Naruto: Konoha's Hidden Samurai

Chapter 2: The Bud and the Cosmos

A warm breeze moved through the grass, and the cosmos flowers nodded with it, their pink petals catching the light. Sakura sat in the middle of the field, knees pulled up, watching them sway. She hadn't meant to end up here. She'd just been early, and waiting, and Somehow her feet had carried her to this patch of wildflowers at the edge of the training grounds. Next to the cosmos, almost hidden, grew a cluster of wild orchids. Quiet things. Easy to miss. "Hey. Look who it is. You're actually getting kind of cute, forehead girl." The voice came from behind her a honeyed, mocking drawl. Sakura's stomach dropped before she'd even finished turning around. Three girls stood there, all older by a couple of years. The one in the middle had long purple hair and wore her confidence like a weapon. Ami. "" Sakura started. "You've been looking awfully pleased with yourself lately." Ami stepped forward, tilting her head. "What's that?" She'd noticed the dark red ribbon in Sakura's hair. Sakura's hands flew up to Cover it. "Nothing. It's nothing." "Move your hands." Ami's fingers were quicker. The ribbon came free in one smooth pull, and Sakura let out a startled, helpless sound- "NO!" Without the ribbon, her hair fell loose across her face, the long bangs settling Over her wide forehead. Ami turned the strip of cloth over in her hands, examining it with exaggerated curiosity. "Huh. Just a ribbon." "Please give it back," Sakura said quietly. Her voice didn't shake. She was proud of that, at least. "She's gonna cry" one of Ami's friends murmured. "That's from Ino," Sakura added, barely above a whisper. Ami ignored her. She held the ribbon up toward her friends with a grin. "How do you think I'd look in it?" "Way better than her." "Right?" Ami started lifting it toward her own head.

"You might want to give that back." A new voice. Casual. Almost lazy. Ami looked up-and then something shot past her face and landed in her mouth. She stumbled back, one of her friends catching her arm as she landed hard on the grass, spitting frantically. Three small purple flowers dropped from her lips into the dirt. Standing a short distance away, twirling a fourth flower between her fingers, was a girl with short golden hair and bright blue eyes. She was smiling. "Oops," said Ino. "I saw something that looked like a very wide flower pot and just had to add some decoration. My bad." Ami scrambled upright, face red. "Yamanaka-!" "Aconite's a funny plant," Ino said conversationally, bringing the flower up to examine it. "It's a ninja plant, actually –very useful, medicinally speaking. The root especially. Extremely toxic." She tilted her head. "I hope you didn't Swallow any." The color drained from Ami's face. "What?...You should probably rinse your mouth." Ino said it with the tone of someone offering helpful advice. The ribbon hit the ground a second later. Ami and her two friends were already moving, their footsteps fast and getting faster, not looking back. Ino waited until they disappeared around the corner before bursting out laughing. Ino waited until they'd disappeared around the corner before bursting out laughing. "Ha! Amateurs." She clutched her side. "The flowers are completely fine, by the way it's only the root you have to worry about. But they didn't need to know that." She flashed a grin at Sakura, who was still staring. She's incredible, Sakura thought. Ino knew everything. She was pretty and bright and always seemed to land on her feet, and people liked her-they naturally liked her--and standing next to someone like that made Sakura feel like something that had been left in a corner and forgotten. The brightness dimmed a little inside her. Ino had already crossed the field to where the ribbon had fallen. She picked it up, brushed the grass off it carefully, and came to stand behind Sakura. Gentle hands gathered her hair back and tied the ribbon into place. "Sorry I was late," Ino said, moving around to sit beside her. "I got held up at the shop." "It's okay." Sakura shook her head. "You're always doing things like this for me. "Hey, what are friends for." Ino waved it off. Then her eyes lit up. "Oh! I was going to teach you flower arranging today, wasn't I." "You were."

"Okay. Let's start by picking." Ino jumped to her feet, dusting off her skirt. "Go find Something you like." Sakura looked around. She moved carefully through the field, bending here and there-and came back a few minutes later with a small handful of wild orchids. Ino looked at them. Looked at Sakura. "..These won't work," she said, not unkindly. "I'm sorry." Sakura looked down. "I don't really know flowers." "Your name literally means cherry blossom." "I know." Ino pressed her lips together to keep from Smiling "Okay Here's the secret" She held up one finger. "Flower arranging is simple when you get the logic: you pick one main flower your centerpiece- and everything else just frames it. The supporting flowers can't outshine the lead. They're there to lift it." She gestured toward the orchids in Sakura's hands. "These are beautiful, but they don't anchor. They're supporting flowers." "Oh." "Like" Ino turned, scanning the field, and then pointed. "Like over there. See? The cosmos and the wild orchids growing next to each other." Sakura followed her gaze. "If you use the cosmos as your main flower, the orchids become the accent. They frame it." Ino spoke with the easy confidence of someone who'd grown up surrounded by this. "Cosmos is basically the sakura of autumn it's the showiest thing in a fall field. And it's versatile too. It harmonizes with everything."

She glanced at Sakura-who hadn't moved. "Sakura? You listening?" Sakura sank slowly to her knees in the grass, still looking at the flowers. After a moment, she turned back to stare at the orchids in her hands. "If you're the cosmos," she said quietly, "then I'm the orchid." Ino went still. "I'm just..." Sakura's voice was careful, like she was holding it together. "I'm always just the background part." A pause. Ino sat down beside her. She tilted her head back and looked at the sky, tapping one finger against her chin while she thought. "Okay, but" she started. "You're right, actually," Sakura said before she could finish. "That's not what I" Ino turned to her. "You're not even a flower yet." Sakura blinked. "You're a bud." Ino's voice was matter-of-fact, not cruel. "You haven't opened. You can't call a bud a background flower it hasn't decided what it's going to be." Sakura said nothing. "Sakura." Ino's tone softened a fraction. "Why do you think I gave you that ribbon?" "..I don't know." Ino reached out and touched the petals of one of the unopened cosmos buds nearby, her fingers careful. "Because a flower that closes before it ever blooms" she said quietly, "is a waste." The breeze moved through the field. It shifted Ino's golden hair across her face. "Who knows," she added, almost to herself. "Maybe when you finally open you..." She glanced at Sakura from the corner of her eye. "...you'll be prettier than the cosmos." Sakura's face went pink. She looked away quickly, at the grass, at her hands, anywhere. The wind kept blowing. The cosmos Swayed. And next to them, slowly, the wild orchids nodded too.