If It Isn't Love, It's Friendship
By Lily in a Pond
Chapter One - Valentine's Day
Disclaimer: If I really owned Naruto, I would've made the characters change their clothes a long time ago…
A/N – This is my first Naruto story, so please tell me what you think about it. And also, I know Valentine's Day was last month, but I started writing this on Valentine's Day, but I never really thought of finishing it until today. So the theme is still Valentine's Day!
Furthermore, I'm pretending the whole Orochimaru-Sasuke thing didn't happen, so he's going to be blissfully ignorant of the fact that a weird, pale fifty-year-old wants his body...which sounds wrong in more ways than one.
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Valentine's Day had arrived in Konoha, and the Hidden Leaf Village was simply covered with shades of pink and red. Buildings were decorated with pink and red ribbons, flower petals were strewn on the sidewalks, and the delicate pinks of cherry blossom trees were visible for miles. Shops advertised bright signs adorned with hearts; the Yamanaka Flower Shop in particular had a sign in its display window reading "75 off all flower arrangements." Ichiraku Ramen, where Naruto Uzumaki was currently slurping down his fifth bowl of ramen, was offering a couple's special. The barbecue restaurant Team Ten frequented was offering one as well. Even the weapons store was holding a sale; it was also offering to gift-wrap purchases. People everywhere were scurrying around, holding beautifully wrapped packages near their chests, seeking out that special someone.
In the midst of this hullabaloo, four girls were sitting calmly on a bench outside the library, discussing their plans for Valentine's Day.
"I'm going to Sasuke-kun's house before anyone else gets there!" Ino Yamanaka declared, clutching an exquisitely wrapped present tightly. Sakura Haruno shot her a look.
"Well, I'm going to his house last, but I'm still going to get him before you, Ino-pig."
Ino brushed off the insult with a huff, but she secretly agreed. Sakura spent much more time with him, and she was his old teammate, so their relationship was more comfortable. Besides, there was that rumor going around Konoha a few weeks ago that Sasuke had exited a jewelry shop holding a long box in his hands and looking around suspiciously. When Ino had heard it, she immediately thought of Sakura; the other females in Sasuke's life were just acquaintances, not anyone too special. "So, what are you two doing today?" she asked Tenten and Hinata. Tenten shrugged.
"The same thing I did last year. I'll give the presents to Neji, Lee, and Gai-sensei, and then I'll be off sleeping in a tree somewhere."
"What about you, Hinata?"
Hinata blushed. "I-I'm going to give h-h-homemade chocolates and f-flowers to my f-friends and family," she stammered.
"Are you going to give chocolates and flowers to Naruto as well, or are you going to give him ramen instead?" Sakura asked slyly. Hinata's cheeks turned a cherry red.
Ino took pity on the poor girl. "Anyway, has anyone thought about the fact that we were all rejected last year?"
"That's a mean and untruthful thing to say, Ino, and besides, Neji didn't reject me!" Tenten protested. Sakura coughed loudly.
"Really? So, if you bought him that "gorgeous piece of metal that he had been drooling over for two months," and he practically fainted when he saw it, why aren't you two together?"
Tenten scowled. "You have a point there. Well, at least I didn't get my present tossed in the trash like yours."
"So, he didn't throw mine away?" Ino asked excitedly. 'Who cares if he probably liked Sakura?' she thought. It was Sasuke-kun, and that should be self-explanatory!
"Actually, I think he incinerated yours with his Grand Fireball technique," said Tenten. Ino's face fell.
"Hey, Hinata, what did Naruto say to you when you gave him the ramen last year?" Sakura asked. Hinata blushed.
"He j-just hugged m-me and said t-thank you."
Sakura, Ino, and Tenten sighed. "Idiot," they chorused.
Sakura checked her watch. "I've got to go now. I have to deliver a mound of gifts today – for Sasuke-kun, Naruto, Kakashi-sensei, Iruka-sensei, Tsunade-sama and Shizune-sama, Konohamaru, Moegi, and Udon, Shikamaru, Chouji, Kiba, Shino, Lee, and Neji."
