Mind games

Pink (valentines day)

It. Was. Everywhere.

Sasuke hung his head to avoid the endless amounts of pink that covered the village. Pink hearts, pink balloons... pink, pink, pink! He hated that color in small doses (like Sakura's hair) so it certainly didn't please him to see it covering every visible inch of the town. Honestly, he gagged a little when he looked up.

The only think Sasuke hated more than the color was the holiday that it was associated with. Valentine's day. Honestly? How jejune. If you love somebody, you should show them all the time, not just on one day. That's what his mother always used to tell him, and he believed it. It was true, wasn't it?

Well... True or not, Sasuke wasn't always the best at taking his own advice. But that didn't matter now. What mattered was escaping to the training grounds as quickly as possible.

Every year Sasuke would hang out in his house with all the curtains drawn so that he couldn't see the repulsive color. However, it seems that the fangirls have picked up on this fact and begun to flock to his house with flowers, candy and presents. So, to avoid this travesty, Sasuke was planning on spending this year off in the woods away from anything and everything pink or love related.

Damn holiday.

He ran a hand through his tousled dark hair and sighed heavily. Only a few more feet before he should be able to look up. Only a few more feet...

"G-gomen!" A voice rang out before Sasuke had a chance to register anything else.

He felt himself heading towards the ground and braced for the impact. But, before he felt it, a hand latched around his forearm and pulled him back up to his feet. Sasuke took a moment to stabilize himself before looking up into blue eyes.

Naruto frowned back at him, "What are you doing all the way out here, Sasuke?"

"I could ask you the same thing," Sasuke replied coolly, taking his arm back from Naruto.

A slight laugh escaped his lips, "Isn't it obvious? I have nobody to spend today with, so I'm out here."

Sasuke stared at Naruto for a moment. The blonde smiled and scratched the back of his head like he'd done a million times. How could he not be bothered by his own words, Sasuke wondered. I mean, sure, Sasuke didn't particularly like having all these girls flock after him. But he imagined he'd like it less if he were entirely alone.

"That doesn't bother you?"

"Huh?" Naruto scrunched his nose up for a moment, trying to think of what to say, "Why should it?"

"Why wouldn't it?" Sasuke countered.

Naruto laughed, "It's always been this way. I'm just used to it I guess."

A pang swept through Sasuke's chest. Naruto had always been alone? How... heartbreaking? Pitiful? Sad? Sasuke wasn't sure what word to use to describe it.

"Well, I'm heading off to train. You can come if you want," He replied as coolly as he could.

Naruto threw his hands in the air before pointing one directly at Sasuke, "I'm going to kick your ass, believe it!"

Sasuke rolled his eyes and walked past Naruto, roughly bumping his shoulder against the kitsune's. Naruto huffed in anger and chased after Sasuke, yelling assorted names as he ran.

They reached a clearing in the woods and stopped dead. In the middle of the clearing was a blob of that horrendously hideous pink color that Sasuke loathed.

"Sakura-chan, what are you doing here?" Naruto called, waving his hands above his head.

Sakura directed her gaze to Sasuke, "Well, I saw you heading here and just thought that maybe I could join you?"