Summary: Naruto and Sakura finally get together but Sasuke realizes his feelings for the pink kunoichi. Will Sakura stay with Naruto, or will she choose Sasuke? SasuXSakuXNaru. Plz R&R

xxxxx MAJOR SIDE NOTE xxxxx

In this story, Sasuke DID NOT and I mean DID NOT leave to go to Orochimaru for power. Let's just say that he never got the cursed mark seal during the chuunin exams, and that Orochimaru found a new pupil and went on his marry way to dreamland or wherever he lives. Not sure Orochimaru will be in this story anyway.

Chapter 1
Naruto's POV

Beep, beep, beep smack. The beeping noise stopped.

"Time to get up, Naruto," I say to myself as my still half asleep body begins to move on its own. I fix my bed to make it all tidy and neat, then I take off my favorite and only sleeping cap, only to place it on the pillow that I owned since the day I started living here. With my eyes still closed, I walk over to my kitchen, pull out a cup of instant ramen from the cupboard, put water into it and placed it into the microwave. I pressed the button that had a "3" on it and watched my breakfast cook. I admit to myself, I could cook something but what else is there to cook when I could not shop for anything. I have money from missions but no one will sell me anything. The only one that would allow me to buy something from their shop is old man Teuchi Ichiraku. I look away from my breakfast and walk over to the bathroom to take a shower. If you haven't already guessed it, this is my life, my daily routine...

As I step out of the shower, I hear one of my windows breaking as well as a fairly loud thud crash on my wall. I look over to see what it was. On my first time seeing it, I was scared stiff, as if someone was trying to tell me something that I could not grasp or understand. This time around, it wasn't too surprising. I pick up the brick that had the word "DEMON' engraved on it and gently placed it on a familiar corner with all of the other bricks I have received on this day. As I got dressed, my eyes wander off to my calendar, hanging on the wall. I smile to myself, I had almost forgotten this day. That was why the brick came today, of course it had all made sense to me... again...

"Happy birthday, Naruto Uzumaki," I say to myself as I walk over to my kitchen, pull out my ramen from the microwave, grab a pair of chopsticks, and start eating. Today was my fourteenth birthday, the day I of my second year as a teenager. But who cares anyway? For the past fourteen years, the only presents I have ever gotten are bricks with "DEMON" or "DIE" engraved on them. Just then, a thought jumps into my head. Now I had six bricks with "DIE" on them, and seven bricks with "DEMON" on them. I sighed to myself. How I hated uneven numbers...

As I finish the last of my noodles, I throw away the foam cup in the trash can and gently wash the chopsticks on the sink. These plastic (not wooden, like usual ones) chopsticks were my prized possessions. I have eaten my instant ramen, even the ones at Ichiraku's, with this pair of chopsticks. After washing my treasure gently, I place it back on my cupboard, where I found it. I look over to my broken window and make the handseals for my kage bunshin no jutsu. When the clones appeared, I instructed for them to clean up the mess and fix the window with whatever supplies they could find in this place I called my home. Once the clones started what I have instructed them, I grab my keys, open the door, closed it, and locked it. As I walk over to team seven's training ground, I notice that there were not many people outside yet. Of course this was so. If I had to guess, it would be around 6:30 am. Most people, except for the ones that gave me my birthday present, were still asleep, in the house provided for them by their families. I look up at the sky as I remember that one word I had just said. Family... I think to myself. What does it mean, to have a family? I know the answer in my mind but my heart does not. I know what a family is but have never truly experienced having one. Sure I have friends that I care for as a family, if only they cared for me as I do for them.

When I arrived at team seven's training ground, I see the ever so antisocial boy I have thought of as my friend. His eyes were closed as he leaned on his favorite wooden fence. My eyes averted then, to my pink headed crush. She was smiling again today, like every other morning. Throughout my years of being alive, I have always wondered why I had higher human senses than that of other people. Still being meters away from them, my ears listen to what I don't want to hear. I already know what will be said.

She flirts with him saying...

"Sasuke-kun, you look lovely today."

He replies with his usual...

"Hn..."

She continues with the one-sided conversation with...

"After training, would you like to do something with me?"