"Same here," Ino said, getting back. "I'll see you later!"
"This is the f-first year I'm going to d-d-deliver the homemade c-chocolates to m-my friends," Hinata said. "Do you think t-they'll like them?"
"I'm positive they will," Tenten reassured her. "How can anyone not like your cooking, Hinata? It's delicious!"
"The flowers m-might cause s-some trouble, too. I don't k-know how to g-g-give flowers to a b-boy and I'll p-probably f-faint or s-something like t-that."
Tenten laughed. "You just hand it to them, Hinata. Come on, how hard can it be? They're just flowers!"
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"What the heck is this poofy crap?"
Sakura sighed. "Naruto, they're called flowers."
Naruto Uzumaki stared curiously at the bright orange Tiger Lilies in Sakura's arms. "Are you supposed to eat them? Do they taste like ramen?"
Sakura desperately wanted to slap her forehead, but seeing as her hands were holding a box of chocolates and a bouquet of flowers, she settled for stomping her foot.
"No, Naruto, you put them in a vase – you do know what that is, right? – and get some water to make them last longer."
"They smell nice," Naruto observed, his nose twitching like a bunny.
"Yes, they do," Sakura agreed. "Now, the chocolate is edible, but I think you know that already."
"Of course I do!" Naruto exclaimed, taking the chocolate and flowers from Sakura's hands. "What do you think I am, stupid?"
Sakura stared at him. "Yes."
As she left the bridge, Naruto called, "Thank you, Sakura-chan! Hey, hey, hey, wait!"
Sakura turned around. "What?"
"Why are you giving flowers and candy to me on Valentine's Day, Sakura-chan?" Naruto asked, chewing on a caramel-filled chocolate. "Shouldn't you be giving them to Sasuke, the person you love?"
"Because you are my friend, Naruto," smiled Sakura. "And friends love each other as well."
Naruro stared at her for a moment. "Here," he said a moment later, handing her a bouquet of pink roses from his orange-black jumpsuit. "Friends give presents to each other. Happy Valentine's Day, Sakura."
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"Chouji! Chouji, where are you?" Ino called, looking around Team Ten's training area.
"What's up, Ino?" Chouji emerged from the woods holding a bag of potato chips.
"Happy Valentine's Day, Chouji," Ino said cheerfully. "In addition to these flowers and chocolates, I've also included ten passes to 'Maito Gai's Super-Youthful Workout Sessions.' Gai told me himself that after going to just one class, you'd be fit as……well, fit as himself, actually."
Chouji groaned. "Can I just give the passes away?"
"No!" Ino snapped. "I worked really hard to get those, you know! Ordinary people don't get admission to 'Maito Gai's Super-Youthful Workout Sessions,' only the elite do!"
Chouji grumbled. "I'm only doing this because I'm your friend, Ino," he said grumpily, taking the slips of paper.
Ino grinned. "You'll be in perfect shape in no time! Then, we'll have a nice heart-to-heart about finding a girlfriend for you!" She skipped happily off, leaving Chouji holding the passes, chocolate, and flowers.
Chouji looked at the chocolates and sighed. "Well, I better get started on these…I suppose I won't be eating chocolate for a long time."
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"Flowers for us, Hinata? Thanks!"
Hinata smiled nervously at Kiba Inuzuka and Shino Aburame. "Valentine's Day isn't j-just for l-l-lovers, it's for f-friends as w-well. And t-there's another present in h-hidden in the f-flowers for you, Akamaru."
Akamaru barked happily and dived enthusiastically into the arrangement of bluebells and posies in Kiba's arms. He emerged a few moments later with a squeaky rubber squirrel.
"Thank you, Hinata-chan," Shino said quietly, taking the flowers and chocolates Hinata handed him. Hinata smiled.
"I'm h-happy to have you as my f-f-friend, Shino-kun. You, too, Kiba-kun. You've always p-protected me and h-helped m-me. The f-flowers and c-chocolates were the l-least I could do," Hinata stammered, bowing her head.
