earth do I look like?Give me a mirror, someone! Please?!" I freaked out at all the eyes staring at me widly and ran behind the girls.
"Takara, you look beautiful!" Ino smiled as she handed me a compact mirror from over her shoulder.
"Why is everyone even here and why are we dressed up?" I asked ignoring the mirror for a bit.
"It's the anaversary of the village being saved about twelve years ago." Sakura explained with a pretty smile.
I hummed in responce, already knowing the nine tails story and took the mirror from Ino and turned my back as I slowly opened up the mirror. I scrunched up my eyes and braced myself for my worst nightmare come true. "Uh.." I froze at the sight I never thought I'd see. My fringe was pulled to either side of my face, my bangs twisted to the back of my head to be braided at the back. Behind my pulled back fringe were blue and black roses and a ribbon of shining dark blue horizen at night. Only two parts of my bangs hung out in ringlets, either side of my face. The rest of my hair draped over my shoulders and over my back in roses, ribbons, and the occasonal tiny, long plat entangled with the ret of my perfect ringlets. My eye shadow was a shimmering black fading into blue, my lashed had looked fake from the good quality mascara that forced my lashes to just under my eye brows, yet still touching. My lipstick was a dark ebony that matched Sasuke's dark, dark eyes and with that I smiled, almost crying. "I-I look..." I shuddered.
"Beautiful!" Sikamaru's voice made my head shoot up. I turned around with a frozen look on my face. That word hadn't been in my vocabulary since my sister died; She was way prettier than me and she used it to her advantage but she was the only one that told me I wasn't the exact oppisite of that word, that unknown word.
"Me? Beautiful?" I looked up at them still in shock.
"Takara, if you don't remember me saying this before I'll say it again." I waited for Sasuke to continue. His face looked his normal, blank expression. That's all he ever gave; blankness. "You're pretty." He said it again and I remembered what he spoke to me before the final round of the chunin exams.
I gasped and my eyes grew and my smile grew wider. "Sakura, Ino." I started just to resieve smirks from them. "You girls are amazing!" I giggled as I remained in shock.
"Not really, your looks are just easy to work with." Ino smiled, wrapping her arm around my shoulders.
"Yeah, your pretty naturally so we wanted to see how pretty we could get you to be and I think everyone in the village is staring at you in amazment, which means, opperation butterfly princess was a success!" Sakura gave Ino a high five and wrapped her arm around my waist.
"Marry me!" Lee got down on one knee in front of me and my eyes grew as he yanked on my hand, holding it in a unescapable grip.
"W-what!? What about Sakura!?" I freaked out and shoved her in front of me.
"M-me!?" Sakura started to freak out as she fell on top of him. Her lips way to close for her liking.
"I forgot, the lovely, angel Sakura has the youth of a godess!" He announced.
I sighed. "Lee, if you forget about how much of a 'youthful godess' someone is that must mean they aren't much of one." Neji sighed with his fingers massaging his temples.
"What did you say?!" Sakura growled, turning to Neji with the eyes of a deamon. Neji just sighed as did I.
"Takara-chan, you look so small around your waist, are you sure your eating enough?" Choji asked in concern.
"Oh, no, it's the corset." I smiled at his resieving a raised eye brow, showing he didn't understand. "A corset is tightened by laces and it pulls you in at the waist." I explained.
"Oh, dosen't it hurt?"
"No, it get hard to breath sometimes and I can't sing while wearing one but it's good for my posture." He nodded and walked over to Shika.
"Tenten, what's with Lee and youth? By the way, you look very pretty too." I pointed out once I had a chance to talk. She was wearing a green kimono with a gold dragon on it. Her hair was in it's normal do yet had green bows in it, matching the kimono.
"Oh, thank you. Uh, Lee, well. let's just say; our sensei is very youthful and Lee looks up to him like his head is stuck in one position." She giggled.
"Ha, I see what you did there." I giggled back tapping my nose with my index finger.
"Takara, you look amazing!" Naruto smiled at me as he did.
"Aw, thank you Naruto, but if you want to see amazing you should turn around." I pointed behind him making his head spin slowly.
"Hinata! Wow, you look, you look,...Wow." He grinned as he ran to the shy, timid girl. She froze and scorched red in the face with big, byakugan eyes. Her hair had blue bells pinned behind her fringe and her dress was a strapless, white, knee length, sky blue ribbon and bow decorated, frilled gown. One thing all of us had in common was we all had ribbon wrapped around our arms and tied into bows where our elbos started.
I smiled to feel a tap on my shoulder. I turned to see Sasuke with a smirk to his pale face. "Sasu-" I was interupted by his index finger shushing my lips. I froze with big eyes.
"Come on." He turned as he grabbed my wrist and started running with me just barly keeping up with his strenth to drag me. I wasn't good enough though because of two inch heals that still kept me about a head shorter then the Uchiha.
"Where are we going?" I asked in confusion.
"Away from them."
"Why-" I was interupted again with the shock of him stopping me so suddenly and having something pressed up against my lips again, not his finger, not food, it was something soft, warm and it forced my lashes to fall into contact with my cheeks and my heart to race to the point it'd explode from my chest. I felt arms wrap around my waist and mine wrap around someones neck as if I were under a spell. The only one I was with was Sasuke. My eyes flung open in realisation and I pulled my lips from him to feel cold distance. "This is insane." I blurted.
"I know." His voice sounded dissapointed but his eyes just comanded me to tighten the grip around his neck and force my weight to my toes to make it easier to feel that again as I got closer to his height, there was no word to say what it was but it was something sweet.
"Do it again." His eyes looked stunned but he pulled me tighter into his warm arms.
"But I thought-" I shook my head quickly making his voice stop in an instant.
"I have no idea, I have no idea what that was but it was amazing so what ever you just did, do it again!" I blurted again with roses burning into my cheeks. His forhead leaned against mine as he gazed into my eyes. His black shirt was crinkled up against my dress since we were so close together, my back pressed up against a tree, I noticed we were at the training grounds, where we'd faught and where he told me I was pretty for the first time.
He leaned in closer as his lids fell almost completly shut, he spoke into me as his lips made contact with mine, just barly."I don't know what you did to me but if this is amazing to you then it's a way to thank you for sending me insane enough to even think of doing this." Not even an inch closer and I felt it again. I swear heaven touched me for at lease a second. I couldn't breathe even if I wanted to, I just wanted time to freeze. Is this what it feels like to have a heart beat in a harmony to yours? Is that what it feels like to be beautiful? Is that feeling love?