After purchasing her knitting needles and a ball of yarn in the city centre, Sakura bouncily retraced her steps, drawing many stares and the occasional wolf whistle as she went to look for the Hyūga clan's exclusive compound. She had never had cause to visit their land before, but locating their gated community was easy enough, since it bordered that of the Uchiha.
So, after having walked past the compound's high walls countless times on her way to work at the hospital, Sakura stopped in front of its great wooden double doors for the first time and knocked.
…
And a few minutes later, after exchanging a few niceties with the man of the house, Sakura was sitting cross-legged on the floor in Hinata's room, with Hinata seated across from her at a low table. Knitting needles in hand, yarn wound tightly around the wooden sticks, they began to knit, the clickety-clack of their needles periodically broken by Hinata's patient instructions.
"…that's right, pull the yarn through the little loop, like so," said Hinata softly, demonstrating the method with her own knitting needles. "Then, repeat the pattern until you're happy with your scarf's length. To finish, knit the stitches together, one after the other. You can add frilly fringes at the ends once you're done, too— it's not t-too complicated, I'll show you… later?"
Hinata goggled as Sakura somehow managed to knit her fingers together.
"This is more difficult than I thought," Sakura complained, wiggling her fingers experimentally. "I don't think this is how a scarf's supposed to look…"
Hinata watched with a complicated expression as Sakura tried to yank her hands apart, only succeeding in tightening the yarn and cutting off the circulation to her fingers, now red and swollen. In the end, Hinata was forced to take a pair of scissors and cut her friend free.
"B-by the way, how did you know I liked to knit as a hobby, Sakura-chan…?" Hinata asked timidly. "I d-don't think I've ever told anyone before…"
Truth be told, the original Sakura and Hinata had never spoken much at the academy. At best, they were old classmates on friendly terms and comrades in arms— that was about the extent of their relationship so far.
As such, Hinata had no idea what she had done to deserve Sakura risking her life and disobeying the rules to save her twice now. After all, in the original timeline, it was only after Sakura helped Naruto realise his true feelings for Hinata that the two women finally became real friends— mostly because their husbands were besties.
"Hmm, let's see… however did I find out~?" Sakura replied, smiling playfully and winking. "That's because I've always had my eye on you, Hinata-chan~."
A chill ran down Hinata's spine, as Sakura once again started looping yarn around her needle for a new attempt. How long had Sakura known that she was madly in love with Naruto? Was the real reason for Sakura's visit… to warn her to back away from her man!?
Of course, Hinata's love for Naruto was obvious to anyone with eyes and a functioning brain… and the only reason Sakura knew Hinata could knit was that the only Naruto film she'd ever watched was The Last, since it was canon.
"Is… there a specific reason you wanted to learn how to knit?" asked Hinata, her heart tightening.
"Well, Naruto-kun's birthday is coming up," said Sakura, rubbing the back of her head sheepishly. "I wanted to give him something that would help keep him warm, since his winter uniform is full of holes."
The answer that Hinata had been dreading the most!
"T-then, why not use your Sharingan?" asked Hinata desperately, who now wanted nothing more than for Sakura to leave her alone. "You know, it takes an awful long time, even for me, to make something as simple as a scarf…"
"That's no good," said Sakura firmly. "It's true I'd learn faster if I used my Dōjutsu to copy your knitting skills, but then, wouldn't it be as though you had been the one to make it? I suppose I could've bought a scarf at the store, but I wanted to give Naruto a handmade scarf, so that my feelings could reach him."
A twisted, pleasurable squirming sensation settled in the pit of Sakura's belly as she watched Hinata's expression shift to pure horror. It felt sooo wrong, but teasing this girl was just sooo much fun. Maybe she had some potential as a sadist, Sakura thought to herself, feeling a sort of dampness in her loins.
"My feelings of eternalfriendship, of course," Sakura added. "If Team 7 could stay together forever, I think that would be so very nice. Don't you?"
"I–is that so?" Hinata stammered, tears of relief beading at the corners of her eyes. "Y–you're right, that would be nice…"
Sakura was tempted to lead Hinata onto a rollercoaster of emotions; but, sensing a pair of eyes on the back of her head, she turned around. Hinata's little sister was staring at them through a crack in the doorway.
"Stare…" Hanabi said out loud.
"Is that your little sister, Hinata-chan?" Sakura asked, beaming at her. "She's so kyuute!"
Hinata nodded meekly.
Hanabi certainly looked cute now, but during Taijutsu practice, she would turn into a demon. Even with her newly strengthened, almost absurdly resilient body, Hinata wasn't sure she could beat her little sister in a fair and balanced Gentle Fist match— that is, not without flying out of range of those little fists of hers.
"Pink hair, huge boobs… You're Uchiha Sakura, aren't you!" said Hanabi playfully. "Great-Grandpa's always yelling angrily about you, and Nara-sensei's always telling him to stop getting so worked up, because it drives up his blood pressure!"
This nine-year-old knew a lot of big words, huh…
"You know Rotation, right?" Hanabi went on, pointing at Sakura. "I hear people are always arguing about who would win in a one-on-one fight between the Hyūga and the Uchiha, so let's have a duel and find out!!"
"Hanabi, don't point at people!" Hinata cried out. "And Sakura-chan is our guest, so please don't challenge her to a fight!"
Sakura was quite surprised to see this side of Hanabi. From what little she'd seen of her on-screen appearances, Hinata's little sister came across as a demure young lady… in public. But in Boruto, it was only in private that her playful, almost cat-like behaviour spilled out!
"Hmm…" Sakura hummed thoughtfully. "I don't know… during the Chūnin Exams three years ago, I seem to remember Neji wiping the floor with Sasuke-kun. I don't think I'd make a very good sparring partner… I'm not sure I'd last long enough against you in a duel to even swap pointers."
With her praiseworthy maturity, Sakura was fully capable of humouring a child!
"That's different," said Hanabi pridefully. "Neji-nii-san is a genius, just like me. It's natural that he'd win, so that doesn't count. He'd wipe the floor with anyone."
Unfortunately, no amount of maturity could hold back the ego of the Uchiha bloodline… just as Sasuke couldn't help but call Naruto names whenever he saw him, Sakura wouldn't hold back against a child if her honour was besmirched!
"Well, I wouldn't know about that," said Sakura cheerily. "I'm not supposed to talk about it, but I met Neji on one of my missions last month… and I seem to remember me wiping the floor with him! Oh, and I was outnumbered three to one, by the way."
Sakura opened her three-tomoe eyes and fixed Hanabi with a menacing glare, her crimson irises filled with malice meeting Hanabi's innocent, pale eyes.
Ancient genetic memories stirred in Hanabi's pure blood, instinctively reminding her of a certain little brother who had never won a single match against his big brother… and she turned tail, slamming the door shut behind her as she fled.