A year ago , sakura's world shattered as she was removed from her dream team , not only that she was abandoned by sasuke .
Naruto whom she also called and idiot and took for granted , left her with a reality check .
It was then , she realised just how shallow she was , how empty her words were , how cheap her love was , how immature and cut off from reality she was compared to others .
News about her failure reached to all her classmates and everyone came to show pity and console her , but the two people she most wanted to come never came . Sasuke and naruto had truely grown up and left her far far behind .
That day when she lost everything she thought was important in her life , she reached her home .
And when she saw her parents worried faces, how they rushed to give her a hug and spent days after days to cheer her up . She realised what naruto said was true .
I was lucky
When ino showed up to her house to reconnect with her , help her , make her smile , console her and let her cry out her heart and feelings , Narutos words stung her deep .
She realised how much she had and how much she took for granted .
How oblivious she had been to naruto and sasuke life and house .
While team 7 was away on mission she asked iruka sensei to take her to visit the uchiha compound .
Seeing the empty bleek streets and abandoned houses , the emptiness of sasukes home , as it wasnt a home ...it was just a building a house with no life in it .
How she had ignored all that , she went to narutos house and saw the empty packs of ramen , lack of any sense of family and closness .
Sasuke , he was alone .
Naruto , he was alone .
And her , sakura had everything and yet she was so so blind and stupid .
...
It been a year since then , Sakura was no longer a sheltered plant , she had grown not only as a women but also as a person .
Her heart beat with not only blood but with emotions and understanding .
She made friends , she made connection and she realised how wrong she had been .
As the Hokage sama finished his classical speeach on will of fire and how he was the greatest hokage ... Sakura looked all around the buildings roofs , trying to find two faces .
She held some semblence of hope , her heart beating in anticipation and hope .
She had carried the guilt and regret for a year , but to be unable to express it yo the right persons , she always felt it wasnt enough .
She want to say sorry , she wanted to apologise.
But alas her hope were meant to be shattered , a tear formed in her eye as she tried to sooth her aching heart .
Her parents were there to see her , congratulate her , click pictures , share a smile . But it all felt empty to her .
Sakura , in a daze remebered seeing Naruto sitting on the swing near the tree , she remebered how she had laughed at him back then .
How had she been soo cruel back then .
As she felt her emotions overwhelm her , she rushed away from the crowd and reached the swing and sat down .
"Why was i sooo blind ...? " She covered her face and started crying .
As she continued to cry , a hand slowly reached out towards her head , it hesitated for a bit but eventually touched her pink silky hair .
The hand kept on stroking her head until sakura stopped crying , yet she didnt raise her head and look who it was .
" Thanks ino "
Sakura said in between her sniffs .
The hand came to a stop for a second but then continued .
While sakura was thinking it was ino who came to support her , ino was meet her parents , who yold her how she ran away .
Ino worried about sakura , ran around the academy ground in search of her and finally found her , but when she came closer , she stopped .
" Sasuke ? "
She asked outloud .
Sakura who was finding a sense of comfort by having her head patted , immediately woke up upon hearing sasukes name .
She immediately looked at ino .
' Huh ino ... If you are there !? Then who was patting my head '
As she turned her head to look at the culprit , what greeted her were two fingers outstretch that flicked her on the forehead .
" ouchh !! ...who !!? "
" Come on !! ... Naruto is waiting for you to apologize!! "
A voice entered her ears , she trembled as she quickly raised her head and saw the back of sasuke who jumped away .
Ino who watched everything came running and hugged sakura .
" Heyy pig head ... Congrats on graduation i guess ... Now what are you doing here ...go !"
Sakura still in daze asked .
" Where ? He didnt tell me where ? "
Ino tried not to curse at her stupidity as she took a deep breath .
" Idiot ... seriously i dont know what bad kuck i had to get a childhood friend like you ...
Idiot sakura , where is naruto most likely to be in the entire village ? "
" Ichiraku "
Suddenly as if a blub turned on her brain , her heart skipped a beat as tears of joy appeared in her eyes , she rushed towards the ramen shop .
From behind , ino shouted .
" Clean you face idiots ...you wouldn't want you sasuke seeing you teary face would you !!! "
Sakura almost stumbled and fell face first but grabbed hold of her emotions and rushed in the womens bath to clean up .
...
Ichiraku ramen was the spot that naruto always visited ever since he was a child .
Sasuke was forced after each mission to come with naruto and hinata as a team building exercise ...that is what kakashi called it .
Eventually he also developed a taste for it and now often , sasuke and naruto soend all of their earnings on ramen competition .
Mostly naruto won , but once hinata took up the challenge.
Naruto never forgot that day .
As Sasuke and Naruto were in another fierce competition of their own .
Sakura rushed in ... Huffing as she struggled to catch a breath .
She choked at the image of sasuke and naruto fighting to finish another bowl .
" Another !!! " Both of them shouted together .
Naruto saw Sakura from the corner of his eyes and yelled with noddles spraying out if his mouth .
" SAKURA ....GRAB A BOWL ...ILL DEFEAT YOU ALSO !!! "
Hearing these words , Sakura eyes got filled with tears as she had no words to say .
She knew .
Naruto and sasuke had forgiven her ...
Sakura order a bowl as she sat beside Hinata and the two girls started talking .
Sakura was suprised by hinata , she never knew that she was such a sweet person .
She also thought she was timid , but now looking at her smug face as she teased naruto and sasuke .
" I hope one day anyone can beat my record ...hehe "
Hearing her teasing them , naruto and sasuke both looked at each other and shook their head .
' Nah ..we wont '
Sakura was amazed , hinata was laughing ... No wait she didnt even faint .
' amazing '