This time he answers coldly, saying...

"No..."

She asks him the two word question...

"Why not?"

With the phrase he has used since all of this started, he said...

"Because I have better things to do."

Now, it was my turn to appear into the scene...

"Good morning Sakura-chan, and Sasuke-teme," I say, obviously hiding my sarcasm.

"Naruto..." Sakura-chan says to me with the usual spite in her voice.

"Dobe..." Sasuke-teme says to me with the usual boredom in his voice.

"Sakura-chan, today is my--" I was cut off.

"I don't care," she said emontionlessly.

"I was wondering if you would--" again I was cut off.

"I don't feel like it," she said, already knowing what I was going to say. I turn over to my raven haired rival. This would be long shot and I knew he would not accept my invitation but it didn't hurt to try, did it?

"Sasuke, since today is my--" I was getting annoyed at always getting cut off.

"I don't know what it is but I don't care either dobe," he turned to me. "And whatever it is you will ask me, my answer is no."

I look down on the ground with my eyes closed.

Day after day, it was always like this. No one, except for those hateful villagers ever remembers my birthday. For the thousandth time in my life, I began to wonder who my real friends were. If my friends were these people, why could they not at least greet me happy birthday? I wouldn't mind a birthday present but I guess that would be asking for too much wasn't it? I wouldn't mind a smile from at least one of them, showing that they remembered this day, but that would be going too far as well, wouldn't it? Lastly, I wouldn't mind hearing them say "good morning Naruto" but that too would be going passed the line, right? Before I could think anymore, my white haired sensei puffs into existence. Sakura points at him and yells her usual "you're late!" sentence. Noticing something wrong, they all stare at me, as I found myself staring at the floor. When I felt that all eyes were on me, I look up at them all. Oh yeah, I was supposed to say "you're late!" with Sakura-chan, wasn't I?

"Huh? Oh, um, you're late, sensei," I say flatly, as if I've said it a hundred times. They all looked at me with worry, hell, even teme was looking at me with an eyebrow raised. Today was becoming quite and odd day. I had actually received attention from the ones that I had wished would give me some sort of attention, even if it wasn't in the form of how I always imagined it.

"Are you feeling alright, Naruto?" sensei asked me. I looked at him strangely. Was that a feeling of care I heard in his voice? This was an odd birthday indeed, since when had I gotten something like this from him?

"I'm alright, Kakashi-sensei," I say to him, this time without the usual happiness in my voice.

"Uh...huh..." sensei let out, obviously not buying my answer.

"Well, today we will be doing some heavier training than usual," said Kakashi-sensei. "I will not be here tomorrow or for the next few days because of a mission, that's why we will all need to work hard today."

We all nodded.

"Sakura, you will run thirty laps around this training field. When you finish that, go ahead and do fifty push ups, fifty sit ups, and fifty squats. After that, go ahead and mold some chakra while meditating. This is to raise your stamina and overall chakra capacity," he said as Sakura walked off to start on her training. "Sasuke, you will spar with me. Afterwards, I will teach you a new jutsu."

Before he turned to leave, I called out to them.

"What about me, Kakashi-sensei? What will you have me do?" I asked him, although already knowing fairly well what he would say. Kakashi placed a finger on his chin, as if pondering what to say. To tell the truth, he had actually forgotten about his blond pupil.

"Just do whatever it was that I always assign you to do," he said as he disappeared with Sasuke.

I sigh to myself once more. What was I thinking, hoping that today would be any different than any other day? It was always like this. He tells Sakura to do some physical exercises and goes away to spar with Sasuke or to teach him a new move, and leaves me to bite the dust. He told me to do whatever it was that he always told me to do for training, but in all honesty, he never once instructed me, personally, to do any form of training. I would always have to do my own training. Picking up my feet, I wonder if any of them would even realize that I was gone. Having already proven my theory ages ago, I trudged out of the training grounds, knowing full well that I would not be noticed... just like every other day... little did I know, I had a pair of green eyes watching me.

