The Way Through Stone Village (Naruto)

53: Questions

[OP: "The Oh Hellos"--Bitter Water]

Ino was flummoxed.

"Wow," she said strangely.

"What?" Sakura said tightly.

"You sound like them," Ino said. "That's just what they've said, isn't it? You must have listened more closely than you thought. Even if you didn't like it."

"Don't be silly," Sakura sniffed. "I don't think they're right about me. And Shine is stuck up. She had the nerve to tell me I don't understand love. Like she knows!"

"Maybe none of us do," Ino said. "I read a whole chapter on it in their book. But it's not at all like what we do...but somehow it was like I always knew it, once I read it. Like maybe I knew all along that something like that was right."

"Oh, really?" Sakura said skeptically. "It doesn't sound like it was that profound then."

Ino felt as if that might have been a dis on her, but didn't think Sakura was trying that hard.

"It said that love is long-suffering and kind, and it's not envious and not boastful or rude or proud. It doesn't love evil but loves truth, and it bears everything and believes and endures and hopes, and it never fails...and faith, hope, and love are the greatest things, but love is the greatest of those."

"I don't get that," Sakura said. "I get that love is important to them, but they talk about it like it's something more than just a feeling."

"Isn't it?" Ino said. "If it was just a feeling...I don't know, it doesn't seem like it would last very long, but it does. For some people."

"So what is it?" Sakura frowned. "And why are they on about it? I really don't think they talk about it that much."

"I think they don't use that word, always," Ino said. "But from that description, I realized that it's what they are talking about: doing the right thing, not giving into anger, and pride, and then trying to give people the benefit of the doubt. I think it's all just another method of saying it. I'm still new to this though. I probably don't have it all right. But love is Gaara's thing too. And Naruto's?"

"Naruto always says it's bonds," Sakura said. "I guess that's love, but then Sasuke says there are 'bonds of hatred'." She did a very poor imitation of Sasuke's tone, but it was surprising to Ino that she even mocked him at all.

"What happened with you two?" she said, astonished. "I've never seen you like this about him."

"That prick," Sakura said without hesitation, "has made his decision, and apparently I 'have to live with it' if I 'want what's best' for him. Which sounds like crap to me, but if I fight it, it just makes it worse. He doubles down."

"You...noticed that?" Ino said.

"I'm not as stupid as you think," Sakura said. "I've always noticed it...just never knew what else to do. So I give up. I can't do anything, and I'm tired of humiliating myself by begging...at least for now."

Ino didn't believe that would last, not with Sakura...but while it did, Sakura was so strangely lucid about Sasuke.

"So does that mean your feelings for Sasuke have changed?" she asked.

"I don't know now," Sakura said. "My feelings for Sasuke, as I knew him from the past, have not changed, I think..." She frowned uncertainly. "But this...this Sasuke that's here with us now, he's not the same person. I hardly recognize him. I don't know if I like this one."

"Really? But sometimes I think he's softer than he was," Ino said. "But still...frightening...but a little less than before."

"He seems more petty than he used to be," Sakura sniffed.