Kiba grinned. "Aw, you're making me teary, Hinata! You're the nicest girl in the world!" he shouted, surprising Hinata with a hug.
Shino quickly turned away, but it was too late. Kiba had already caught the corner of Shino's sleeve and was now dragging him over to Hinata. "Group hug!"
Shino scowled darkly as he was squeezed within an inch of his life. "If I weren't friends with you two, I would've ordered my bugs to kill you."
"Don't ruin the moment, Shino."
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"Chocolates and flowers for me, Tenten? THANK YOU!"
Tenten grimaced at Lee's voice pitch. "You're welcome, Lee."
"Shouldn't you be giving these youthful chocolates and flowers to Neji?" Lee asked, a sneaky grin creeping onto his face. The grin, paired with his abundance of eyebrow, was enough to make Tenten step away from Lee.
"Why does everyone assume I am madly in love with Neji?" Tenten sighed. "Just because we train together doesn't mean we're going to tie the knot soon!"
Lee waggled his thick eyebrows. "You know, I've always wondered what you and Neji do while you're…training."
Tenten hit him over the head. "Idiot! We just train!"
Lee rubbed his head, where a large bump was peeking out. "I still think you love Neji."
"I don't."
"Yes, you don't."
"No, I don't."
"Yes, you do!" Lee raised his voice.
"No, I don't!"
"Yes!"
"No!"
"Yes!"
"No!"
"YES, YOU DO! TENTEN, YOU LOVE HYUUGA NEJI!"
Tenten glared at him. "Thanks a lot, Lee, I'm sure a random person in Suna didn't quite hear that."
In Suna…
"Tenten loves Hyuuga Neji!" Temari exclaimed, bursting into Kankuro's room. Kankuro yawned.
"Eh...what else is new?"
Back in Konoha…
"Do not say that ever again, because if you do, I will come after you in the dead of night and stab you repeatedly with all the weapons in my arsenal!" And then, to add insult to injury, Tenten added, "Plus, I think you killed a few a squirrels' ears with that shout."
Lee gasped. "You are right, Tenten! My poor youthful squirrels! I am so sorry I had disabled your youthful hearing! Oh! I shall pick up three hundred acorns for you and afterwards, I shall six hundred laps around Konoha as punishment for my misdeed!" He then proceeded to scamper off into the woods.
"I'll just leave the presents here, Lee! By the way, Happy Valentine's Day!" Tenten called. As she left the training grounds, Tenten smiled, hearing the rustling of bushes and trees.
"It's fun having a friend like you."
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The sun was setting, and Sakura rubbed her back as she rang the doorbell of a large house that was designed in a simple, yet elegant way. The pink-haired kunoichi had spent all day running around Konoha, giving her flowers and chocolates to the important people in her life. And now, she was standing on the doorstep of the man who would always come first.
"I was beginning to wonder when you'd come by, Sakura."
Sakura smiled as she looked into the deep onyx eyes of Sasuke Uchiha. "I saved the best for last."
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"Shikamaru? Where the hell are you, you lazy bum!"
Shikamaru Nara groaned and rolled over in his bed. 'Can't Ino let me be lazy for just one day?' he wondered. 'Or was that entirely too much to ask for?'
"Ha! I found you, Shikamaru!" Ino's triumphant voice reverberated through his bedroom. Shikamaru groaned again and pulled the covers over his head.
"It's five in the afternoon, you bum! Get out of bed! I want to give something to you!"
"This is so troublesome," Shikamaru muttered as he lifted the covers an inch and saw Ino's scowling face.
"Come on, come on, come on, I worked really hard on this!" Ino whined, bouncing up and down on the soles of her feet.
Shikamaru sighed. "Troublesome," he muttered, but got up anyway. "Okay, what do you want to give me, Ino?"
Ino shoved a stuffed deer in his hands – or rather, a stuffed deer that looked like it had gotten into a fight with a kunai and lost horribly – and yelled, "Happy Valentine's Day, Shikamaru!" in Shikamaru's ear.
