The Girl Who Waited

第5章

"Hey Sakura! Whatcha got in the bag? Huh? Huh? Huh?!"

"Naruto, if you don't get out of my face, I'm going to slug you!" she snaps, making a threatening fist at him. The orange-clad boy pre-emptively ducks, sticking out his tongue. Several feet away, she can almost hear Sasuke rolling his eyes.

"But I wanna know," Naruto complains. "Did you bring games? You should've brought something fun to do. Kakashi-sensei's taking forever."

"No, I didn't bring games," she tells him. She wonders why that idea hasn't occurred to her before now. Their instructor is always late, if he even shows up at all. A pack of cards or dice might be a good idea...

"Then what's in there?"

"You'll see when Kakashi-sensei gets here," Sakura retorts.

"But why not now?"

"Because I said so! We're waiting until—"

"I heard my name?"

There's a puff of smoke and, suddenly, Kakashi is leaning over them, disgustingly unbothered by his tardiness, as usual.

"You're late!" Sakura and Naruto chorus.

"Well, my horoscope said something unfortunate would happen to me if I took my usual route today, so—"

"Liar!"

"Can we get started?" Sasuke interrupts, unimpressed with Kakashi's excuses.

"In a minute," Naruto shoots back. "Sakura said she would open the bag, and I wanna see what's in it!"

"If you keep annoying me, you won't," she grumbles, but she's already undoing the ties and unfolding the cloth.

Two red-wrapped packages shine in the sunlight, and she passes them to Kakashi and Naruto. Not waiting to see their reactions, she reaches back into the bag and draws out a plain carton of tomatoes for Sasuke. She has, after all, learned her lesson.

Sasuke leans away from the tomatoes, as if he's expecting them to attack, but at her expectant look, he relents and reaches for them.

"Happy Valentine's Day!" she declares, beaming at them all and relishing in their varied expressions.

Kakashi looks as if he doesn't know what to say—she supposes it's been a long time since he got chocolate from anyone—while Naruto appears frozen. It occurs to her too late that today might be the first year anyone has given him anything on purpose. This suspicion is confirmed when he looks up at her, his eyes glassy.

"Sakura..."

"It's not a big deal," she hurries to say. "Ino gave all the guys on her squad gifts, so I figured I would do the same. I won't let her out-do me."

That's not entirely true. Things have been so tense since their team formed. Sasuke's is always cold and sulky, while Naruto has been more reckless than usual, hell-bent on surpassing rival. Which isn't easy since the only missions they get assigned amount to babysitting or yard work.

Or worse, rescuing cats.

She hopes this tiny gesture will make the temperamental men in her life feel a little better.

"Hah! Sakura must hate you, Sasuke. She gave you vegetables!"

"Or she wants me to live longer than you."

She winces. Or not.

"This is very thoughtful of you, Sakura," Kakashi tells her, tone softer than normal. Even though she can't see his face beneath that damned mask, she thinks he might be smiling at her. "I hope you receive some equally thoughtful gifts on White Day."