𝚑𝚎𝚊𝚛𝚝𝚋𝚛𝚎𝚊𝚔𝚎𝚎 • 𝚜𝚊𝚜𝚞𝚔𝚎 𝚞𝚌𝚑𝚒𝚑𝚊 𝚡 𝙾𝙲

20 - Deal

November, 1992 - Japan

"Sakura, what the hell am I supposed to do?! He's been pissing me off and always one-upping me since we were kids! It was the heat of the moment!" Haruka was pacing the length of her bedroom on a Saturday morning, on the phone with Sakura.

"Hold on, hold on," Sakura was half awake and brushing her teeth, and Haruka's words still sounded like gibberish. "Take me through this again. You made a bet with your cousin?"

Haruka sighed. "I did. Koda bet me that he could beat me in a skateboarding race."

"Uh, he totally can though?" Sakura was confused.

"I know!"

"So then what were you thinking?"

"I wasn't thinking!" Haruka groaned, dramatically flopping onto her bed. "Even though he's only a year older than me, he always acts like he's better than me! And it pisses me off so bad, Sakura!"

"Understandable...I guess," Sakura replied, looking through her closet for an outfit to wear. "When are you guys racing?"

"The next time we see each other, which'll be about a month from now on my birthday. Do you think the rollerblading skills will transfer over?" Haruka asked, still staring blankly up at her ceiling.

"Probably not." Sakura answered honestly. "What are you going to do? Are you seriously gonna try it?"

"I have to! I have to crush his stupid ego and rub it in his face! As a birthday present from me, to me. But..."

"There's the actual learning that you have to do first."

"Yeah. I mean, my dad said he skateboarded when he was my age. But now he's old and busy. And kinda smelly too, is that a dad thing?"

The morning fog had finally started to lift from Sakura, who had chosen something to wear at last, and the gears began turning in her head. "Wait, why don't you just ask Sasuke?"

Haruka had thought of that soon after she'd made the bet, but something held her back. She fiddled with her fingers and said, "I...don't know. He's probably my best bet, but it'd be asking too much. I think my personality is a little bit...much for him."

Sakura chuckled through the phone. "Your personality, too much? I don't see it."

"Not the time, man. Read the room."

"Well, I don't know anyone else who can skateboard better than Koda." Sakura mused. "But I guess you could try learning yourself?"

Haruka snorted. She was all for independence, (and truthfully, she hated asking for help in general) but she had grown up watching Koda skateboard. If she wanted any shot at getting on his level, she knew she couldn't do it alone. Or perhaps she could do it by herself, but not in just one month. "There's no way. But Sakura, would you really...you know, be okay with me asking Sasuke? If I did?"

Sakura let a moment of silence pass before replying, "Well, yeah. It's not like you like him the way I do, right?"

"Right. I don't think I have the emotional capacity to like anyone like you like him." Haruka teased, and if Sakura could see the disinterested look on her face, she would have been doubly assured.

-

"Don't go there, don't go there! That's quicksand!" Naruto was furiously mashing the buttons on his video game controller.

"You could've told me that before!" Sasuke said sharply, watching helplessly as his character died for the fourth time since they had started the level. He and Naruto had been playing on the Nintendo system in Sasuke's living room for about an hour, and tensions were running high between them.