"Yeah. You can say that again," Sakura exclaimed, finally finding some common ground with the red haired newcomer. "Naruto's a complete moron. He doesn't think about anything other than fighting, making noise and causing trouble for people. I'm telling you, he's nothing like Sasuke-kun."
"No, he's not," Tayuya replied before giving the girl a very real, very warm smile that radiated with sincerity, "He's better than him."
Sakura's mouth dropped open, "Uh… come again?"
Tayuya chuckled after she consumed her second dango stick and quickly moved on to give her response further detail. "Oh, don't get me wrong. Your other teammate looks cool and all, but from the way he marches around with his hands in his pockets and not giving a shit about anything, tells me he's not really the sociable type of person. It's kind of hard to talk to someone when they just flat-out ignore everything you have to say, you know?"
"B-But," Sakura attempted to respond, shaking her head a little to glare back at her. "What are you talking about? Sasuke-kun is awesome." She began counting on her fingers, "He's intelligent, sharp, handsome, talented, great at ninjutsu, and better at everything that Naruto is good at."
"Except for fighting," Tayuya chuckled before shrugging, "Talking to people… connecting with people… AND making people happy." She nodded towards the four-way on the other side of the tree when she heard Shiho giggle and Kaede laugh, "Right there's proof of that. Hell, he even managed to get tall, dark and emo to come out here with him to eat."
"Alright, sure, but you're missing the bigger picture," Sakura said with a groan of annoyance. She just didn't see the appeal behind the blonde and why this girl liked him so much yet. All she wanted to do was support Sasuke in this contest since the red head seemed to be shooting down everything she was saying. In an effort to perhaps get this seemingly misguided girl on the path to the 'good stuff', she decided to go on the attack. "If you've known him for as long as you say you have then you should see it too. The guy's not normal. Naruto acts like an animal, he sleeps in class, he's rude to his teachers, he pulls pranks on people and makes their lives miserable, and he's always picking fights. It's annoying. And I think I know the main reason why."
Tayuya was about to take a bite out of her dango when she heard that and she stopped. She then looked at the girl next to her to see her smile smugly.
"Because he wasn't raised right. He doesn't have a mother or father to teach him right from wrong. If I acted anything like him, my parents would ground me for months, but because he doesn't have any, he can do whatever he wants without worrying about being punished or scolded. That's why he acts so selfish, arrogant and bratty," Sakura exclaimed with a shake of her head. "He's lucky being all alone with no parents to tell him what to do. That's why he always causes trouble for everyone, see? He's just a dumb, ignorant, irresponsible delinquent trying to get attention. He never does anything good…"
The girl was suddenly interrupted from her tirade when her collar was grabbed from the front and she was violently pulled towards Tayuya, who slammed her forehead against hers in a rough head butt. When Sakura recovered from the tug and looked at the girl through a throbbing skull, she recoiled in shock when she saw the look of anger on the red head's face.
A dark, killer shadow falling across her eyes, Tayuya narrowed her most intense glare on the pink haired girl and bared her teeth, "Don't you dare say another word."
"W-Wha?"
"What do you know about being alone? Having no parents? Huh? How about living on the streets? Being abandoned by your loved ones? Having to beg and fight in order to survive without anyone to support you?" Tayuya said in a low, threatening voice. "Sure, it sucks to be scolded by a father or mother, but that's nothing compared to what Naruto-kun has felt his entire life. Consider yourself lucky that you do have parents to admonish you, to love you and to look out for you. Naruto-kun has nobody."
Sakura gulped, eyes and body trembling as she listened to the words being hissed to her.
"And for your information pinky, there's plenty of good in him, more good than in anyone I've ever met," Tayuya replied before shoving the girl away and going back to her lunch. The musician grunted as Sakura hurriedly tried to regain her sense of balance from the killing intent she had just been bombarded with at close range. Before Tayuya could finish her dango, she paused and looked up with a pissed expression still in plain sight. "You wanted to talk to me alone, right; to find out how Naruto-kun knows me and how I know him?"
Sakura nodded, at the same time trying to stop her body from trembling like a leaf.
Tayuya glanced over at her, "I was abandoned by my parents. I lived on the streets for months, sleeping out in the cold, living on my own, begging for food… not knowing what to do. When the day eventually came where I thought I was going to die… when I thought my life was going to end… Naruto-kun saved me." She finished the dumpling and chucked the stick into the box, closing it. "Think about that when you guys are out on a mission together, because the only person you can count on if you're ever in any trouble is the person standing right next to you."
Getting up, the musician went around and rejoined the rest of their team. She saddled up beside Naruto and quickly reverted back to her previously composed self, leaving a stunned Sakura to meditate on her thoughts.
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