The house is empty when he wakes, as it always has been since the incident. He treads along the wooden slat floor, his feet barely making a sound as he makes his way to the kitchen for food.

He finds himself on edge, but it's nothing unusual. An empty house and subsequent murder scene will do that to just about anyone, especially a child such as himself.

He brushes off his recurring intrusive thoughts and makes himself breakfast. He goes through his morning routine with as much ease as he can muster, and steps outside.

The path to the academy isn't so long, but it feels very lonely recently. Before, he would walk this way every day, and an odd kid in bright clothes would often be causing commotion somewhere along the path. But, that kid disappeared one day, and suddenly, the days pass by much slower than they did before.

Idly, he wonders where that kid went. If he's with someone, and who that might be. Why he left, and if he's ever coming back.

It's not that he cares, particularly, he convinces himself. He was just such an annoyance that it's unusual to have peace and quiet anymore. He doesn't even want him to come back.

But he knows he's lying to himself. He always does.

He takes a deep breath and sighs as he enters the school building.

…..

"Sasuke!" He winces at the shrill voice. "Do you want to come and sit with me, Sasuke?"

Sasuke ignores her, like usual. Sakura has never been his favorite person, and frankly she never will be. Every morning, she screams at him to sit with her, with no notion as to why he would ever say yes, and no reason that he should.

Not that there's any reason good enough to do what she asks.

"Shut up, Sakura!" a girl next to her scolds. "He's never sat with you before and he won't ever, so just stop shouting! It's too early in the morning for loud voices."

Sakura at least has the decency to blush in embarrassment as she pipes down. Sasuke looks out the window, satisfied.

The wind is blowing hard today. The leaves on the trees are sturdy and well-rooted, but they're no match for that ruthless wind. They are ripped from their branches, falling weakly to the ground or being torn apart by the gusts. No matter how strong the leaves are, some things are simply too strong for them to withstand.

Sasuke ignores the cold feeling in his chest.

…..

On his way home, he notices a grassy hill, covered in cherry blossoms. They'd been scattered by the wind, but they still remained there, as if holding on to hope that there wouldn't be another one.

The source of the blossoms towers over the hill, a magnificent cherry blossom tree shedding petals all across the grass. Any other day he would've stopped to admire it, but he doesn't feel anything as he looks at it. Rather, he just sees it as an inconvenience. Those petals stick to everything, after all.

He shakes his head, and rounds a corner to remove the tree from his sight. His walk home is as silent as could be.

…..

After school, Sakura decides to visit a special place. The hill is just as expansive as she remembered, and the blossoms just as vibrant. But somehow, it feels very lonely here.

She sits on the grass and stares at the sky, picking the occasional petal out of her hair.

Ino-pig and I used to come here every day to make bouquets, she recalls. They weren't the best when I made them, but she really helped tie them together.

Suddenly, a sniffle escapes her. Where is Ino? Where did she go, why did she leave? Sure, she was her rival in affection, but she was also her friend.

As soon as Ino left, Sakura realized how lonely she really was. Nobody talked to her except to shut her up, and she discovered that she actually had a pretty bad reputation at the academy. People called her the annoying girl, the one who screams all the time.

She pulls her legs up to her chest. Ino never called me any of that…she took me seriously. She rests her chin on her knees. Nobody does that anymore.

Sakura supposes it's pretty well-earned, though. She does yell all day, she does try to show off to Sasuke a lot. But, ever since Ino left, it hasn't been the same. Eventually she realized that screaming over Sasuke was enjoyable because Ino was there to compete with her. Ino treated her as an equal where nobody else did, and when she was gone, everything became less and less fun.

She sniffles again, and her watery eyes catch someone walking in the distance. She focuses in, and notices that it's Sasuke. Instinct tries to command her to call out to him, but she keeps quiet.

She doesn't feel anything as she watches him scoff, and turn a corner.

…..

"Hey, Hinata?"

Hinata jolts a bit and turns her head too quickly in panic. She ignores the pain in her neck in favor of blinking at her new companion.

"Sa…kura?"

Sakura fidgets with her dress and looks away. "Can I sit here for today?"

Hinata almost sputters, but she successfully keeps her mouth shut. She nods very slowly, cautiously, and watches Sakura awkwardly take the seat next to her. She tries to keep her eyes forward, but every once in a while, she finds herself looking at her unexpected guest.

"Hinata?"

"Y-yes?!" Hinata blurts out, too loudly. The room's entire attention is drawn to her for a second, and she flushes bright red as she apologizes for the disruption. When the attention dissipates, she hesitantly looks toward Sakura. "Yes?" she says, quieter now.

Sakura isn't looking at her, and seems to be lost in thought. "What…was it that you felt for Naruto? Do you know?"

Hinata fiddles with the drawstrings on her jacket. "Um…well…I admired him a lot…" she pauses. "He really cared for his classmates, even if they were mean…and he was always bright…" she purses her lips. "Even if his eyes were dim. So…I guess it was admiration?"

"I see," Sakura looks pensive. "Did you have a crush on him?"

Hinata does sputter this time, flushing a deep red and looking away.