As I continued my way towards my apartment, I see and hear people talking about me, whispering to other people a whole bunch of nonsense crap. This was nothing new. After the usual gossip about me, they would usually-- smack, there it was. One of the villagers threw a rock, the size of an adult man's fist, at my head. Rubbing the sore spot where blood trailed down my face, I look at my hand, covered in my own blood. Funny, I think to myself, somehow that felt softer than all of the others. Either that or it was just because I had gotten used to this kind of treatment, that I was just a stain in their clothes, a parasite in their system, the demon boy that didn't deserve to live. If it were up to me, I would have ended my sorry life years ago, but somehow, I feel the need to help and protect these people that threw rocks at me. This was the kind of attention that I didn't want but always received. Last year, I wished for more attention as a birthday wish. This year, it came true.

After a few more rocks to my face and to several parts of my body, I arrive home. I enter my apartment and close the door behind me. I begin to feel the wounds on my head and everywhere else begin to close up. Sometimes I just wish that the tenant inside me would just stop healing me and let me bleed to death. But I knew that, that would not be the case. Kyuubi had a strong will to survive. If I died, he died, and I suppose that one as great as him would be ashamed to die if someone as weak as me died and pulled him to the depths of hell with me. Had Kyuubi ever wondered that it was me that was feeling all of this pain, and not him? I shake my head, of course not. Kyuubi doesn't care about me. He only heals my wounds so that I don't die, letting him live for another day. Looking at the clock that hung on my wall, I nod at the fact that it showed "8:30am". Wow, time flew by pretty quickly. With nothing else to do for the day, I walk over to my bed and collapse, letting sleep take over my battered form.

A few hours later, I woke up for no particular reason. My abnormally heightened sense of smell pick up the aroma of food. I follow my nose and see a few bags of food next to my doorstep. I smile at myself. It must have been Iruka-sensei delivering the batch of food for the month. Every month, Iruka-sensei would bring me some food, with the money that came from his own wallet. He was one of the few people that actually cared about me. I rise from my bed and pull out the contents from the bag. They were uncooked and fresh. This was understandable since Iruka-sensei was always very busy and probably did not have the time to cook the food. I shrug to no one in particular and start to cook a meal for myself as I thought about today's events. My thoughts land on my crush, Sakura-chan. I have always told myself that one day, she and I will be together, with a family that I always wanted. But for a while now, her only interest was Sasuke. I told myself one time that my happiness did not matter, as long as she was happy. As I thought about today's events, I realize that she will only be truly happy if I am not constantly trying to ask her out on a date.

Come to think of it, when was the last time I had asked her out on a successful date? Oh right, that time was non existent. Sakura, just like all of my peers, never did acknowledge my existence. Even though I always put my life on the line for them, they never really did do anything for me. If I were given an essay on my peers, I could finish it in any reasonable amount of time. I knew many things about them, like how Sakura loved the color red, Sasuke hated just about everyone, Shikamaru loved staring at clouds, Choji's dreams of owning his own potato chip factory, Ino's vast knowledge of all types of flowers, Kiba's ability to talk to dogs, Shino's love for all types of insects, Hinata's stuttering ways, Neji's hate for the main branch of his family, Lee's love for super spicy curry, and Tenten's mastery of a variety of weaponry. I know a bit of something from all of them yet I know that none of them even knew my favorite color, or my favorite animal. Sure they probably knew the general stuff about me such as my love for ramen and my dreams of becoming Hokage one day, but what do they really know about me? What did they know about the real me?

Sakura, the one I loved the most probably doesn't even know much about me. I sighed to himself once again for the umpteenth time today. Sakura doesn't like me, and probably never would. Maybe it was time to stop living in a fantasy and face reality. My dreams of starting a family with her would never come true. Maybe it is time to let go of my obsession with her and move on with my life. Too much was already used up for something that I know would never come to pass. Too many times had I risked my neck and met near death experiences for the girl with the pink hair. For the first time in my life, I'm tired, I just want to rest.

End of Naruto's POV

Naruto was about to toss in more ingredients inside the pot when he heard a knock on his door. Naruto lowered the fire and walked over to his door. The blond opened the door to reveal...

"Sakura-chan," he said as he greeted her. "What are you doing here?"

