Sakura and Ryuumaru's first Date

Sakura sat in her living room, fidgeting nervously as she waited for Ryuumaru to come for her. She'd never been on an actual date before so she was insanely nervous. She tried her best to keep her nerves under control. She wore a very elegant yet plain black dress with a pair of black hoop earings and simple heels to match. A simple silver necklace hung around her neck. She really did look so much more different than usual.

Sakura:

Spoiler:

Ryuumaru nervously walked up to the door and knocked on it. He had on the finest silk, silver kimono he owned along with a golden sash tied around his waist. He had his long silver hair untied, letting it flow down his back and had some kind of fluffy white boa hanging on his shoulders. He also were a pair of nice dress shoes.

Sakura took a very deep breath then got up, making her way over to the door. She wasn't used to walking in heels but you could never tell. Since the hells were subtle, they didn't make her balance any different. Slowly, Sakura opened the door and managed a gentle smile. "Good evening, Ryuu-Kun," She managed to get out.

"Good evening Sakura-Chan" he said in his suave, deep voice as he nodded to her. He then held his arm out to her for her to take.

She shut the door behind her and flicked the latch to lock it before taking Ryuumaru's arm. She managed a more nervous smile this time around as they began to walk. It was rather late so there wasn't anybody else out although there were a few other couples around, although most of them were more intimate than Sakura and Ryuumaru. Sakura didn't even notice. She was far too nervous.

Ryuumaru glared at the few couples around themas he bared his teeth at them, causing them to rapidly get out of his and Sakura's way, once again his slowly developing hatred for the village over the years showing.

Sakura looked up at him, not judging but she was a little worried about how violent he could become. Reaching up a little, she kissed him on the cheek. "Ne, forget them. Let's just have fun," She smiled as she tugged on his arm gently, leading him forward again so that they were definitely out of the way of everybody else.

"If you insist Sakura-Chan" he said with a nod of his head as he walked with Sakura.

It wasn't long before the moon was up, and the streetlights were on along with the outside lamps from various restaraunts. "Ryuu-Kun," Sakura began, glancing at him out of the corner of her eye. "Remember where this is?" She looked over to the left slightly. It was where Ryuumaru had first met Sakura and chased away the girls who had been bullying her.

Ryuumaru looked over to where she was looking at and narrowed his eyes. To him, it seemed as if he was watching a younger version of himself attacking the younger Sakura's bullies and scaring them off, the very place he had first met her. "Indeed I do" he said neutrally with a nod of his head.

She remembered how she used to be back then. That girl was still there now, she just managed to overcome it a lot more. She touched at her forehead with her free hand self-consciously, barely even aware that she was doing so as she remembered some of the vile jibes that were made concerning her forehead.

He turned to look at Sakura with a raised eyebrow when she touched her forehead. He scowled in his mind when he remembered all the things Sakura told him bullies would say about her forehead. Considering his frame of mind now, he would probably kill those bullies if he ever found them.

Feeling a slight lump rise in her throat, Sakura tugged on Ryuumaru's arm again gently. "Ah well, no point in dwelling is there? Let's get going," She said as she faked a rather convincing smile. Tonight was meant to be her first date. She was meant to have FUN. She didn't want to end up crying in front of Ryuumaru, he would think she was weak.

"As you wish" he said in a calm, blank manner. Despite them having made amends and were now a couple, Ryuumaru was still detached, cold and didn't show emotions all that much. It was most likely due to the numerous obstacles and bad luck in his life but whatever the reason was, it was not like Sakura could blame him for his current state.

By this time, Sakura was beginning to feel a little detached from him. He'd said very little so far. She was starting to wonder about his feelings for her after all. "Ryuumaru...Be very honest with me here," She said quietly as she dropped his arm. "Are you interested in me? Be brutally honest with me here," She wouldn't dare to look at him. She knew from the beginning why he was so cold but she wanted to be able to know that boy she'd fallen for when they were kids.

"Yes I am interested in you but you can't possibly be expecting me to be as open and easily show you all my emotions back when we were children, can you? I may have feelings for you Sakura-Chan but old wounds run deep, combined with this accursed seal" he growled as he grabbed the back of his neck.

She shook her head, standing in front of him and looking up at him with a smile. "I'm not expecting anything from you. I just needed to hear it," She replied as she placed one hand on the back of his neck. "This isn't a wound you can heal, I understand that," She nodded. "I'll keep waiting for you until you feel ready to gradually open up a little more. This time I swear on my very soul to you, I'll never leave your side," She recited the same promise she did when they were kids, only this had some real meaning behind it now that she had matured.

"I pray that things won't end up as they did when you last stated that. I sincerely hope it turns out for the best this time" he muttered as he closed his eyes and shuddered, painful memories he kept suppressed coming back to him.

She used the arm that she'd raised to pull him into a hug. "Trust me, Ryuumaru. I'll never hurt you again. I swear on it," She sniffed slightly as she buried her head against his shoulder. "Just remember that I'm not who I used to be when we were 12 and 13. I realised what was actually important to me,"

"Well, that's good. You finally got over that stupid pretty boy" he said with a slight smirk on his face, almost as if he was relishing in the idea about being better then Sasuke is.

"Of course!" She snorted, shaking her head. "To put it extremely blunty, he was an ass. I was infatuated with his exterior, it was a purely material attraction," She shook her head, almost looking disgusted at the mention of his name. "No, now I have someone who's a thousand times better than that traitor,"

"Along with mentally stronger at that. He gave in to the Cursed Seal and let it twist him and turn him into the perfect boytoy of that pedophile but I didn't let it control me. Even if I could have died from getting my seal, I refused to let it do me in and when I survived, I refused to let it control me. I hate Orochimaru, that filthy snake, far too much to ever let one of his disgusting love marks to bend me to his will" he said as he spat on the ground in disgust at the very mention of his father, showing a rare, undisciplined, ill-mannered version of himself.

Sakura's head jerked up in disgust even more at the mention of both Orochimaru AND Sasuke at the same time. "I've never had the heart to kill but I'll make an exception for them," She muttered before taking a deep breath and collecting herself. She smoothed down her dress, trying to give herself a composed air but it was a bit difficult. However, if Ryuumaru could do it, so could she.

"Quite. If my mother was here now-" he started to say before he shut his eyes tightly as he felt a rather hard tug on his heart strings. Sakura knew that despite not having all that much contact with Ryuumaru since they had their argument, he still never even tried to let go of the pain, never tried to seal the hole his mother's death had left in his heart.

Sakura bit her lip then nodded as she gently took his arm. "Come on, I thought of a good place we could go," She told him quietly as she led him straight past all of the high class places, although stopping to 'borrow' a blue rose from the display outside of the Yamanaka flower shop. She led Ryuumaru to the graves again, placing the blue rose at the foot of the slab of granite. "I know you'd prefer to be by her side than in any sort of fancy restaraunt,"