■ ■ ■ ■

The dinner at the restaurant was one of the finest days she had, in her opinion, for quite a long time. She had felt really happy that night. First off, her graduation, then the surprise visit of her parents and her friends, support from Sasori & Tamaki and finally, a night to spend it with them, bonding and catching up. It had been years since they last saw each other. 4 years? She tried to remember.

"You okay?" Sasori said, worried moreover as he studied the structure of her face. Yet he didn't say it outloud, he knew what Sakura does and feels when he always says he is worried. She would really feel uncomfortable, she'll scratch her head and pretend everything is way too fine. For these last years with her, he had involuntarily memorized her gestures.

He overheard their talk with Tenten and Hinata after all, and had a small topic about him. He didn't want to remember the emerald eyes shining and glimmering with tears refusing to fall. He remembered how she restrained every single tear to drop.

"I'm fine, why wouldn't I be?" She whispered with a small smile.
"Glad to hear that," The redhead patted her pink illuminating hair in the evening.

The evening was spent very well and soon, late night came.

"You can stay in my room. Tenten, Hinata and I can sleep on my sofa bed," Sakura offered her parents after hearing the temporary farewell from them on their way out.
"No need sweetie, we wouldn't want to barge in. Besides, we already booked a hotel," Mebuki hugged her daughter tight, and she was glad she had changed, physically and emotionally. She had matured too, she thought very well. "Okay, okay." The pinkette kissed her sweet mother in the cheek.

"Need assistance to pack up your stuff, honey?" Kizashi asked, remembering their flight back to Japan in 3 days.
"No need dad, Sasori already offered me help and I'm not bringing much stuff anyway."
"Okay. Then, we'll be going."

After their farewells and seperate paths, they had prepared their way towards the cherry blossom's apartment.
"Wow, such a beautiful place," Hinata complimented after entering the flat of the pinkette.
"Much better than the pictures you've sent." Tenten grinned.
"Thanks, you guys."

"Hmm, beautiful flowers too.... oh, and a note." The brunette studied. She looked at Sakura with half lidded eyes as if she was accusing her for something.
"W-what?"
"This is from Sasori, isn't it?" She pointed the pink roses and the small note.
"Wow, indeed," The midnight haired agreed towards the beauty of it.
"Oh, right, he sent me that this morning." The cherry blossom started to get the extra pillows from her small storage room, preparing for their overnight.

"Tell us honestly, Sakura. Are you two going steady??" Tenten asked straight forwardly, making Sakura drop the pillows accidentally for losing focus. "I knew it!" The brunette suddenly made the conclusion herself.
"What? No! We're just good friends!" Sakura corrected.
"After 4 years?" Tenten clarified.
"Yes."
"Nothing happened?"
"Nothing."
"Nothing at all?"
"Nope."

"Sasori, that's not what I meant by slow." The brunette whispered under her breath, mentally palming her face. She gave an advice to him years ago after all. She remembered it clearly. 'The key is to go slow.' She said to him as if it was just yesterday.

"You two would look lovely together though," Hinata smiled innocently, feeling touched after reading the sweet note placed by the pink roses.
"Come on you guys," Sakura started to pick up the pillows as she started explaining herself, "You know I'm not into it,"

"Not into Sasori?"
"No, I meant into relationships, it's just.... trouble." Sakura chuckled with a bit of thorn stuck in her throat. "..and I know you know why."
"It was... years ago. Are you still...?" Hinata hesitated to continue.
"In love with Sasuke?" Sakura continued instead, with firmness in her voice, perhaps it will convince them that she was over him. Or convice herself, probably. "No, I almost forgot about him. It was just the heartbreak that was unforgettable... not him." The cherry blossom explained, or at least assumed that was the case.

"Enough about me. How about you and Naruto?" She prompted, catching the innocent girl off guard.
"Oh- uhm- I guess we're.. okay."
"What do you mean by okay?"

"Literally okay," Tenten butted in. "They look like a couple but they're not. If you'd ask me, neither one of them would unlikely confess."
"That's not it, Tenten." Hinata blushed in pink tints on her white cheeks.
"Yeah right, Hinata." The brunette said sarcastically followed by laughter.

■ ■ ■ ■

"Soooooooo..." Tenten mumbled, staring at the pinkette who sat at the edge of the bed, getting ready to sleep. "If you have moved on, like you said, then it wouldn't be a problem if we talked about him now? You know.. just to give you an update." She teased.
The cherry blossom hesitated, she didn't like the idea. But she was convincing herself she was done with him, it would be a challenge. But perhaps this time, she wouldn't care regardless of what had happened to him now. Maybe now, she's ready to face it.

"I'm just messing with you." The brunette chuckled.
"S-sure." Sakura mumbled, seriousness in her voice.
"What?"
"I mean, I want to know. It's okay now. How is he?" Sakura said confidently and only hoped she looked convincing.
"It's probably not a good ti-" Hinata swallowed, feeling the tension of the topic.
"I'm okay, Hinata." She pulled off a smile, although it didn't meet her eyes.
"Sakura, I was just kidding. I-" Tenten bolted herself up, a serious look on her face as if she had stepped a line somewhere.
"Don't be silly you guys. It's been- what, 4 to 5 years? I just knew him for 9 months, officially went out him for a week. It was just puppy love, I guess. He was my first, after all, so it would be normal not to get over so easily."