"After training, I asked if Sasuke wanted to do something but he refused," she said. "I was about to go home but found myself on your doorstep and wondered if you would like some company."

Naruto looked at her strangely.

"This is new..." Sakura focused her eyes on him. "You never did something like this before... but in any case, I would love some company."

Sakura nodded and entered Naruto's apartment. For someone who she thought was the dead last of the group, a failure, and not very good looking, Naruto's apartment was very clean. Naruto walked back to the kitchen to continue his cooking. Sakura was in his apartment on the day that he told himself to let her go. Naruto nodded to himself. Letting her go was definitely a hard thing to do, but the only thing that was even harder than that was, just being her friend. Naruto turned over to his visitor and found that she was looking around at some random parts of his apartment.

"Sakura-san," he said with a different honoriffic. "You can just sit on that chair while I fix us up something to munch on."

When Sakura didn't hear the chan at the end of her name, she knew that something indeed was going on. Shoving the thought to a deeper part of her mind, Sakura sat down on the chair that she was instructed to sit on. Looking up at Naruto, she decided to start up a conversation.

"That smells really good, Naruto. Since when did you know how to cook?" she asked.

"Well, I've been living by myself throughout my whole life. Since I have no one to take care of me, I learned that if I was going to survive, I would have to feed myself," he said to her. "I guess you can say, I learned when I was around five or so years old."

"What are you cooking?"

"Not sure, but it smells good," he said as he sniffed the contents. Sakura sighed. What was she thinking coming over here? Waiting at her house was some really good food that her parents fixed up. Now she was at this guy's apartment, about to eat something the even he did not know was.

"If you don't know what it is, why are you going to bother to eat it?" she asked. "You sure it doesn't have poison or something?"

That hurt the blond boy a lot, but somehow he couldn't find himself to care anymore. He was used to this kind of underestimation. Now that he had let go of his feelings for Sakura, what she said before didn't really matter to him as much as it should have.

"Well, if it does have poison, I would be the first to die," he said. Sakura just stared at him. "As my guest, I couldn't possibly let you eat poisoned food right?" Just then, he felt the urge to use the restroom. "Sakura-san, if you don't mind waiting a bit longer, I have to use the restroom."

Naruto lowered the fire once more as he headed to the restroom. Sakura, having nothing else to do, stood up and walked to the pot of cooking food. For something that was probably rotten, it smelled quite good. Without even thinking, Sakura grabbed the serving spoon, and scooped up some of its contents, and put it into her mouth. Sakura's eyes widened. She felt like she had just died and gone to heaven. The pink haired girl looked at the pot below her. This was the most delicious food she had ever tasted in her entire life. Suddenly she felt kind of bad that she insulted Naruto's cooking without even tasting it. She assumed that for someone like him, his cooking would be the same. But it was not. If his cooking was this good, just how good of a person could he really have been? Upon hearing footsteps, Sakura placed the serving spoon back where she found it and quickly returned to her seat. Naruto returned to his original spot and noticed the serving spoon fairly clean. Naruto figured that Sakura must have tasted some of his cooking. He lied earlier. He was actually cooking some curry, just not the spicy kind that Lee seemed so fond of.

After a few more minutes, Naruto finished his cooking and grabbed two plates. He put some rice and curry into the plates and also grabbed a pair of wooden chopsticks, and his very own plastic chopsticks. He brought the food to the table and passed a plate to Sakura. Naruto sat on the seat across her. The blond whispered a silent "itadakimatsu" before he started eating his food. Sakura did the same and started on her meal. Every now and then, Sakura would take a glance at her host. He wasn't eating like a pig, such as what she was used to when eating around him. He was eating rather well, he actually ate with manners that would fit a prince. Sakura ate her food silently while thinking of the blond in front of her. This whole day, Naruto was acting rather odd. Her first clue was when he did not join her in saying that their sensei was late. The second one came right after when he actually skipped out on training. Since when did Naruto skip training? That was pretty much what he did for fun. Sakura raised her eyebrow. There was something wrong with Naruto today...

Naruto looked up at his guest and saw her making faces. Naruto glanced at his food. It wasn't that bad right? He knew that he had no culinary skills like a master chef but his cooking couldn't be that bad right? The ocean eyed shinobi looked across him, to the eyes of the somewhat troubled Sakura.

