2-D REALITY

©Blue2014

CREDITS: 1

Level 1: Player 1- START!

Blasé, detached, cold, heartless, eerie, inscrutable, bizarre, odd, misanthropic, reclusive, withdrawn, avoidant, anti-social, shut-in,

O-ta-ku.

All the words above could be used to describe one Haruno Sakura. The twenty-something year old woman wasn't exactly known for her personality being as vibrant as her hair. If anything it was such an ironic contrast people found it humorous. But as uncaring as she was, what they thought didn't matter. Ai, Kagome, Mayomi, and all her other nendroids loved her. Sataomi, Usi, Yamamato, and all the other men from her otome games love her. Yui, the twins, Tsuni, and all everyone else in her manga and anime love her. She felt they were all she needed in life to be happy.

Sadly, her mother vehemently disagreed.

Mebuki Haruno despised the fantasy world her daughter insisted on living in. No matter what she said Sakura showed no other interest in anything in the real world. The older woman began to worry when she overheard her mini-me talk about switching majors from the medical field to graphics and design. With the way this was heading she was concerned with her daughter's future. Though she blamed it on her worry-wart nature and tried to brush it off by instead asking, "It seems as if you're growing every day. When are you going to sit down and start a family?" But Sakura was a smart cookie and knew where this was heading. Without glancing up from her handheld she easily responded with,

"My game is my better half. We have two beautiful children named Anime and Manga; as a matter of fact I'm pregnant with our third child. Its name is Plushie."

That was the straw that broke the camel's back and Mebuki decided enough was enough. But Sakura had no idea what was in store for her as she came home. She took the key that was taped on the bottom of the mail box and stuffed it in the lock. Taking off her headphones and shoes she entered the age-old home. "Kaa-san! Kizashi!" She searched the house from top to the bottom for her parents before deciding that they went to the store and waited in the living room. Fresh out of college, the pinkette wanted to take a year off before diving right into graduate school. Though it wasn't by choice, she relented and came home to spend time with her parents.

Well, you can't exactly spend time with someone who's absent. With a small huff she decided to check her email and found one from her mother. Her curiosity peeked but as she read her emerald eyes widened in horror.

Dear Sakura-chan,

Thank you again for getting me this computer for my birthday! I guess it's true that old dogs can learn new tricks. I've learned about the internet, emoticons, and found there's a neat little storage place where you can rent out a room. You can fill it with all sorts of things like, for example, those cute little nendoroids you say love so much. But young kids these days just throw around the word "love" left and right. I want you to find real love and get married and have kids I.R.L.

Yes, I found out about that too ;)

I'm only doing this because I love you and don't want you to die alone. They say it takes a human twenty-one days to adapt. So let's make a deal. Please understand this is for your own good.

Ganbatte!

Sakura took her tablet and squeezed it in her hand. Her grip tightened until she couldn't tell if it was shaking from the pressure or her fist was shaking from anger. Why? Why couldn't her mother just let he live her life the way she wanted from the start? Why did it matter if she got married, didn't her mother raise her to be an independent woman? Why did her mother have this insistence need of her being married? Why?! She growled low under her breath and was prepared to raid the house for some hint at where she could find the location of the storage room; but as she practically sprinted to her parent's room she found their door was locked. The thought of kicking in the room door seemed appealing but just as she lifted up her leg she felt her phone vibrate.

P.P.S: The storage room key is with me and your father. We're on our second honeymoon and won't be home for a while so look after the house.

This time she really did squeeze her phone until a crack spider-webbed its way across the screen. A smirk pulled at her lips as she realized this was her mother's plan all alone. Threatening her to come home on the pretense of being worried of the work load. Not letting her check into a hotel because that was too expensive and isolated. Casually mentioning how her older friend's son was single. Sakura fell against her parent's door and slowly slid until she sat on the floor. If her mother wanted her to find a boyfriend, who was she to deny her wishes? Ignoring the flawed glass, she called up her only friend. Or ally, as she often liked to call her.

"Ino. Choji has boyfriends, right?"

The blonde beauty cringed but resisted the urge to frown–frowning caused pre-mature wrinkles. "Yeah but don't say it that way. You make it sound like he has, like, a secret gay lover or something." Ino picked up her fiancés' phone and began to look through his contacts with a small hum. "Let's see…he's married, he's gay, and he's weird–wait who the fuck is Mai? Do you think that's a girl's name?" Sakura rolled her eyes at her friend's insecurity. "Ino? Names?" Blanched blue eyes glared at the name one last time before she kept looking. "Ah. Okay. You remember Naruto?" As she was met with silence she received her answer and shook her head. It always astonished her how someone could live with such minimal contact with other human beings and still live.

"Blonde, blue eyes, whiskers, loud?"

More silence.

"Never mind. His number is-"

"I don't want his number."

Ino paused and this time she couldn't help but frown in her confusion. "Then why did do you want to know about Choji-kun's guy friends?" She knew how much Sakura hated interaction in the first place so her asking for another person's anything was surprising. "I want to meet him." The squeal that ripped through the receiver was enough to make Sakura hold the phone away from her at arm's length. "So you want me to, like, set you up on a blind date?! Nieasmowite!" Her Polish nationality began to show and Sakura narrowed her eyes. "No, you polish-sausage. Kaa-san was worried about me ending up alone so I thought if I got a guy friend, or got in a relationship, she'd give me my things back. But I don't really like going out and meeting people so I thought I'd get you to bring the people to me."

The sound of finality in her voice made Ino sigh wearily. Her friend was smart but she wasn't good at coming up with plans. "You do realize no sane person would just show up at someone's house right?" Sakura thought about this and her shoulders slacked once she realized Ino was right. "Then I have to…go out and met him?" "Yes, five-head." She said fondly before examining her nails. "Since you spaz out in crowded areas and he's broke, why don't you meet at Ichiraku's ramen stand? It's small and cheap so everybody wins. Tomorrow at eight. Don't be late."

Ino hung up and turned back to Choji's phone.

Hey Naruto, it's Ino! I want you to meet a friend of mine at Ichiraku's. You remember Sakura, right? Good. Tomorrow at eight. Have fun!

Sighing, she leaned back and looked down at Choji's head in her lap. With a small smile she ran her fingers through her brown locks as he peacefully slept.

It was so much fun being her. It was like playing Cupid but without the diapers.

LEVEL COMPLETE!

"Nerds like us, are allowed to be ironically enthusiastic about stuff. Nerds are allowed to love

stuff, like, jump-up-and-down-in-your-chair-can't-control-yourself love it. When people call

people nerds, mostly what they're saying "You like stuff." Which is not a good insult at all. Like,

"You are too enthusiastic about the miracle of human consciousness."

–John Green

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