"I thought so. Don't worry, I'm the only one who knows. I think. I won't tell anyone."

Hinata manages a small thank you.

A silence passes through them. Hinata feels antsy, the quietude being a little too much for her to handle. Just as she's about to blurt something embarrassing out, Sakura swoops in with another question.

"How do you feel about Naruto going missing?"

Hinata is silent, her face falling slightly. Head low, she studies the wood grain of her desk to keep her occupied. She searches for an answer in silence, thankful for Sakura's patience. Finally, she weakly replies, "I'm not doing so well."

Sakura looks towards her, sympathy evident in her eyes. "Care to elaborate? I won't judge you, I promise."

"Well…my dad is…very strict with me. He doesn't like me very much, so it's hard to be at home. I used to look forward to waking up every day because I would get to see Naruto working hard again, but there's nothing to look forward to now. It feels very empty without him around." She quiets down, and mutters, "I hope he comes back soon."

Sakura is silent. She looks up at the ceiling. The silence is unsettling, but not entirely unwelcome this time. Her nerves are not on edge as she awaits Sakura's reply. To her surprise, Sakura smiles, and even laughs a bit, though the sound is bitter.

"I don't think I like Sasuke that much."

Hinata's eyes widen and she stares at Sakura in disbelief. Everybody knew how insistent Sakura was when it came to Sasuke, so to hear that she doesn't like him that much…

"I think that…my affections may have been misplaced."

Hinata blinks, unsure of what she'd just heard. Sakura turns to her, and offers her a smile and a small huff.

"We're not so different, you and I. We've both got someone who used to light up our lives, someone who disappeared out of nowhere." Her smile fades. "Except, you never wronged your special person the way I did." She looks at her hands in her lap and twiddles her fingers. "I told Ino that since we liked the same boy, we couldn't be friends, but instead we'd be rivals. I thought it was alright at the time, but looking back…that was awful.

"I just threw her away like she meant nothing, all because of a stupid crush I thought I had. I can't imagine how she must have felt. I basically told her she wasn't as important as he was." She shudders. "I'm really a bad friend, aren't I?"

Hinata studies her. Hunched over, face contorted in shame, bottom lip worried between her teeth, she's the embodiment of regret and self-loathing.

"I don't…think you're a bad friend." Sakura looks at her in surprise. "Sure, you made a mistake, but…it was in good nature," Hinata explains. "I think that, maybe you wanted to be closer to Ino. You wanted to show her that you two were similar, and that's why you followed her lead. At least, that's what I'm guessing.

"Even if you made a simple mistake, it was all because you wanted Ino's friendship or…whatever it is you wanted. So…you're not a bad friend. You just made a mistake."

Sakura parts her lips to reply, but nothing comes. She breathes out with a look of consideration on her face. She looks about the room as she thinks, and as their teacher enters the room, she smiles at Hinata once more.

"Thank you," she whispers, her smile growing. "Let's be friends, okay?"

Hinata flushes a little in surprise, and nods. Sakura turns back to their teacher to pay attention to the lesson.

This time, the silence doesn't bother her at all.

…..

Sakura and Hinata walk home together. The sky is clear today, and birds are chirping above them. It seems like the wind was just a one-day occurrence. Sakura is broken from her sudden interest in the weather by Hinata's hesitant voice calling her name.

"What's up?"

"I wanted to tell you something."

Sakura blinks and stops, Hinata following her lead. "Alright, sure. You can tell me anything."

The second youngest Hyuga shoves her hands into her pockets. "I haven't told anybody but…I miss Neji, too." She looks down at her feet. "Nobody is talking about him. I think they're too afraid to. I don't feel comfortable talking about him to anybody else, so I thought I would tell you…"

Sakura is confused before realization dawns on her. Neji had gone missing the same as Ino and Naruto, but she'd all but forgotten. She scoffs at herself. How could she have just forgotten like that? Wasn't she supposed to be the smartest in her class? To forget a person just like that…

"You don't have to beat yourself up over not remembering."

Sakura focuses back on Hinata. "What?"

"Don't worry about it. Not many people know about him in the first place, since he kept to himself a lot." Hinata smiles softly. "I'm just glad you know who he is, otherwise it'd be awkward to explain."

Sakura blinks again, and starts to laugh. "Hinata…is it okay if you come over to my house today? I got a new game for my birthday and I think you might like it."

Hinata, wide-eyed and dumbfounded, nods uncertainly, and Sakura grabs on to her wrist.

"Well," Sakura says, smiling wide. "Come on then!"

Hinata allows herself to be pulled along, and as she stares at Sakura's back, the situation settles in, and a wide smile spreads across her face. Maybe, the world isn't such a bad place after all.

"Okay."

…..

So, Sakura found a friend, but what of Sasuke, hmm?

Sakura isn't my favorite character, I'll readily admit that, but I feel like it would be easy to 'fix' her character with a few tweaks. I'm trying to make her more realistic, in a way, and not focus her entire being around a guy.

I didn't even intend to write about Hinata, but there she is. This story is really writing itself, y'know…

(Hinata might be a little out of character here but I like to think that once she makes a friend she grows more of a backbone and is even a little bit loquacious)