"Sakura-san, is there something wrong? That food isn't poisonous, is it?" he asked with concern.

Sakura shook her head.

"No, no, the food is great," she said, glancing at him, then back down. "It's just that, you were acting rather odd today, Naruto."

Naruto took a deep breath. He knew that someone would notice eventually, but knowing his peers, he didn't know anyone actually cared. Naruto fixed his eyes on hers.

"I'm not acting odd," he started. "I just, I mean, I've been thinking lately..."

"Huh, Naruto?"

"I used to have this one dream, a dream more important than becoming Hokage and being noticed by everyone. That dream is to have a family," he said. Sakura found this interesting and allowed him to continue. Naruto scoffed. "But who am I fooling? No one in this village even likes me past the level of 'acquaintance'. I risk my neck for everyone, expecting nothing in return but lately, I've been thinking... who's risking their neck for me?"

"Naruto..." was all she could say, he was right after all.

"That isn't even the worst part. There's this person that I really admire and would gladly take a kunai to the head for. The problem is, this person does not even acknowledge my feelings. It's like having feelings for someone that doesn't even think you're human. Then again, this person has feelings for someone else. He does not like her but she likes him. I like her but she doesn't like me. So, the question is, who is behind me? Who likes me that I don't like?"

"It was only today that I realized the answer for that question. The answer is that, no one is waiting there for me. I used to think that, that was alright, that I would just embrace everyone even if they don't like me. But, not even metal is unbreakable. Like metal, I can rust too, there's only so much that I can take before I snap and just forget about the whole thing. I'm not invincible like you all think I am," said Naruto, standing up from his chair. "I'm human like everyone else. And just like any other human, I have feelings too. It's just that, no one acknowledges them, no one cares. Everyone expects me to be this indomitable pillar of strength, but I'm not." Naruto sat down.

"I guess what I'm saying is, I'm tired of always faking everything. I want to show who I really am but no one will accept me. I always tell everyone that I am strong and that I don't need to be saved, but any reasonable person would know that everyone needs to be saved some time or another. When someone is in trouble, I'll always be there to help, but when I'm in trouble, who's going to pick me up? Who's going to help me?"

Suddenly, Sakura had just lost her appetite. Naruto was right in all aspects. There have been many times when she was in danger, and he was always there to save her from certain doom, and how many times had she done the same? Sakura put her chopsticks down. This was a part of Naruto that she never knew existed. Like what he said, she thought he was an indomitable pillar of strength, someone that didn't need help, someone who was so strong and could get over anything. Maybe she never noticed that because she always fawned over Sasuke, talked with Ino, and did everything Kakashi-sensei told her to do. She never acknowledged that Naruto was breaking, that he needed a sign of attention, that someone actually cared for him. In all the time that she invested failed attempts to be with Sasuke, she could have spent with Naruto, to make his life more bearable that it was currently. Before she could think about it anymore, Naruto stood up.

"I need some air. You can stay as long as you like, but don't forget to lock up before you go," he said as he placed his keys on the table. Naruto put his unfinished food in the microwave, noting to eat it later after he returned. Naruto walked over to his door and opened it. "See you later, Sakura-san." he said as he left his guest to ponder on everything that he just said.

A/N: So, what do you guys think? I tried to write it as sad as I could but if it wasn't sad enough, well it just proves I'm not that type of person. I was pretty upset when I was writing this chapter and I had thoughts of what Naruto was thinking and saying. In most aspects, I am like Naruto (save the being a shinobi and being a Jinchuuriki part). Anyways, I'm going to make this one a NaruxSaku.

By the way, if any of you has read (pronounced as "red") my first story, "Divine Spirit", it is currently on hold. I will continue it but for now, I am still gathering ideas. I would announce it as 'currently on hold' but there isn't enough space in the summary box for me to put it there.

Anyways, this time, I'm not looking for as many reviews as possible, I'm not that greedy anyway. I'm just looking for as many hits as I can for this story. But if you will find it in yourselves to review, that will be greatly appreciated.

...Sharinyakugan...