and everything nice.

three.

chapter three: lunch hour at konoha isn't for the weak! [alternatively called: you gotta sing for your supper, or at konoha, you gotta fight for your lunch]

✧.*

the cafeteria was complete and utter chaos. stepping into it, sakura wished she could run back to her locker where it was quiet and calm. not that she minded being in social settings, but sakura felt exhausted from all the events leading up to now.

she just got out of the lunch line with a tray of food: a cup of grapes, some carrots, and a turkey sandwich. and now her next mission is to find hinata's table.

"sakura-channnnn!!!!"

or let the table find her.

she turned her head to find naruto jogging towards her. it looked like he was going in for a hug, so she smartly stepped aside and let him run into the wall behind her.

she put a hand to her mouth to stifle her laughter. "naruto, are you okay?" she asked.

upon hearing her voice he immediately got back up, acting like nothing ever happened. "of course i am! i can handle anything, you see, i'm really tough." sakura rolled her eyes at his arrogance, ready to come up with a witty remark when she noticed a bruise starting to swell on his face.

"oh naruto you've got a bruise forming on your face; you're such a mess." she set her tray on a nearby table to free her hands so she could inspect his face, taking it into her hands. he blushed immediately just by her proximity, and even more when she actually touched his face.

this was nothing special to sakura, though. as a volunteer at her local clinic, she was used to getting close to people. physically, at least.

"you're holding up the line." a familiar voice said from behind them. sakura didn't need to turn her face to know it was sasuke.

"sasuke, do you mind?! you're ruining a precious moment between sakura and i!" she turned to sasuke, who was standing behind her.

"i'm sorry," she said blandly. sakura roughly grabbed naruto's hand and moved them out of the way of the lunch line.

sasuke said nothing but walked out of the cafeteria with his lunch, which was just an apple and a soda.

sakura sighed as she took a step back from naruto. "it's not bad, just a normal bruise. you should probably put something cold on it so it doesn't get worse." she said as she grabbed her lunch tray again.

naruto shrugged off her advice. "meh, i'll be fine. now come on over to our table!" he said excitedly, leading her through the maze of tables before finding one with a bunch of faces familiar to sakura.

relieved to see more people she knew, sakura smiled and sat down next to hinata. naruto sat down next to her. the three of them were sitting opposite of temari and shikamaru.

"hey sakura! i'm glad you found your way here," she said to her sweetly. now looking at naruto, the ravenette turned a bit more shy. "it was really nice of you to help her find her way, naruto."

he just grinned before taking a big bite out of his cheeseburger. boys are so clueless.

"hey pink hair, how'd you survive in your classes without us?" temari asked, smirking.

"starved for entertainment but other than that just fine." sakura grinned.

temari was sitting right across from her, and shikamaru was right next to temari.

he had an arm around her as she talked, his fingers fiddling with her coarse locks of honey blonde hair. its texture not too different from his own dark hair, which was currently pulled into a man bun.