Shikamaru stared at the deer. "…It's a deer," he finally said.
"I know!" Ino exclaimed. "Isn't it the best deer you've ever seen?"
Shikamaru looked at her apprehensively. "Um…yeah?" he said hesitantly. Ino's smile disappeared.
"So you've seen better?" she demanded. Shikamaru sighed.
"This has got to be the most troublesome predicament I've gotten myself into."
Ino cracked her knuckles. "Well, Shikamaru…tell me who is the mysterious person that made the best stuffed deer you've ever seen! Tell me, or else you're going down!"
Shikamaru inched towards the door, but Ino tackled him to the ground. "You bastard! I spent hours making this for you as a Valentine's Day gift, and then you go and tell me it isn't the best deer you've ever seen! You idiot!" Ino screamed, pounding Shikamaru into a pulp.
Shikamaru groaned as the blows started to bruise. "This is so troublesome."
While a murder was happening at the Nara house, Naruto was happily finishing off his seventh bowl of ramen at Ichiraku Ramen.
"Another bowl of pork ramen, please!" he yelled, after slurping down the last of his soup.
"N-n-naruto-kun."
Naruto turned around. "Hinata-chan? What are you doing here?"
Hinata looked down at her shoes. "Well…you s-see, I was…I w-was..."
Naruto squinted. 'What is she trying to say?' he wondered.
"Um…h-here." Hinata thrust a flat package wrapped in blue in his hands.
"Eh? What's this?" Naruto asked, scratching his head. He put down his chopsticks, a grin slowly creeping onto his face. "A Valentine's Day gift for me? Aw, Hinata, you shouldn't have!"
"O-open it, N-naruto-kun."
Naruto eagerly ripped the blue paper off and nearly fainted when he read the words "You are invited to attend the Ramen Festival in Ramen Country on Saturday, May 9th. Black tie required," printed on two embossed sheets of paper. "This is the best day of my life!" he yelled, jumping up and down. "How did you know I have been dying for an invite to the Ramen Festival for years?"
Hinata hid her smile behind her hand. "I'm g-glad you like it." And then, to her shock, Naruto tackled Hinata to the ground in a fierce hug.
"Thank you thank you thank you thank you!"
Hinata could feel a rosy blush heating her cheeks. She smiled as she felt Naruto's heart beat frantically against her chest, and wondered if he knew hers was beating twice as fast.
"Happy Valentine's Day, Naruto-kun."
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"Neji! I know you're in your room and pretending you can't hear me! Just come out already, I have something I want to give you!"
There was no reply. Tenten sighed and leaned against the fragile door. "Come on, Hyuuga. For once, enjoy love."
The door slid open. "I was meditating, Tenten," came Neji's steely voice.
"Were you actually meditating, or were you doing your definition of meditating?"
"Do you see any broken objects? No, I was actually mediating."
Tenten grinned. "Great! Now that you're calm…HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY!" she yelled in Neji's ear.
Hanabi Hyuuga appeared behind Tenten and scowled at her. "Can you two keep it down? Some people are trying to sleep."
"At five in the afternoon?" Tenten asked skeptically. Hanabi glared at her with her pale eyes.
"Yes. But you interrupted my sleep. So troublesome," she muttered, and left without a second glance.
Tenten glared at Neji. "Neji! What are you doing to your cousin? At this rate, she's going to grow up to be a female version of Shikamaru!"
Neji crossed his arms. "So what did you want to give me?" he asked, abruptly changing the subject.
Tenten blushed. "Well…you know how last year I gave you that katana?" Neji nodded, his eyes glazing over. "Well…I'm not giving you a weapon this year." Neji's eyes widened a little, but that was the only indication he was surprised.
"Why not?"
Tenten sighed. "It's a really stupid reason…see, Ino signed Sakura, Hinata, and I up for a sewing class three months ago, and I really liked it. Sakura and Hinata decided to drop the class because they were just too good at it, but I stayed because I wanted to learn to make something special for…Anyway, I got pretty good at sewing over the past few months, so I made you this." She hesitantly took out a stuffed bird and placed it in Neji's hands. Neji didn't say anything; he just looked at it.