Both of the pinkette's friends hesitated, but she was a bit pushy, they admitted. They knew her very well, and they knew that she was just doing this to convince herself.

"Well, here goes." Tenten mumbled to Hinata. Gathering her courage. The brunette appeared as jolly and cheery like her usual self despite her worries for the cherry blossom friend.
"He's okay.. I guess." She started weakly, receiving a sympathetic look from Hinata. "Although he's quite a bit distant. I mean, he had always been distant, it just changed a bit when you were around. He was more... formal than before. Everything he says is about work. He's changed."

"That's good." Sakura said in response, a little lump forming in her throat, but she said to herself, I could do it. "When did he go back?"

"Uhmm.." Tenten tried to remember.
"It was almost a year and a few months after you left." Hinata answered. "You left to study here, and a few months after that, he came back."
"Well," Tenten continued, "He did inform us where he went off to. Told us that he was reassigned to a different location in Osaka immediately but that was the last time he was conversational." She rolled her eyes. "But of course, when you sent us messages about what happened, we knew something was up with him. He was avoiding you for some reason."

"It doesn't really matter now.." Sakura interjected. Somehow, she didn't want to know the reason why, whatever it may be. She thought that it would be best not to know why he had left her hanging. The two agreed with her unsaid thoughts. It was best for her not to know the reason why. It was best if they didn't say all the details they know about Sasuke now.

"So, I suppose he's CEO now?" Sakura smiled weakly.
"Uhm, Mr. Itachi is." Hinata corrected.
"Oh... I thought?.." The pinkette mumbled, more to herself, remembering that Itachi didn't want to run the family business. Why is he suddenly CEO now? What happened to 'he needs this better than I do'?

"The following year when he came back, he filed for a resignation. We were completely astonished."
"We couldn't even believe that Mr. Fugaku approved his request. But he has his conditions, unless they found someone suitable to replace him, then he's free to leave." Tenten remembered. The information she said was true, although, in fact, they had found a replacement for about a few months now. Sasuke just comes over to transfer some files and take an update. He had been busy lately and they didn't knew why. This was information they knew but somehow she didn't want to say every single thing to Sakura.

This was news Sakura didn't expect to know. It came pretty shocking to her. Remembering how he had dedicated himself to that job and now he was quitting it? What made him do it? Was he afraid of commitments? With the people he works with? With his job? Why, Sasuke?
"I wonder why...." Sakura mumbled, more to herself than to her friends. The brunette took this chance to fake yawn while she was a bit distracted, "My, my, look at the time. Let's go to sleep and continue this tomorrow, shall we?" She said inbetween her fake yawns.
"Okay!" The pinkette smiled and Hinata nodded her head in agreement.

"Goodnight, Tenten, Hinata. Thank you for coming over, and...." She breathed, "Thank you for being there for me."

■ ■ ■ ■

The pinkette sat at the airport waiting for her scheduled flight destined to Japan. It had been almost an hour now. Better earlier than a missed flight, Sakura thought. It was exactly five days ago from her graduation day and the celebration. Hinata and Tenten had left 2 days right after due to their approved leaves, Sakura was fine with it since she'll be seeing them again anyway, and so she started packing her things up the moment they left. She spent her time these past few days with putting her items on boxes, but most of the time, she was convincing herself that she was ready to go back.

It's not like you're going back to meet him!
There are zero chances you'll meet him!
Okay, okay. Maybe there's 1%, but hey, what could it do to the 99% remaining? Get a grip, girl!

"Hey," His voice snapped her out of her thoughts, and somehow she was thankful for it, 'cause she didn't know if it was helping her at all. Sasori offered a coke in can, which the pinkette was gladly to accept.
"Thanks." She smiled.
The redhead took his backpack off of his shoulder and sat beside the cherry blossom, sipping his coke.
"Don't think too much." He said suddenly, startling Sakura.
"I'm not." She protested.
"I know you," Sasori pinched her left cheek, leaving a small little red mark after his hand left it. "That hurts!"

"You just think you know me.." She said with a bit of frustration, pouting her lips. The redhead only chuckled, he had always found this defensive side of Sakura very cute, but he didn't want her pretending just so she could look strong. His eyes look intently at the emeralds she has to offer, "Sakura," He mumbled. "You don't have to be scared of meeting him."
Instead of shaking off the topic,
"Why?" She asked.
"You're strong." He said simply;

"Besides, he should be the one who's scared. Once you start thinking of avenging your precious heart, he should be." Sasori teased, petting the head of the pinkette.
"Psh, I-I'm not that type." Sakura corrected.
"Right."
"Sasori, you must really hate him." The cherry blossom came into conclusion, laughing.

"Not neccessarily." The redhead said, "But I'm fine with you reconsidering the avenging part." A quite comical evilish smirk trailed his face.