Naruto gulped and took a seat on the edge of the chair.
'Dark Sakura' looks very normal on weekdays. But her terrifying side lay in how composed and restrained she was, only revealing her extreme nature to Naruto.
Because of this, tried to tell someone about it, no one would believe him.
It was one of those situations where it took a unique person to handle another unique person. Despite being a notorious rule-breaker, Naruto felt a bit uneasy around 'Dark Sakura'.
"Would you like some water?" Sakura handed over a glass of water, which seemed to be cold.
"Cough."
In the small duty room, the curtains were drawn, but the sunlight was mostly blocked by stacks of files, leaving only slivers of light creeping in, casting chaotic reflections on the white walls.
One of those reflections hit the table, right at the edge of the disposable cup. Naruto frowned, suddenly connecting the scene with an unsettling thought.
"You don't need to be so guarded around me. There's no poison or anything strange in the water." Sakura said, looking up with a smile, "It's completely pure."
"I can't really believe those words coming from you." Naruto paused before continuing, "I came here today to discuss something serious. Maybe I'll drink the water another time."
"What serious matter?" Sakura stopped flipping through the papers, "Are you finally going to accept my previous proposal?"
"Absolutely not." Naruto shook his head, "Tsunade-sama mentioned that Team 7 will be reorganized in a while, and Kakashi-sensei will not have time to continue to serve as our Jonin Instructor."
"In a while, the higher-ups will likely assign a new Jonin Instructor and teammate. By then, Team 7 will probably start taking on missions again."
"I see." Sakura responded simply, her eyes fixed on Naruto's face, "If Team 7 is reorganized, you won't be able to avoid me anymore, right?"
"I haven't been avoiding you, I've just been busy." Naruto replied calmly, "Sakura, you've been busy with your training too, right? With such situation, it's not unusual that we haven't kept in touch."
Hearing him say this, Sakura nodded slightly.
"What you're saying makes sense, but I don't like that excuse. It will make me feel that you are seriously perfunctory to me, and that's even more uncomfortable, don't you think?"
"I would rather you admit that you're afraid I might do something extreme, and honestly warn me not to do anything weird, or you'll find a way to erase me."
"Uh, why would you think that?" Naruto scooted back a bit, leaning against the cold chair back. He looked at Sakura with a complicated look.
He wasn't sure how to handle 'Dark Sakura'. So far, she hadn't shown any signs of aggression. He had avoided her for a while, but now he had no choice but to face her head-on.
"It's just the truth. You don't need to be so tense." Sakura said, her eyes narrowing slightly. "I told you from the start, I don't intend to do anything."
"I'm very satisfied with my life right now, and I have no desire to harm you. In fact, I cherish you very much, Naruto-kun."
"Stop! Don't say such creepy things." Naruto took a sharp breath, "Now that things have come to this, I have nothing more to say. No matter what, I still treat you as Sakura."
"Physically, yes" she added.
"There's no need to emphasize that." Naruto said, gripping the cup of water as the surface rippled slightly, "If you can forget about those things, then just do it as quickly as possible. There's no point dwelling on them."
"You said you wanted me to remember you because, deep down, you're afraid that one day Sakura might suddenly wake up, and you'll be forced to fall asleep. You're afraid you'll have to give up this life and become just an observer, or worse, you might disappear entirely."
The smile on Sakura's face vanished, she turned her head, and said with Naruto's face reflected in her calm black eyes, "That's the only thing I don't like about you."
Naruto noticed that Sakura was no longer composed, and he realized he had touched a nerve. This allowed him to relax a bit, and he smiled as he asked, "Because I understand things too well?"
"No." Sakura denied, "I just don't like your condescending attitude, talking about being afraid of disappearing. How would you know what I think if you've never experienced it?"
"Are you afraid of death?" She asked.
Naruto's expression froze. He noticed that Sakura's demeanor was a bit strange, in a way he couldn't quite place.
After a moment, he gathered his thoughts and answered, "I'm not that afraid, but there's still a lot I haven't experienced, so I'd like to live a good life."
"That's very much like you." Sakura commented, "I'm not afraid of death either. To be precise, I don't have a concept of it. I'm very content with my life right now."
"But does it really matter if such days last one more or one less? Do you understand?"
"Because you can't feel the meaning of life?" Naruto asked.
"Something like that." Sakura murmured, pressing her lips together, "At first, it was quite exciting to gain control of the body, but after a while, that excitement faded."
"So, I started looking for some meaning in living. For instance, if she liked Sasuke-kun, then I thought maybe I could make Naruto-kun like me."
"Wait a minute." Naruto interrupted Sakura, frowning as he felt something was off, " Sakura likes Sasuke, so you want me to like you?"
"What kind of twisted logic is that? There's no connection between the two, is there?"
"So do you like her?" Sakura asked. The 'she' she was referring to was probably the 'Pink Sakura'.
"I don't like her." Naruto shook his head without hesitation, "Companions are companions, and even if I want to like someone else, I have other people to like. There's no need to hang myself on a single tree."
Hearing this, Sakura was stunned for a moment, then burst into loud laughter. Her laughter echoed through the small duty room, tears welling up in her eyes.
"You really live with such clarity."
Naruto chuckled as well, "It's just that I never had that thought from the beginning, and besides, a forced melon isn't sweet."
"It's nice to have many options," Sakura murmured.
"That kind of thing is not important, let's not talk about it anymore." Naruto instinctively changed the subject, "What you really want is to find joy in living, right?"
"Hmm." Sakura pondered for a moment before responding, "I'm quite happy right now, so I'm not planning on trying anything new. The only person left who I'm familiar with is you, so…"
'So you're using me as an experiment? What kind of human observation experiment is this?' Naruto complained wildly in his mind, black lines forming on his forehead. He took a few deep breaths to calm down.
"Have you ever heard the story of the mayfly?"
"No." Sakura shook her head and pointed to her head, "She may have heard it, but I can't access most of her memories. They're mostly about Sasuke, which I don't enjoy."
"Well, since we have time, let me tell you." Naruto said, realizing that 'Dark Sakura' wasn't as dark as he had initially thought, which allowed him to relax.
"Sure." Sakura stopped what she was doing and sat up straight.
Naruto simply told the story of the Mayfly Monster in the Fairies Albums, without embellishing it or adding his personal spin, simply because he was in a good mood and wanted to share the tale. (T/N: https://myanimelist.net/anime/41224/Bai_Yao_Pu)