"Well…I'll see you tomorrow, I guess."
"Watching clouds is fun when I'm with you."
Tenten stopped dead in her tracks.
"Watching clouds is fun when I'm with you," the electronic voice repeated.
"Oh, no!" she shrieked, turning around and stabbing the bird repeatedly with a senbon she pulled out of her hair. "I forgot to switch the chips! Now Ino has "Take my hand when you fly" and I have this stupid piece of crap that was supposed to be Shikamaru's!"
"Take my hand when you fly? That's…original," Neji said, coming up behind Tenten without a sound. "I appreciate the thought, Tenten, but…" Tenten closed her eyes. 'This was it', she thought. 'Rejected again.' "Tsunade-sama and the elders have voted to abolish the Main and Branch families of Hyuuga, and I'm already flying, Tenten. But you're not holding my hand," he breathed, making the hairs on the back of her stand up on edge.
"Neji…" she whispered, turning around abruptly and staring into his eyes for any sign that he was playing a joke on her. There were none. "You…you…congratulations, Neji. You really deserve it. Now you really have everything you want."
"Tenten, I'm serious about this. I want you to be with me."
Tenten closed her gaping mouth. "I…I…DON'T SCARE ME LIKE THAT, YOU BASTARD!" she screamed. "YOU MADE ME THINK THAT I WAS GETTING REJECTED AGAIN LIKE LAST YEAR WITH THAT TRADEMARK LOOK OF YOURS AND – "
"I didn't reject you last year," Neji said. Tenten stopped rambling.
"What?"
"I didn't reject you last year," he repeated. "Didn't Hanabi give you the note?"
"No…"
"Hanabi! Get in here!" Neji barked.
"What is it? You disturbed my sleep again…" mumbled Hanabi, rubbing her eyes.
"Hanabi," Neji stated in a tone that sounded much too calm to be actually calm. "Did you give Tenten the note I told you to hand-deliver to her last year?"
Hanabi yawned. "Eh…it was too troublesome to walk the way to her house, so I gave it to Hinata to deliver it. I think she lost it when that troublesome wannabe-Hokage guy came over to our house."
Neji almost slapped his forehead. "You two failed to deliver that special note because of laziness and Naruto!?"
Hanabi nodded. "This is so troublesome. Can I go back to sleep now?"
"No!" Neji yelled. "That was very special! It had all my secret feelings written down on it! That note could be in anyone's hands right now!"
Somewhere in Suna…
"Hey, Temari, where's that note you found in Konoha last year?" Kankuro asked his sister. "I want to read it again – that Hyuuga pretty-boy is just too funny when he's trying to confess to a girl!"
Back in Konoha…
"Do you understand the consequences of your laziness, Hanabi?" Neji calmly shouted.
Hanabi yawned. "Yeah, whatever. You two are so troublesome…I'm going to go watch the clouds now. Tell Father I'll be back for dinner. Dinner, what a troublesome thing…" she muttered as she walked down the hallway.
Neji and Tenten stared in shock at Hanabi's retreating back. "No one has dared to walk away from me before," Neji hissed, his hands balling into fists.
"Seriously, what have you guys been feeding her? Laziness, the overuse of the word 'troublesome,' and cloud-watching!? She's not going to turn into Shikamaru, she's already Shikamaru!" As Tenten continued to rant on about cruel families forcing drugs hidden in food on their children and behavior changes, Neji rubbed his temples.
"Tenten. Shut up."
Tenten blinked. "No. Anyway, you have to give her vegetables and milk and – " She was suddenly interrupted when Neji leaned over and kissed her. There was silence for a few seconds as Tenten slowly recovered from the initial shock and started kissing Neji back.
"It's nice and quiet again," he murmured as they broke apart from the kiss. Tenten laughed softly, but it turned into a gasp as Neji took out a large bouquet of flowers and chocolate from inside his traditional Hyuuga robes.
"Happy Valentine's Day, Tenten," he whispered, and kissed her again.
"Happy Valentine's Day, Neji," she mumbled against his soft lips and smiled softly. "I love you"
"I love you, too."
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"Thank you for the flowers and chocolates," Sasuke said quietly.
"You're welcome. But there's still another thing that I want to give you," said Sakura, reaching into her bag for the last present. She handed it to Sasuke silently, blushing slightly.
Sasuke unwrapped it. "It's a…shuriken."
"It's not just any shuriken. It has the Uchiha clan symbol carved into it, and when thrown, it splits into many little replicas of the shuriken. It'll be like a hundred little Uchihas flying all over the place."
Sasuke said nothing, but Sakura could tell from the way the corners of his eyes were softened he was pleased.
"Happy Valentine's Day, Sasuke-kun." As Sakura turned to leave, a hand caught her arm abruptly.
"Thank you."
"Don't thank me, Sasuke. You're my friend and friends give special presents to each other."
Sasuke smiled, a tiny smile, but a real smile nevertheless. Sakura smiled back, and there they stood, with the sunset casting a warm glow over Sasuke's pale skin and causing the pink in Sakura's hair to glimmer.
"Happy Valentine's Day, Sakura," Sasuke said as he gently placed a long, thin box in Sakura's hand. "Open it," he said dispassionately, but there was something in his eyes that hinted he felt otherwise.
"Oh, my god, Sasuke-kun, this must've cost a fortune!" Sakura exclaimed as she held a long gold chain with a flower made of pink pearls and diamonds dangling off the edges.
"Hn."
"Thank you!" Sakura shrieked, engulfing Sasuke in a tight hug. He immediately stiffened, but surprisingly, he didn't push her away like he used to. "But why – "
" – Friends give special presents to each other. You're my friend, Sakura."
"...Friends..." Sakura repeated, moving closer to Sasuke. "Friends."
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"By the way, Shikamaru, did you get me anything?" Ino asked curiously as she watched Shikamaru carefully place the stuffed deer on his nightstand. Shikamaru sighed.
"I was thinking of getting you flowers, but then I remembered your family owns a flower shop. And going on a long and tiring journey to find you a rare and unknown flower was too troublesome of an idea, nevermind the actual journey. I don't have enough money to buy you the kind of jewelry you like, and making things are just too troublesome for me. Making a card was too troublesome as well and – "
"So basically everything was too troublesome for you?"
Shikamaru nodded. Ino sighed. "Idiot."
"Well, actually, there's one thing that's not too troublesome, but I don't think you would like it," Shikamaru said nervously, stuffing his hands in his pajama pockets. Ino's eyes lit up.
"Ooh, ooh! What is it?"
Shikamaru looked even more nervous; he even started fidgeting with his earring. "Um…well……kissing you wouldn't be too troublesome," he finished in a low whisper.
Ino's jaw dropped. "What?"
Shikamaru turned away from her. "Nothing, can you leave, I really want to get some sleep – "
"Kissing is never troublesome for me!" Ino declared as she tackled Shikamaru to the ground again. Amidst the scuffles and……inappropriate sounds emitted, one rang clear.
"Take my hand when you fly," the stuffed deer said cheerfully from its spot on the floor after Ino had knocked it off Shikamaru's nightstand when she had accidentally brushed against it tackling Shikamaru to the floor. Ino and Shikamaru were surprised, but then Ino realized what must've happened when she and Tenten were assembling the chips. "Oh, shut up, you stupid piece of crap," Ino said crossly as she kicked the deer under Shikamaru's bed. "Happy Valentine's Day, Shikamaru," she mumbled through kisses. Shikamaru mumbled something incoherent in reply, but Ino didn't care what he said, as long it wasn't 'troublesome.'
"Happy Valentine's Day."
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A/N – So…criticism? Suggestions? Anything? Please review and tell me what you think of the story.
Thanks for reading!
-Lily in a Pond